Social policy and social change - Jillian Jimenez

A timely examination of social policy through a social constructivist and economic lens, Social Policy and Social Change illuminates the root causes of common social problems and how policy has attempted to ameliorate them. In so doing, the book focuses on how social policies in the United States can be transformed to promote social justice for all groups. The book uniquely offers both an historical analysis of social problems and social policies, and an economic analysis of how capitalism and the market economy have contributed to social problems and impacted social policies.
The book goes beyond the U.S. borders to examine the impact of globalization in the United States and in the Global South. It considers the meaning and impact of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States and explores the policy solutions his administration has proposed to deal with the economic recession of 2008-2009. The book also discusses social workers as agents of social change and
advocates of social and economic justice. It examines five key realms: Poverty in families and the welfare system, poverty among the elderly and social security, child maltreatment and child welfare policy, health and mental health policy, and housing policy.

Social Policy and Social Change is a primary text for social policy/social welfare policy courses in MSW programs and possibly some higher level BSW programs. It will be supplemented with a comprehensive ancillary program, including a test bank, instructors manual, and student website.

The late Jillian Jimenez held a PhD in American History and a PhD in social work, both from Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA. She received her MA in literature from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her MSW from San Diego State University. She taught American history at both Pitzer College, in Claremont, CA, and the University of California, Los Angeles. She joined the California State University School, then Department, of Social Work, where she taught social policy and research in the MSW program. She was he editor of Reflections, a peer-reviewed journal of narratives. She won numerous awards, including a Graves fellowship for teaching excellence, and a Silberman grant for research on the history of African American grandmothers. Her first book, Changing Faces of Madness, explored treatment of mentally disordered persons in the colonial period. Dr. Jimenez published widely on the intersection of history and policy in the areas of mental health, child welfare, HIV and AIDS, and social welfare. She lived and worked with her beloved husband, Dan Jimenez, to whom she dedicated the first edition of this book. Dr. Jimenez passed away suddenly and sadly in fall 2009. She is missed by all who loved and valued her.