Author Archives: dh117697

Hello all,

I hope everyone had a lovely thanksgiving holiday, I know I sure did.  On another note, the moment we have all been waiting for has come: Writing!!  My draft is  due tomorrow and I am beginning to write my research paper. Since the paper presentations I decided not to seek out more information but try to have a more “clear” understanding of the information I already have. For tomorrow I hope to have substantial amount of my paper completed, Lord knows I need all the feedback I can get.  I’m looking forward to seeing other classmates’ research progression .

Good Luck,

Dana

Hello All,

So this week has been extremely hectic for me.   After re-examining my argument assignment I realized it was totally disorganized and many of my reasons were not properly backed up by the evidence I presented.  Im taking some time to re-read my sources and search for outside sources to help formulate a better argument. I am hoping that once this stage is complete some of my anxiety about writing this paper will subside. The realization is now kicking in, whether I will be about to find enough information to write a substantial twenty page paper. Is any one else feeling like this?

See you all tomorrow.

Hello Group 4,

The last time we met in class Rebecca gave me the suggestion to investigate differences in population make up. That’s was a great point. I came across an article in the Scandanavian political  Studies Journal which compares the American Welfare system to countries coined as”social democratic” nations: Belgium, Denmark, Sweeden etc. Social Democracy usually results in the evolution of capitalist economy to semi- socialist economy.  These Social Democratic Countries  have historically, homegenous populations.  Until very recently there has been an  influx of immigrants,  Social Scientists have theorized that natives do not harbor negative public opinion toward immigrants benefiting from the welfare system because: 1. unlike the US, countries have refrained from politicizing issues with ethnicity 2.  US citizens have deeply engrained view of welfare recipients as “lazy opportunists” ( capitalism)

Hey Guys,

I finally had  time to  read  some of the sources  I previously skimmed, and it seems as though my research is changing direction again. Originally, I  was interested in  analyzing how public opinion on welfare policy affected  spending on other “entitlements”. Professor Kafka said that I might have trouble finding the information I wanted and  that was correct. This topic is discussed in many of the sources I came across but, the journals suggest there isn’t a  sufficient link. I think I am better of doing a comparative study of the  American Welfare System with European Welfare. Many of the studies I came across discussed European Nations so I believe this is topic which could amount to 20 pages or more. Between now and Tuesday I really have to spend my time fleshing out some type of hypothesis, so I feel like I have some direction for this paper.

See you all on Tuesday,

Dana