미국의 민영화정책과 사회서비스전달체계의 변화

Abstract

There were three watershed periods in the history of the American social service field: in the 1930s, movement from almost sole reliance on the nonprofit sector toward the rudiments of governmental protections; in the 1960s, the expansion of governmental protections and the widespread partnership among government, nonprofit, and newly emerging for-proft organizations; and in the 1980s, a pervasive marketization of the social service delivery system due to the increasing reliance on service charges caused by budget cuts and consumer subsidies, and the rapid expansion of the for-profit firms with their market niche. The primary ways of privatization in the field of social sevices were grants and pruchase of service, but since the 1980s, other options like load-shedding and tax expenditures have increasingly been employed. These changes were premised on the expected efficiency, quality, choice and flexibility brought by competition among service providers. However, since the number of the providers are limited, to a considerable extent, these expectations have not been realized. Rather, such negative effects as commercialization, bureaucratization and preferential selection of consumers are thought to be the important issues in this field. Accordingly, accountability in this quasi-governmental service delivery systems became a principal concem, and the performance oriented monitoring by government was beginning to dominate. In additon, the implications of American experiences and research for the Korean social services are suggested.