We’ve asked several of our current Fellows to offer perspectives on each of CIPA’s eight concentration offerings. Today, second-year Fellow Kristin Szczepaniec discusses the Social Policy concentration. You can read more about Kristin’s experiences at CIPA on her blog.
The best way, I think, to define Social Policy is first to specify what it is not. As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to study both economics and sociology in depth. The framing of arguments for each discipline seemed to purport that their way was the best way to study the goings-on of society—that their lens was the only lens that could adequately describe, and therefore fix, any of the problems facing the world today. It reminded me of those times when I was little, and each of my siblings would make the case to my mom that we were the one telling the truth…and the others were lying. Each course in economics tried to distance itself from the subjectivity of the soft sciences, while each sociology or anthropology course I took seemed reproachful of the sterile and impersonal nature of economics and finance. Everything in its designated place: compartmentalization at its worst. It was like someone put in front of me both a bowl of ice cream and a bag of M&Ms and told me to choose just one. Impossible.
In my mind (and I think in reality) it all seems interconnected. You cannot have one without the other. The necessary reliance of one field of study upon all others is what social policy is. The ‘policy’ definition is easy; it simply refers to any of the legislation, rules, or guiding principles that an institution, organization or government may adopt or follow. The ‘social’ element concerns societal needs and human welfare and, as such, is necessarily the common ground where economics, political science, finance, and government meet sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. They’re told they have to play nice whether they want to or not. Ranging from health care to criminal justice systems or education to food policy, it is difficult to conceive of any policy that cannot fall under the broad spectrum of social policy.
I chose social policy because, as silly as it sounds, all I have ever wanted to do with my life is help people. I chose this as my concentration so that I could take courses from a variety of disciplines, bring the strengths each had to offer and synthesize their arguments around one societal need that I found most pressing (for me it was Education). Courses in economics and finance were necessary to understand the market mechanisms that we contribute to and under which we oftentimes operate. These courses also provided crucial quantitative skill building. I have heard so many people working on social policies talk about how they wish they had more “math” in their background. Courses in politics were needed to master the art of relationship building and to learn how to navigate the systems that rely almost entirely on power and influence (or lack thereof). Courses in law were helpful in understanding the current rules under which our U.S. system operates and to ask critical questions of it. Finally, courses in sociology and anthropology lent a qualitative element to my understanding that complemented the learning I’d gained from my other courses. To me, all were necessary; but on their own they would have been insufficient to tackle the nuances of an increasingly interconnected and complex system.
I think my concentration signals to future employers my concern with, and understanding of, both the qualitative and quantitative aspects needed to truly understand policy. I know the numbers, but I also know the people behind them. I recognize how a policy depicting points on a graph corresponds to a real life person and the effects (immediate, secondary, and tertiary) it may have. In this way I will never lose sight of the real purpose of any given policy I might come across or any legislation I may have the chance to shape. With social policy as my concentration and the courses that I’ve been able to take, I’ve discovered I can have it all—the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And really, M&Ms and ice cream are each great on their own, but when paired together they take “delicious” to a whole new level.
2 thoughts on “The Social Policy Concentration”