Social Welfare Policy: Responding to a Changing World, Second Edition is a topical, comprehensive introduction to social welfare policy. It uses a contemporary framework that explicitly addresses three forces that have redefined the social policy arena: the growth of the information economy, the rise of globalization, and our current environmental crisis. This framework is applied to the six traditional arenas of policy--child and family services, health and mental health, poverty and inequality, housing and community development, crime and violence, and aging, and explores how to find solutions to both long enduring and brand new problems. John G. McNutt and Richard Hoefer's introductory text represents a move forward in social welfare policy thinking that is built on the latest scholarship and teaches students that the time to create social policies for the future is in the present.

McNutt and Hoefer’s book is designed to be brief, yet comprehensive, and this engaging video content, accessible on any mobile device, has been included to offer more in-depth coverage of additional ideas and concepts. Click on each video to see a description of how the content fits into the text.

  • 1

    Chapter 1: Welcome to the Future: Your Many Roles as a Social Worker - No Related Video

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    Chapter 2: Society and Social Welfare in Agrarian and Industrial Societies

    • “The Great Migration” supplements the first of three history chapters by covering the migration of 6 million African Americans from the south to the north.
  • 3

    Chapter 3: Social Welfare History in Developmental Context

    • “Hull House and the Settlement Home Movement” enhances Chapter 3’s discussion of private charity and industrialization by offering thorough detail on settlement houses and their workers.

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    Chapter 4: Coming of the Information Society

    • “The Bad Old Days: Life in the 19th & 20th Centuries” expands Social Welfare Policy’s third history chapter by describing the working and living conditions in the early 19th and 20th centuries.
  • 5

    Chapter 5: Values, Ideology, and Political Philosophy in Social Welfare Policy

    • “Poverty Myths: Exposed” adds the important discussion of poverty to the values, ideology, and philosophy of policy and prepares students for further discussion of this topic in Chapter 9.

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    Chapter 6: Policy Analysis: Tools for Building Evidence-Based Social Policy

    • “The EITC: Anti-Poverty Rock Star” offers an illustration of a policy model to accompany the book’s introduction to policy analysis.

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    Chapter 7: Policy Process

    • “Perspectives and Voting Trends” offers coverage of elections.
  • 8

    Chapter 8: Advocacy in the Information Age World of Social Policy

    • “A Tale of Two Popular Programs” covers two important programs that help lift Americans from poverty.
  • 9

    Chapter 9: Poverty, Inequality, and Income Maintenance Policy

    • “Poverty Measures and Basic Needs” offers greater historical depth on one of the most significant challenges facing society.
  • 10

    Chapter 10: Physical and Mental Health Care Policy

    • “Health Care in America: Timeline” provides students with a thorough history of health care in America.

    • "Drawing the Line: The Opioid Epidemic in America" offers additional background on a pressing public health emergency.
  • 11

    Chapter 11: Social Services for Children and Families

    • “Saving Babies: The Early Years of the Children’s Bureau” adds to Chapter 11’s discussion of social services for children and families with coverage of the development of this important organization.
  • 12

    Chapter 12: Crime and Violence in an Information Society - No Related Video

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    Chapter 13: Housing and Community Development - No Related Video

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  • 14

    Chapter 14: Aging in America

    • “Aging in America” expands on the material in Chapter 14 by explaining the rapid growth of people over age 65 and considering the impact of this trend on the economy, taxes, health expenditures and skilled care laborers.