QTR/YEAR:WIN/2014
SLN:21141
SOC WL 591B SOC-WELFARE SEMINAR
Tuesdays, 1:30- 4:20pm SWS Room 125
Open, 10 spaces available
Credit/No Credit
Soc Wl 591B: Research to Policy
This seminar will explore issues in the use of research to influence public policies, with a focus on poverty and social inequality in the US. We examine the related questions of how policy makers use research knowledge in various stages of the policy processes and how academic research influences public policy. We will begin with a historical overview of the role of academic researchers in policymaking in the US and reflections on the experiences of academic scholars who have ‘joined the fray’ of particular public policy debates. We will review and compare major theoretical frameworks that have been proposed for explaining the use, nonuse and misuse of research in the policy process. We will go on to explore several topics in greater depth, including for example the roles of scholars, advocates, policy entrepreneurs and street-level bureaucrats; the influence of research at different stages and levels of the policy process; and variation across policy areas and fields of study. Depending on the substantive interests of seminar participants, we will consider examples from social welfare, health, criminal justice and education policy. Students will be expected to participate in and share the leadership for the seminar sessions and to complete a final paper analyzing the influence of academic research on a policy decision in their area of interest.
