Manual Part 2

A POLICY is the explicit or implicit standing plan that an organization, system or government uses as a context for making its decisions.

SOCIAL POLICY is defined as those activities and principles of society which guide the way society intervenes in and regulates relationships between individuals, groups, communities and social institutions. It helps guide immediate and future decisions, especially with regards to allocation of resources that are both valuable, and in short supply. Social policy involves government plans and programs (education, crime prevention, health care, etc.) which are good for the citizens.

Social policy change usually is a direct response to social movements and special interest groups.The following illustrates how a social concern becomes policy:
--People have concerns, which are formed by their attitudes, priorities and values. The people form special interest groups, join a given political party, which represents their views, and/or affect outcomes by their voting.
--These actions on the part of the people bring the issues to the attention of the elected officials.
--The issues and priorities are then presented as bills by the elected officials.
--Policy-making Institutions, (which include the President, Congress and Courts on the Federal level; Governor, Legislature and Courts on the State level; County Commissioners and Courts on the County level; and Mayor, City Council and Courts on the city level) then go through the process of modifying, compromising, and accepting or rejecting the bill, which then becomes policy if accepted.
--The policy goes to bureaucracies, who come up with "how" the policy will be put into effect. (Congress passes laws, but bureaucracies make the policy that puts those laws into effect.)
--After the policy is put into effect, the people judge the usefulness and impact of the policy.

Social Policy
In order to understand how policy is developed, one must have an understanding of the present form of government in the United States and how it operates. There are three levels of government: the Federal, State, and Local levels. There are three branches of government on the FEDERAL level. These include:
     1. Executive Branch, which is headed by the President of the United States. Elected to office, he serves a four-year term
    2. Legislative Branch, which consists of Congress (discussed below). Each
Congressional Session lasts two years.
   3. Judicial Branch, which is the Supreme Court on the Federal level. Serving a life term, they are appointed, not elected. Courts interpret policy, deciding if a policy is "legal".

CONGRESS is made up of two branches, which are the House of Representatives and the Senate.

1. House of Representatives consists of 435 members, who serve a two-year term. The population of each state determines the number of members from each state. All fiscal bills are begun in the House. In order for a legislative bill to become law, the Speaker of the House must sign it first, then by the President of the Senate
2. Senate consists of 100 members who serve terms of six years. Membership in the Senate includes two representatives from each state. The Senate is to give advice and consent to the executive branch of government.

There are two major political parties in the United States at this time, with numerous smaller parties existing. The two major parties include the:
1) DEMOCRATIC PARTY with a liberal ideology, supporting government
intervention in the provision of welfare services to the poor (NEO-LIBERALS are more conservative than the old liberals); and
2) REPUBLICAN PARTY with a conservative ideology, opposing government intervention in the provision of welfare services (NEO-CONSERVATIVES are more willing to deal with social problems than old conservatives).

CHAIRMANSHIPS of major committees is determined by whichever political party is in power at the time."Minutes" of what occurs in Congressional meeting each day is recorded in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. A Senator can place information into the Congressional Record without even having attended that day. The "FEDERAL REGISTER" is an informational bulletin available to the public.

Political Participation

1.When education is held constant, there is no evidence that older people became less interested in political affairs or less likely to form political opinions.
2.Older people who are committed and anchored to the community through social ties, tend to have stronger opinions with age.
3.Older people do not become more conservative in their later years.
4.Political opinions are more sensitive to time effects than to age cohort effects.
5.Voting participation is lowest at age 18; it builds to a plateau in the fifties, and then begins a gradual decline after age 65.
6.Widespread disability and lack of transportation keep the voter turnout of the elderly down near that of the middle-age person with the same kind of education.
7.With regard to party affiliation, the longer the individual has declared his/her party affiliation, the more likely he/she is to remain with that party.
8.Older people hold monopoly on some political positions simply because of
seniority.

Political Power
1.The view that older people comprise a unified interest group that can mobilize political pressure by bloc voting is an illusion.
2.Age alone does not bring older people together on any particular issue. Such factors as socio-economic status, education, and occupation must be taken into consideration when looking at an issue. Most people interact across generational lines as well as within them. Life styles vary widely among older people.
3.Old-age political organizations, while not effective as pressure groups, have been effective in making the older population's plight politically visible. As a result, groups not based on age, such as unions and political parties have picked up the "cause" of the elderly.
4.Older people themselves have relatively little power. Some powerful people are old, but they are not powerful because they are old.
5.Political power behind programs for older people are, for the most part, generated by others on behalf of older people rather than by the older persons themselves.
6.Legitimacy of programs for the elderly comes also from the fact that everyone eventually gets old, so creating adequate social supports for the elderly is a form of self-protection.
7.The role older people themselves are left to play in politics is generally confined to the local community.

Some of the major social policies in the United States affecting the welfare of
individuals with special needs include:

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION - SSA
When:1935 - Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal"
What Social Insurance (also called transfer income)
Who: Elderly, vocational rehabilitation and unemployment. Originally covered
elderly, survivors, and disabled.
Why: Move elderly out of the workforce; make jobs for younger people.
How: FICA - Federal Income Contributory Act (Originally, 1/2 of 1% of the first
$3,000 earned. First benefit paid to Ida Fuller - $22/month)

SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME - SSI
When:Passed 1972; implemented 1974
What:Income floor for the worthy poor; is means tested
Who: Aged (65+), blind (vision 20/200), and disabled of any age
Why: Provide cash assistance
How: General revenues

Society responds to both the aged individual and to groups of aged people. Older individuals as well as groups of older people also respond to society. This reciprocity is one of the "machines of social change." Please take note of this important concept ("no man is an island!").

Two Basic Types of Responses
It is important to note, and on the Final your will need to carefully note, the two basic differences found in responses to aging in any level of any society.

The first type of response that most students think about is that of FORMAL
RESPONSES, such as laws, acts, and policies enacted to attend to the needs or restrict the interaction of and with the "elderly." Indeed much of what you read in this course, especially with respect to the text, centers on this type of response.

This type of response may often be expressed in the term "Public Policy."

But of equal importance are INFORMAL RESPONSES, often termed "social policy," which are those that are not formally structured in the level of the society in which it is found. A prime example of this is family caregiving where most primary caregivers have to "make it up" as they go along.

Age Grading or "Act Your Age"
Any society responds to the influence and needs of its members in informal ways (like folkways of "act your age") as well as in formal ways (like policies directed to the health, welfare, protection or taxation of specified groups).

With respect to the older members of the United States society, it has been said that few, if any, social policies in the past have been written as a result of a request of the elderly, but they have been written sporadically by congressmen who have had parents in need of help, so they "woke up to a problem" and responded on a personal interest level.

Why has this been so? The 16% of the older population is not one voice but many varied opinions, so the elderly do not bring a cohesive message to congress nor do they represent a voting block.

As the population "grays" it may be that the voice of the elderly, even though
varied, may be noticed more. More elderly means more people who may face similar circumstances and thus there may be, from time to time, a "voice" heard from them that congress could not tune out. Elderly social policy may become more and more the province of the elderly as the average age of our population increases throughout the early part of the 21st century.

In Conclusion:
When considering the "graying of America" and its possible future impact, do these figures represent social problems? They certainly do for the victims, but the definition of a social problem goes far beyond the victim's viewpoint.

But does large numbers of people being affected necessarily mean the phenomenon is a "social problem?" Not always. It may be hard to have a social problem when only a handful of people are involved, but history shows that millions can be affected and not consider it a "problem;" or at least not consider it a problem initially. One example is Germany in the early years under Hitler.

But even when we have a happening that affects significant portions of the
population in an undesirable way (recognized as bad), do we necessarily have a "social problem?" not if we as the population do not see changing it being within our power.

Calculate your personal life expectancy. Use it to determine the minimum age of the person you choose for the first interview. Begin with the following table of the average U.S. mortality rates for 1980.

The table presented below is the "1980 Commissioners Standard Ordinary Mortality Table (CSO)." Life insurance companies to develop the premium to charge for their products use this public domain information. It is created by our nation's 50 state Insurance Commissioners.

These Commissioners regulate the insurance industry and publish data concerning age and gender of people who die. This effort to measure mortality rates creates the "CSO Mortality Table." New CSO tables do NOT come out yearly, nor do they come out in any specified interval. To illustrate that point, former CSO Mortality Tables were put out in 1941, 1958, 1971.

Start with your current age on the following table and find your "additional life
expectancy." You add your age to this figure to get your "total life expectancy."
Since the entire table is show here, it is quite long but very informative.
Find your life expectancy (1980 CSO, based on experience of years 1970-1975):
Additional Additional
MALE Life FEMALE Life

Expectancy Expectancy
AGE-------------------

0....... 70.83..................... 75.83---------

1...... 70.13.... 75.04------

2..... 69.20.. 74.11-----

3...... 68.27.... 73.17
4............67.34---------------

5 ..... 66.40.... 71.28------

6 .... 65.46 ... 70.34-----

7 ..... 64.52 .... 69.39
8............63.57 .................... 68.44---------

9 ..... 62.62 .... 67.48----

10 ..... 61.66 ... 66.53---

11 ..... 60.71 ..... 65.58
12.........59.75.....................

14 ..... 57.86 .... 62.71---

15 .... 56.93 ..... 61.76
16 ........56.00 .................... 60.82--------

17 .... 55.09 .... 59.87----

18 .... 54.18 .... 58.93---

19 .... 53.27 ..... 57.98
20 ........52.37..................... 57.04--------

21..... 51.47 .... 56.10----

22 .... 50.57 .... 55.16---

23 .... 49.66 ..... 54.22
24........ 48.75 .................... 53.28--------

25 .... 47.84 .... 52.34----

26 .... 46.93 ... 51.40---

27 .... 46.01 ..... 50.46
28 ........45.09 .................... 49.52--------

29 .... 44.16 .... 48.59----

30 .... 43.24 ... 47.65---

31 .... 42.31 ..... 46.71
32 ........41.38 .................... 45.78--------

33 .... 40.46 .... 44.84----

34..... 39.54 ... 43.91---

35. ... 38.61.. ... .42.98
36 ....... 37.69 .................... 42.05--------

37 .... 36.78 .... 41.12----

38 .... 35.87 ... 40.20---

39 .... 34.96 ..... 39.28
40 ........34.05 .................... 38.36--------

41 .... 33.16. ... 37.46----

42 .... 32.26 ... 36.55---

43. ... 31.38. .... 35.66
44 ........30.50 .................... 34.77--------

45 .... 29.62. ... 33.88----

46 .... 28.76 ... 33.00---

47. ... 27.90. .... 32.12
48 ........27.04 .................... 31.25--------

49..... 26.20 ..... 30.39----

50..... 25.36.... 29.53---

51..... 24.52...... 28.67
52 ........23.70 .................... 27.82--------

53..... 22.89 .... 26.96----

54..... 22.08 .... 26.14---

55 .... 21.29. .... 25.31
56 ........20.51 .................... 24.49--------

57.... 19.74 ..... 23.67----

58 .... 18.99 ... 22.86---

59..... 18.24..... 22.05
60 ....... 17.51 ..................... 21.25--------

61.....

62. 16.08..... 19.65---

63..... 15.38 ..... 18.86
64 ........14.70 .................... 18.08---------

65 ... 14.04..... 17.32----

66 .... 13.39 ... 16.57----

67..... 12.76 ..... 15.83
68 ........12.14 .................... 15.10--------

69...... 11.54..... 14.38----

70 .... 10.96 13.67----

71..... 10.39.. .... 12.97
72 ......... 9.84 .................... 12.28--------

73 ....... 9.30..... 11.60----

74 ..... 8.79 ..... 10.95---

75 ...... 8.31 ..... 10.32
76 ......... 7.84 ....................... 9.71-------

77........ 7.12 ...... 9.12----

78 ..... 6.97 ....... 8.55---

79 ...... 6.57 ....... 8.01
80 ......... 6.18 ................. ...... 7.48--------

81 .... .. 5.80 ...... 6.98----

82 ... ...5.44........ 6.49---

83 ..... 5.09 ....... . 6.03
84 ........ 4.77 ....................... 5.59--------

85 ...... 4.46 ...... 5.18----

86 ..... 4.18 ...... 4.80----

87 ..... 3.91 ....... 4.43
88 .........3.66 ....................... 4.09--------

89. ...... 3.41....... 3.77----

90 ......3.18 ....... 3.45---

91 .. . ..2.94 ....... 3.15
92 .........2.70 ....................... 2.85--------

93.... ....2.44 ...... 2.55----

94...... 2.17 ....... 2.24---

95 ..... 1.87 ....... 1.91
96 ........ 1.54 ....................... 1.56--------

97....... 1.20 ...... 1.21----

98........ .84 ......... .84---

99 ....... .50 ......... .50

(The CSO considers age 100 as the end of life since insurance policies only go to age 100. Even though some people live longer, the CSO suggests that they are not a statistically significant portion for the purposes of life insurance premiums).

The figure you arrived at (age + additional life expectancy = total life expectancy) will be a good estimation of how long you will live. But remember, the table is based on the AVERAGE expectancy given an age and gender of reported deaths in America.

---Also Consider:
Time Magazine's article "How Long Will You Live?" Robert J Allen, PhD (Appleton Books, a division of Prentice-Hall publishers), bases November 2, 1981 on the book Lifegain. Some of the issues it raises:

You add years to your life if:

Genetically:
-Any of your grandparents lived to be 85 or older

-All 4 grandparents lived to be 80

Environmentally:
-You finished college

-You finished Graduate Degree

-You are over 65 and still working

-You live with a spouse or friend

-Your work requires heavy physical labor
-You exercise strenuously 5 times/week

-You are relaxed and easy-going (your opinion of yourself)

-You are happy

-You have an annual physical

You subtract years to your life if:

Genetically:
-Either parent died of a stroke or heart attack before age 50 -You had a parent or sibling under age 50 that had (or died from) cancer or a heart condition or that had diabetes since childhood

Environmentally:
-You live in an urban area

-You live alone, even by choice

-You are unhappy (your opinion)

-You earn over $50,000/year

-You work behind a desk

-You smoke

-You drink 1+ oz alcohol day

-You have received a speeding ticket in the last year

-In your opinion, you are tense, aggressive, easily angered

-You sleep more than 10 hours/night

-You are overweight:

"Ideal Weight Tables" for older adults should be considered. Studies suggest that having a little more weight in older ages helps health. This is due to being less affected by temperature (remember, the elderly are more at risk for heat prostration and hypothermia).Gerontology Research Center & Metropolitan Life:
Normal Weight (Male and Female) Averages Within Ages:
Height Ages 50-59 Ages 60-69
5' 0".... 114-143...... 123-152
5' 1".... 118-148...... 127-157
5' 2".... 122-153.......131-163
5' 3".... 126-158.......135-168
5' 4".... 130-163...... 140-173
5' 5".... 134-168...... 144-179
5' 6".... 138-174...... 148-184
5' 7".... 143-179...... 153-190
5' 8".... 147-184...... 158-196
5' 9".... 151-190...... 162-201
5' 10".. 156-195...... 167-207
5' 11".. 160-201...... 172-213
6' 0".... 165-207...... 177-219
6' 1".... 169-213...... 182-225
6' 2".... 174-219...... 187-232
6' 3".... 179-219...... 192-238
6' 4".... 184-231...... 197-244

This should conclude your longevity calculation. How did it come out?