Temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) is a program under which states are given block grants to use for their own programs to assist needy families and children, reduce the reliance of needy parents by promoting job training, prevent pregnancies among single individuals, as well as encourage the development and preservation of two-parent families (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2021). The policy can be explored from the perspective of the institutional theory of public policies that focuses on more profound and resilient aspects of social structures. It takes into account the procedures in which structures, norms, and routines are seen as the standards of authority for social behavior. Specifically, TANF expects to create a framework of social norms and expectations that improve the capacity of the population to become self-sufficient without relying on social support in the long run. The strength of using institutional theory to understand TANF is concerned with the possibility to determine the ways in which the regulative and normative elements can be used in order to establish stability in social life. The limitation is that the theory cannot explain who should be included in TANF programs and how such programs should be carried out to achieve social expectations. Within the theory, it is expected that economic and political forces influence the regulative, normative, and sociological factors, and TANF seeks to create higher expectations of society by encouraging positive development and adherence to improved processes. Moreover, institutional change is possible as a function of power relationships, available resources, and relevant factors, all of which coordinate and communicate to safeguard their own interests.
Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to offer affordable health insurance coverage for the entire population of the US. Moreover, it was introduced for protecting consumers from being subjected to insurance company tactics that may increase costs of care or restrict access to it (Garfield, Orgera, & Damico, 2021). The importance of the policy was concerned with the fact that insured individuals would worry less about the expenses of healthcare and would be more engaged in preventative care instead of treating conditions once they are already severe. It is possible to explore ACA from the standpoint of group theory, which suggests that public policy is a result of a group struggle from the organized masses. ACA was developed as a response to the limited access to healthcare by the disadvantaged groups of the population, which do not have enough resources to address the barriers on their own (Garfield et al., 2021). To some extent, this group can be classified as a political interest group that has its specific expectations of society. The advantage of using the theory to address ACA is that it can show how the social demands of particular groups can result in actions for addressing their demands. The limitation of group theory when applied to ACA is that it does not consider the poor and disadvantaged as groups, thus creating a significant barrier to the understanding of the policy as it is closely related to targeting individuals of a lower income. Since a policy is often seen as a process that reflects the interests of dominant rather than disadvantaged groups, it could be interesting to see how the group theory will apply to policies implemented specifically to target such groups.
References
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2021). Policy basics: Temporary assistance for needy families. Web.
Garfield, R., Orgera, K., & Damico, A. (2021). The coverage gap: Uninsured poor adults in states that do not expand Medicaid. KFF. Web.