POLICY AS PROCESS: A PROPOSED MODEL OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AMERICAN SOCIAL POLICY DIRECTED TOWARD THE LOW-INCOME AGED AND DISABLED (HOLOCAUST, REPARATIONS)

The research presents a dialectic analysis of social welfare and emphasizes the importance of assessing the dynamics of change within an historical context. The concept of poverty as a social issue which must be viewed in its social-historical context is the major focus. By using the qualitative and historical techniques that have their origins in Marx's historical materialism, and the modeling techniques that provide strategies for investigating process as an ongoing dynamic synchronistic open system, the research provides a methodological approach and research design that allows for the integration of process and data analysis. This type of approach adapts Marxist philosophy and theory so that one can apply it to all aspects of social change and organization. It expands the domain of social conflict to include any issue in which conflict can be identified. In order to trace the development of social welfare policy in the United States, a hypothetical model of social change was constructed that takes into account the dynamic nature as well as the social and historical context in which policy development exists. The model attempts to show that factors independent of the policy content contribute to its formation by examining process as a set of possible relationships and by emphasizing the mathematical representation of social relations. To apply the concept of policy as process, current Supplemental Security Income Policy for participation eligibility criteria was examined. Emphasis was on program policy related to compensatory indemnifications as tort awards. Holocaust Reparations were used as a representative case to illustrate the policy orientation associated with such awards.