Public Policy

A Concise Introduction

• Public policies – like education, energy, the environment, social welfare, health care, civil rights, and immigration – are spotlighted throughout the text. The Rinfret text is the only book in the market this focused on tackling issues that affect the common good.
•  The text condenses early chapters on theory and the policy-making process, allowing students to take up key policy challenges much earlier in the semester. 
• Chapter-opening vignettes connect readers to broader concepts by considering current examples of public policy in action, such as "How do we shape our country's health care system?", "How do we address increases in costs of tuition?", and "Did the COVID-19 pandemic positively or negatively shape our public education system?"
• Learning Objectives preview the key points students will learn in each chapter.
• Telling Stories with Data boxes invite students to evaluate data in order to decipher their impact on a particular policy issue or dilemma.
• Policy Choices sections challenge students to think about the policy alternatives available— beyond the simplistic for-or-against approach so often conveyed in the media and public dialogue—encouraging them to think about potential remedies to important policy questions and the consequences of those choices.
• Everyday Citizen Connection features link theory to practice in an effort to illustrate how people are affected by public policy and show students how they can engage in policy issues that matter to them.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

• New examples include more nuanced information about guns on college and school campuses, the Black Lives Matter movement, juvenile incarceration, the Biden Administration's position supporting the Affordable Care Act, and more.
• This edition includes a greater focus on how we can collectively recognize our own biases, what equality and equity mean in the policy process, and our role in shaping it.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has been woven throughout the text. Examples include discussion of mask mandates in the history of federalism section, how the pandemic has changed regulatory processes in the United States, and the impact of COVID on the public education system.