Deck 10: Social Policy

Question 1

When the text discusses the private or hidden welfare state, it is referring primarily to

A) TANF benefits obtained through fraud.
B) Social Security benefits obtained through fraud.
C) pensions, health insurance, and other benefits provided by employers.
D) the underground economy in which people are paid in cash and don't pay any taxes.
E) the benefits received by undocumented immigrants.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Government protection of citizens' economic and social well-being through instruments of social insurance and transfers to the needs broadly refers to

A) the welfare state.
B) public assistance programs.
C) charity contributions.
D) Social Security.
E) economic regulation.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The program that offers health insurance to the needy is called ______________.

A) Medicare
B) Medicaid
C) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
D) Aid to Families with Dependent Children
E) the Affordable Health Care Act

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The program that offers health insurance to the elderly is called ______________.

A) Medicare
B) Medicaid
C) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
D) Social Security
E) the Affordable Health Care Act

Question 5

In 2010, ______________ Americans lacked health insurance.

A) no
B) nearly 1 million
C) nearly 10 million
D) nearly 50 million
E) nearly 100 million

Question 6

When the text says that Social Security benefits are indexed, it means that these benefits

A) are generally distributed in alphabetical order.
B) are distributed to older beneficiaries before younger beneficiaries.
C) depend on the state in which the beneficiary resides.
D) are adjusted to take account of the age of the beneficiary.
E) are adjusted to take account of the rate of inflation.

Question 7

Government social policy programs that are funded by premiums paid by people in the labor market to support the benefits given to participants are called ______________.

A) social insurance programs
B) public assistance programs
C) private insurance programs
D) unemployment insurance programs
E) the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program

Question 8

Prior to the passage of the Social Security Act, the early U.S. welfare state differed from that in most western European countries in that

A) the United States did not extend social protection to any segment of the population.
B) most western European countries targeted their early welfare state programs to mothers.
C) most western European countries targeted their early welfare programs to veterans.
D) the United States extended social protection to mothers but to no other segment of the population.
E) the United States extended social protection to mothers and veteran soldiers.

Question 9

The private welfare state is ______________ government programs in terms of who benefits and how much they benefit.

A) much less inequitable than
B) slightly less inequitable than
C) equally inequitable as
D) more inequitable than
E) more equitable than

Question 10

When the text says that "the private welfare state is really not so private," this mainly means that

A) the data on these issues is readily available to the public.
B) the U.S. government collects taxes on the benefits paid through the private welfare state.
C) the government subsidizes the private welfare state through the tax code.
D) beneficiaries of the private welfare state are U.S. citizens.
E) Congress determines the level and duration of all benefits paid by the private welfare state.

Question 11

Compared with people in most other industrial societies, people in the United States enjoy ______________ social rights.

A) less generous and fewer
B) equally generous and about the same number of
C) slightly more generous and a slightly greater number of
D) much more generous
E) a much greater number of

Question 12

Welfare state programs that transfer funds to needy persons and families to help them secure a decent standard of living and become more self-sufficient are called ______________.

A) social insurance programs
B) public assistance programs
C) Social Security programs
D) charity programs
E) private insurance programs

Question 13

In discussing social programs instituted during the New Deal, the text says all of the following except

A) the federal government set the benefit levels for all of these programs.
B) when the threat of civil disorder arose, the federal government expanded work relief programs.
C) when the threat of disorder decreased, federally funded jobs diminished.
D) social reform was part of the administration's strategy to keep the market economy functioning.
E) many benefit levels were generally set quite low.

Question 14

Which statement is true regarding public assistance programs?

A) They are no different from social insurance programs.
B) They include TANF.
C) They are not means tested.
D) They provide benefits that are identical throughout the United States.
E) They are rarely eroded by inflation.

Question 15

In support of its claim that mothers' pensions are an example of how roles based on gender and race can be inscribed in social policy, the text points out that

A) mothers' pensions benefited African American women, especially those who had been slaves or whose mothers had been slaves.
B) only women who proved they were unable to find a job were eligible for mothers' pensions.
C) to receive mothers' pensions, women had to conform to traditional gender roles, and black women were denied pensions in many places.
D) the legislation authorizing these pensions was written by white men.
E) the bureaucrats administering these pensions were white men.

Question 16

The Social Security Act was passed in

A) 1925.
B) 1935.
C) 1945.
D) 1955.
E) 1965.

Question 17

The largest part of the welfare state consists of

A) social insurance programs.
B) federal aid to education.
C) Medicaid.
D) food stamps.
E) Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Question 18

Most social insurance programs benefit

A) unemployed people.
B) unmarried women with more than one child.
C) African Americans.
D) the working middle class.
E) insurance companies.

Question 19

Means-tested programs are programs that are available to

A) all citizens in the labor force.
B) all citizens regardless of labor force participation.
C) citizens whose income or wealth is below a level set by law.
D) citizens whose income or wealth is above a level set by law.
E) only to citizens above the age of 65.

Question 20

The social insurance program passed in 1935 that offers income in old age and protection against disability and unemployment is called ______________.

A) unemployment compensation
B) workers' compensation
C) Social Security
D) public assistance
E) Medicaid

Question 21

According to the text, President Clinton's social policy was shaped by

A) his unswerving commitment to the programs of the Great Society and of the New Deal.
B) the need to reduce the federal deficit and a conservative definition of the welfare problem.
C) the need to gain the support of black and Latino voters.
D) the Democratic Party's hope to regain the support of white voters in the South.
E) the need for the Democratic Party to gain the support of women voters.

Question 22

The welfare reform implemented during Clinton's administration

A) eliminated the program known as TANF.
B) was an entitlement program.
C) requires the federal government to give all aid directly to eligible citizens.
D) channels welfare funds through state governments and the amount of these funds automatically increases when the welfare rolls increase.
E) channels welfare funds through state governments and sets a two-year time limit for recipients.

Question 23

Between 1967 and 2007, the poverty rate for the elderly ______________, and the poverty rate for children ______________.

A) declined . . . stayed roughly the same
B) stayed roughly the same . . . stayed roughly the same
C) increased . . . stayed roughly the same
D) increased . . . increased
E) increased . . . declined

Question 24

The gains in health insurance and employer-funded pensions gained by unions for workers in large corporations

A) failed to keep pace with similar gains for workers who worked for smaller companies.
B) made workers for these large companies even more dependent on government social programs.
C) allowed President Truman's Fair Deal to achieve all of its goals.
D) greatly boosted the political unity between workers in large and small companies.
E) lowered pressure from corporate sector workers to increase government social programs.

Question 25

As of 2006, compared with other industrialized democracies, the United States spent ______________ percent of its GDP on health.

A) a larger
B) about the same
C) a slightly lower
D) a much lower
E) an equal

Question 26

The Great Society was initiated by President

A) Truman.
B) Eisenhower.
C) Kennedy.
D) Johnson.
E) Nixon.

Question 27

All of the following about No Child Left Behind are true except

A) it was passed during the administration of President George W. Bush.
B) one of its main aims was to decrease the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students.
C) it had very little support from Democrats.
D) many states consider it an unfunded mandate.
E) many critics charge that the federal government has failed to fund it adequately.

Question 28

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provided significant federal aid to K-12 education for the first time, was first passed in

A) 1955.
B) 1965.
C) 1975.
D) 1985.
E) 1995.

Question 29

Michael Harrington was

A) President Truman's Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
B) an author whose book drew national attention to poverty.
C) the author of the GI Bill.
D) the author of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
E) the union leader during whose tenure unionized workers obtained the best health insurance in the United States.

Question 30

Elementary and high school education in the United States is mostly financed by ______________.

A) the federal government
B) state governments
C) local governments
D) local school boards
E) tuition paid by individuals

Question 31

The health reform passed in 2010 says that beginning in 2014

A) the federal government will pay 50 percent of the cost of an abortion for women who receive Medicaid.
B) the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of an abortion for women who receive Medicaid.
C) employers with more than fifty workers will have to provide affordable insurance or pay a penalty.
D) all people in the U.S. will have an opportunity to enroll in a public option, that is, insurance provided by the government that competes effectively with plans offered by insurance companies.
E) 25 percent of the patients of dermatologists, surgeons, neurologists, and other specialists must be either Medicare or Medicaid recipients.

Question 32

According to the text, the War on Poverty

A) was so flawed in design that there was no way it could have succeeded.
B) was designed well but failed because it was poorly implemented.
C) reduced the number of people in poverty.
D) increased the political unity between people receiving public assistance and those covered by social insurance.
E) was a program that almost all conservatives had to admit was a success.

Question 33

Within months of its passage, health reform resulted in all of the following except

A) a temporary high-risk insurance pool was created for people who have medical problems and have been rejected by insurers.
B) insurers were no longer able to place lifetime limits on coverage.
C) provisions were phased in prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of a person's medical condition or prior illness.
D) children were able to stay on their parents' policies until they reached the age of twenty-six.
E) the federal government began paying 50 percent of the cost of an abortion for women who receive Medicaid.

Question 34

According to the text, business has generally opposed extending the welfare state because

A) business wants to extend the private welfare state instead.
B) the welfare state benefits are too limited.
C) the welfare state operates according to market principles.
D) the welfare state reduces the power that employers exercise over employees.
E) the welfare state violates the egalitarian logic of capitalism.

Question 35

The text attributes the political downfall of President Johnson's Great Society initiative to all of the following except

A) divisions between private sector and public sector workers.
B) divisions between men and women.
C) the division of workers covered by social insurance programs versus poor people receiving public assistance.
D) the resentment of some whites over the racial focus of the Great Society.
E) the Vietnam War.

Question 36

Which of the following was not part of the Great Society's War on Poverty?

A) Medicare
B) Head Start and Upward Bound
C) Medicaid
D) national health insurance
E) Job Corps

Question 37

The 40-hour work week and the first national minimum wage were established by ______________.

A) voluntary agreement among businesses
B) the Lochner U.S. Supreme Court decision
C) President Harry Truman's executive order
D) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
E) the Social Security Act of 1935

Question 38

In constant (1996) dollars, the value of the minimum wage was highest in

A) 1968
B) 1978
C) 1988
D) 1998
E) 2008

Question 39

According to the text, the primary purpose of the health reform that passed in 2010 was to

A) help President Obama get reelected by strengthening the electoral coalition that brought the Democrats to power in 2008.
B) resolve the tension between democracy and capitalism.
C) facilitate a government takeover of almost one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
D) reduce the number of people in the United States who were outside the system of health insurance.
E) decrease federal expenditures for TANF, food stamps, and other forms of public assistance.

Question 40

Over the subsequent ten years, the health reform that became law in 2010 is estimated by the Congressional Budget to

A) increase the federal deficit by $138 billion.
B) decrease the federal deficit by $138 billion.
C) increase the federal deficit by a trillion dollars.
D) decrease the federal deficit by a trillion dollars.
E) have no effect on the federal deficit.

Question 41

According to the text, the Social Security Act reinforced many conservative ideas about poverty. Summarize the arguments the authors make to illustrate this claim. Do you agree or disagree? Please explain your answer.

Question 42

What considerations lead the text to say, "Mothers' pensions are an example of how . . . roles based on gender and race . . . can be inscribed by social policy"?

Question 43

According to the text, the U.S. welfare state is conservative because

A) it corrects the basic structural inequalities of corporate capitalism.
B) it stabilizes the corporate capitalist system.
C) it offers a more egalitarian alternative to the marketplace.
D) generally, working-class and poor people support it.
E) its costs and benefits are equally shared.

Question 44

Summarize the main characteristics of the social programs that were instituted during the New Deal.

Question 45

In what ways was the situation facing blacks who "entered the modern industrial economy" in the decades after World War II different from the situation facing Europeans, who in earlier decades immigrated to the United States also seeking jobs in the modern industrial economy?

Question 46

In the section on "The New Poverty," the authors claim that the 1960s witnessed a "changing color of poverty." Summarize the authors' claims about the changing demographic of poverty in the United States from the New Deal to the Great Society.

Question 47

What arguments does the text present in response to claims that poverty programs increased welfare dependency, illegitimate babies, and family breakups?

Question 48

In what ways does the U.S. welfare state differ from that of most European countries?

Question 49

Summarize the difference between social insurance programs and public assistance programs. Give two examples of each.

Question 50

The text approvingly quotes a business magazine's assertion that the New Deal "had the preservation of capitalism at all times in view." Summarize the evidence for this assertion.

Question 51

Summarize the consequences of race on welfare state policies in the 1930s and 1940s. How did racism impact the development of the welfare state during the New and Fair Deals?

Question 52

What considerations lead the text to say that the Social Security Act "reinforced gender inequalities" and, together with other key policies of the 1930s and 1940s, "had a profound racial content"?

Question 53

What were the main social policy initiatives of the Great Society? What factors and events stalled the Great Society and eventually brought it to an end?

Question 54

What is the hidden or private welfare state? Explain why the text says, "The private welfare state is not really so private."

Question 55

In discussing the effects of the United States's many welfare programs on class, regional, generational, and racial inequalities, the text says that taken together

A) these programs don't have any effect on such inequalities.
B) these programs are so complex that it's impossible to discern how they affect such inequalities.
C) these programs always serve to ease such inequalities.
D) these programs always serve to exacerbate such inequalities.
E) these programs sometimes ease such inequalities and sometimes exacerbate them.

Question 56

Summarize the key events in the history of the U.S. welfare state.

Question 57

According to the text

A) the U.S. welfare state doesn't face any significant financial problems, and its future is certain.
B) the public welfare state is under pressure, but the private welfare state isn't.
C) both the public and private welfare states are under pressure.
D) the private welfare state is under pressure, but the public welfare state isn't.
E) the 2010 health reform will have so big an effect on both the private and public welfare states that it's impossible at this point to say anything about the pressures and strains on either the public or private welfare states.

Question 58

What evidence leads the text to say that the War on Poverty succeeded in reducing poverty?

Question 59

What are the differences between the "deserving" and the "undeserving" poor? Summarize the distinctions between programs serving the "deserving" and the "undeserving" poor. Do you think these designations among welfare recipients are valid?

Question 60

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, approximately ______________ percent of people in the United States were living in poverty at some point.

A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 40
E) 50

Question 61

During which presidential administration was Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) instituted? In what ways was TANF different from the program it replaced, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)?

Question 62

Summarize the main provisions of the health reform that became law in 2010.

Question 63

What are the arguments and evidence presented by the text in support of its assertion that the welfare state has a liberal side?

Question 64

What are some of the major pressures and strains facing the U.S. welfare state(s)?

Question 65

What are the arguments and evidence presented by the text in support of its assertion that the welfare state has a conservative side?