the decisionmaking process of creating and administering social programs. "Social services" include services for the public that are conducted by social welfare institutions. And "social work" is defined as the professional occupation of administering social services.
More problematic to social policy is defining who constitutes the poor and deciding what to do about their poverty. In liberal capitalist societies, the state offers protection and support for those who participate in the production system, and relief for those who cannot because of conditions beyond their control. Thus, the crux of social policy focuses on who is justifiably excused from work. Those who are excused from work and receive relief from the state are the "deserving poor."
The New Deal marked a watershed in American social policy. The quality and quantity of social services radically changed within a matter of a few years, as did the nature of social work itself.
The New Deal represented a fundamental shift in social policy attitudes at the national and state levels following in the wake of the Great Depression from 1929 through 1933. The Depression was a great awakening in American social policy. Prior to the nation's economic collapse, this country had been founded rather successful on the principles of laissez faire capitalism-that is, economic development must come from the engines of private innovation, not public investment. America had achieved the number one ranking in the world in terms of national income, agricultural production and industrial growth. Private initiative seemed to work so well that the urge toward public investment, even in the most needy sectors of assistance to the poor, were largely viewed as counter-productive.
But the unfettered capitalism of the early 1900s, while giving the appearance of a healthy economy, actually laid the groundwork for pending economic ruin. Lacking government regulation or redistr...