Deck 12: The Future

Question 1

When considering forecasts, it is important to remember that:

A) they can become self-fulfilling prophecies
B) they are useless, because they are based on assumptions
C) they should be taken as fact, because they're all we have
D) they will come true, unless dramatic, unforeseen changes intervene

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a significant factor in U.S. population growth?

A) net immigration
B) fertility rates of a larger foreign-born population
C) higher teen pregnancy rates
D) increases in life expectancy, facilitated by medical and technological advances

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In the context of forecasting, what does "social mobilization" mean?

A) the movement of people to other parts of the country
B) the increasing popularity of social media
C) efforts to prepare people for the future and get them to take action
D) the increased mobility of people in the future, which fragments families and increases the need for social work services

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A population projection is:

A) an estimate of the number of people expected to be in a given group in a specific year
B) a 'trend'-something that is expected to be popular in the general population in the future
C) a tool used by marketing professionals to judge the popularity of a product today
D) a psychological process whereby people compare themselves to others in the population

Question 5

Net migration refers to:

A) the number of people migrating to the U.S. from specific target regions of the world
B) the number of people migrating to 'high receiving' areas in the U.S.
C) births minus deaths
D) the balance of people entering and leaving a population

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of policies that create disproportionate impacts of environmental degradation on low-income populations?

A) requiring people to pay extra fees if they do not recycle
B) alleging that people of color create more environmental devastation than white people
C) locating a polluting factory in a disproportionately low-income neighborhood populated by people of color
D) funding environmental programs through regressive sales taxes

Question 7

How are social workers to understand our professional obligations regarding climate change?

A) our ethical obligation to work for environmental justice demands action to address climate change
B) social workers are not scientists; therefore, we can't be expected to understand climate effects
C) social workers' actions regarding climate change depend on our personal beliefs
D) climate change is only an issue for social workers in areas of the world or the country particularly affected by rising sea levels and/or temperatures

Question 8

To evaluate the likely accuracy of an advocacy group's forecasts, a social worker would want to know:

A) the extent to which surprise events have been considered
B) the group's purpose in making the forecast
C) the credibility of source information on which the forecast is based
D) all the above

Question 9

An example of a strengths-based use of forecasting is:

A) using the size of the 65+ population to predict dependency rates
B) using growth in diverse populations to predict need for increased recruitment of diverse social work professionals
C) using rates of disability to predict unemployment and health care strains
D) using rates of immigration to predict cultural collisions in communities

Question 10

Convergence speaks to the idea that:

A) globalization has erased differences among nations
B) technology means that people experience global events in the same way, simultaneously
C) nations experience growing similarity in the challenges they face and the policies they enact
D) social work practice looks increasingly similar across diverse populations, today

Question 11

You are a social work practitioner working to plan a teen pregnancy prevention program for the next 10 years. What are some areas of future forecasting that you would want to consider in these plans?

Question 12

Which of the future trends discussed in the text could have the effect of increasing the status of the social work profession?

Question 13

What are some of the risks in technological advancement, against which social workers should guard? Describe at least one.

Question 14

How might strengths-based social work policy practitioners view the rise in automation?

Question 15

How might a strengths-based social policy practitioner evaluate the impact of growing devolution in social policy?

Question 16

Describe at least two recommended future policy changes in the area of work and retirement.

Question 17

Privatization is often 'sold' based on the promise of lower costs. Name at least two factors that conspire to make privatized social services often more expensive than public ones.

Question 18

Describe at least two values, in addition to cost-effectiveness, that you might use, as a social work policy practitioner, to support a job training program that is more expensive than a policy alternative but will lead to better client outcomes.

Question 19

Since participation in electoral politics is essential to build a vision of the future consistent with social work values, name at least three steps you can take to become more active in the electoral process.