discussion

Week 8 6361 Developing and Using Power

This week you will examine strategies for developing and using power in policy advocacy. You will become familiar with ways to affect policy indirectly by strategically and creatively using power resources—and even politics—to your advantage in shaping policy outcomes. You will also gain insight into the delicate and difficult task of balancing power so that it is not perceived as intimidation, force, or coercion.

Finally, you will explore the strengths and weaknesses of a social policy created and implemented to address a social problem you selected.

Readings

Day 1

• Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate:

From policy practice to social justice. (8th ed.). Pacific Grove,

CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.

o Chapter 10, “Developing and Using Power in the Policy-

Enacting Task” (pp. 372-419)

• Rocha, C., Poe, B., & Thomas, V. (2010). Political activities of

social workers: Addressing perceived barriers to political

participation. Social Work, 55(4), 317–325.

Social workers are in the business of empowering people. They are also often faced with power structures that are entrenched and difficult to navigate. Skillful policy practitioners recognize the many kinds of power resources that exist, thus expanding their options in specific situations. As a social worker, you will learn various strategies that can create and expand personal networks that might be useful in negotiating your policy practice within an agency. You want your power resources to be recognized as effective ways to get things done, not as coercion and force.

In this Discussion, you identify various kinds of power resources (including person-to-person, substantive, process, and procedural) that you can use to secure the adoption of a policy proposal.

To prepare: Review Chapter 10 in your text, focusing on Jansson's categorization of types of power resources in the policy-enacting task.

Discussion Using Power in Social Work Practice

A description of how social workers use power resources in their social work practice and advocacy. Select a type of power resource you would use in your practice and advocacy. Describe the ethical issues or concerns in using the type of power resource you selected.

Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week’s resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.