Social Welfare Policy

7 Key excerpts on "Social Welfare Policy"

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  Social Work and Social Care Practice

  • Mark Hughes, Danielle Turney, Jill Wilson, Deborah Setterlund, Ian O′Connor(Authors)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Examples include education and labour market policies. Governments also seek to manage the tensions resulting from the current forms of social arrangements, particularly in rela-tion to those excluded from or on the margins of the economy. These economic and social arrangements form what can be conceptualized as social welfare. Graycar and Jamrozik define social welfare as: A form of political organisation comprising both the public and private sectors of the econ-omy. Its functions include the maintenance of social order and control, ensuring the physical survival of its citizens and the enhancement of their social functioning. (1993: 71) Social welfare interventions by the state take many forms, including macro-economic policy decisions such as restructuring certain industries or introducing tax incentives to influence the availability and location of employment. Though macro-economic policy SOCIAL WELFARE POLICIES AND POLITICS 17 directly and indirectly impacts on the well-being of the population, it is rarely seen as welfare-related by the public. Macro-economic policy decisions are also very difficult for an individual worker to influence directly. From the viewpoint of the individual, social welfare interventions are instead experienced directly – for example, as direct cash transfers such as JobSeeker’s Allowance – or indirectly through the provision of education, health care and personal social services. Such services are not delivered by the state only, but also by voluntary agencies, profit-making companies and by individuals within informal helping networks, such as family and friends, providing care. Government welfare interventions affect the standard of living of the advantaged as well as the disadvantaged in the community. The gradual move away from direct taxa-tion towards indirect taxation marks a shift in the redistribution of resources so that the wealthy bear less of the tax ‘burden’.

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  Comparative Public Policy

  • Anneliese Dodds(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  9 Welfare Policy The term ‘welfare’ has been understood in a variety of different ways. Social security and pensions have often been seen as core areas of welfare provision (Esping-Andersen, 1990 ). However, ‘welfare policy’ can also be defined as cov-ering all activities in which governments engage to promote the wellbeing of their populations, covering health, housing, nutrition and education, as well as income maintenance (Wilensky, 1975 : 1). This chapter concentrates on income mainte-nance policies such as transfers, but also refers to other areas of welfare policy (including housing and family policy) where relevant. Health and education policy are considered in subsequent chapters. Governments are often taken to be the originators of welfare policy, given the widespread use of the term ‘welfare state’. However, some would argue that the ‘welfare state’ includes not only the ‘public’ activities of governments and their agencies, but also the ‘private’ provision of welfare in the home (Dominelli, 1991 ). The view that population welfare can be promoted by a variety of actors informs the term ‘the social state’, which is commonly used in Germany and Italy. Although this chapter primarily focuses on governmental policies in relation to welfare, it also examines government promotion of welfare provision by the private and voluntary sectors, and by families. It is important to note that, whilst we generally view welfare policy as in some way stemming from a desire to improve citizens’ wellbeing, on occasion it may be motivated by different objectives. For example, one of the reasons for the introduc-tion of slum clearance and improved public hygiene in the UK was concern over the poor health of recruits for the Boer War (Williams, 2008 : 161), rather than reflecting sympathy towards the poor.

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  Welfare State and Welfare Society

  Illusion and Reality

  • William Robson(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Chapter VII

  Economic Policy in the Welfare State

  Government intervention in the economy is ubiquitous and is of major significance, even in countries that cannot be classed as welfare states. It is, indeed, virtually impossible today to find a government which follows a laissez-faire policy. I shall endeavour in this chapter to show what economic policies are conducive or necessary to the promotion of welfare and to distinguish them from those which can only be justified on other grounds.

  We have already noted in an earlier chapter that social insurance and social assistance are two of the most important social services. But they do no more than meet the needs – and often only the bare subsistence needs – of individuals when they are suffering from the common vicissitudes of life, such as unemployment, sickness, invalidity, widowhood or orphanage. The limited value of income-maintenance devices to deal with mass unemployment, on the scale which occurred during the great depression in the years between the two World Wars, led to a policy of full employment being adopted by the wartime coalition government.

  The avoidance of massive unemployment is clearly a welfare objective when we consider the misery, hardship and waste of human resources caused by prolonged unemployment. When the policy of full employment was adopted, the question of how it relates to inflation was not perceived. High rates of inflation have become widespread in recent years and there is much controversy among economists about the causes. No government has so far managed to achieve full employment without producing a high rate of inflation, and no economist has proposed a remedy for inflation which will not inter alia cause a substantial increase of unemployment.

  No one would suggest that a welfare state must choose between unemployment and inflation stated in these crude terms. The only sensible approach would be expressed in quantitative terms; for example, how much inflation is acceptable in order to avoid unemployment above a specified level, or how much unemployment would be tolerated in order to keep inflation below a certain figure? I do not intend to suggest the answers to this difficult question, but the following observations may be relevant. The two evils of unemployment and inflation do not necessarily afflict the same persons, or at least not to the same extent. Unemployment may hit a particular industry or group of industries more than others, or it may affect certain areas of the country. The older and more infirm workers, immigrants, and the less competent, are likely to suffer most. Inflation causes most hardship to pensioners and persons on fixed incomes, to women in one-parent families, to workers in the unorganised industries, and to those in occupations which cannot bring much pressure to bear on the economy. Contrast in this respect the position of dockers or railwaymen with those of kitchen porters or hairdressers, for example.

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  Social and Labour Market Policy

  The Basics

  • Bent Greve(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3.7. Summing up

  Social policy is not the same across countries, including differences in how much money is spent on welfare and on what types of social policy there are and how generous the benefits are. However, there are some common elements and discussions in most countries. These are discussions revolving around the level of benefits, who is eligible for benefits and under what conditions. Behind this is often an (albeit mainly implicit) understanding of who is deserving and who is not deserving of different types of social benefits.

  All countries also have some degree of inequality and some people living in poverty, or as labelled in the EU, at risk of poverty. There are issues and difficulties in measuring both poverty and inequality; however, if measuring it in the same way over time and across countries, it informs about the difference, development and levels hereof. Whether one, as a consequence of the level of poverty or inequality, would make a public sector intervention and decide new social policy issues is, at the end of the day, a political decision. Recent years have seen an increase in inequality and poverty in many countries. The generosity of income transfers can be an important element in the size and degree of inequality, but also the way the tax system influences the level of inequality. In-work poverty, or working poor, is an issue that has increased in recent years.

  There are old and there are new social risks – and this will, presumably, continue to be the case. Old risk relates to four classical aspects: old age, sickness, unemployment and work injury. The distinction is perhaps not in itself important in order to understand social policy, but it is important as a way of being able to grasp how new types of systems develop, what kind of needs might arise and that there can be a need for state intervention in order to support different groups of people. The work–family life balance is an example of an important new social risk. This as most people in the working age would like to have a job, but they would also like to have a family, including children. If, for example, there are not day-care institutions or they are very expensive, this might make it difficult to combine this.

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  Social versus Corporate Welfare

  Competing Needs and Interests within the Welfare State

  • K. Farnsworth(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  The social–corporate welfare continuum Since resources are finite and since there are competing interests involved, there is likely to be some trade-off between social benefits and economic benefits. The relative power of competing groups will tend to determine where this policy compromise eventually settles. The trade-off is not necessarily a simple one between social and cor- porate welfare, however, and may occur between one form of social (or corporate) welfare or another. Moreover, competition over wel- fare is greater in some states than others and at certain points in the economic or political cycle than others. Compromise between The Political Economy of Social–Corporate Welfare States 43 interests is also easier where provision can be made to simultane- ously satisfy a number of different needs. Some forms of social benefit are essential to satisfying business needs and some corporate bene- fits are directed primarily towards addressing social needs. Because power is not distributed evenly, and because it is most often dis- tributed in favour of businesses, the needs of corporations can be as important in shaping social welfare provision as the needs of individuals. This unequal power relation notwithstanding, signifi- cant variability in the relative balance between corporate and social welfare remains. Yet, corporate and social welfare are not entirely different and unrelated, and neither form is mutually exclusive. Both forms of wel- fare exist on a continuum and specific forms of welfare often meet the needs of both corporations and of individuals. Figure 2.1 sum- marises the key broad satisfiers of corporate and social needs along a continuum. Towards the top of Figure 2.1 are the key forms of provision that make up the major social welfare services – the personal social ser- vices, housing and some cash benefits.

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  Principles of Agricultural Economics

  • Andrew Barkley, Paul W. Barkley(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 11 Government policies

  Photo 11.1 Government policies

  Source: M DOGAN/Shutterstock

  Abstract

  Price policies, including price supports and price ceilings, are analyzed, with real-world examples highlighting the consequences of agricultural price policies in low-income and high-income nations. Welfare economics is used to understand how producer and consumer well-being changes in response to changes in policies, markets, and current events. Labor immigration is analyzed to find who gains and who loses from a nation accepting new workers into the workforce. Macroeconomics, the study of economy-wide features such as inflation and unemployment, is introduced. Monetary and fiscal policy are described, and their impacts on the agricultural sector detailed. Food security, hunger, global poverty, and economic development are outlined, and public goods are comprehensively explained.

  11.0 Introduction

  Market economies have many advantages, including efficiency and a high standard of living. However, all real-world economies are mixed economies, with large and important roles for government programs and policies. Governments provide numerous important functions, even in the most free-market economy: the provision of law and order, public safety, national defense, education, research and development, health initiatives, and environmental protection, just to name a few.

  Economic programs include investments in infrastructure, research, and protection of some industries from foreign completion or market-based challenges. The government also conducts macroeconomic policies, which include fiscal and monetary policies intended to promote the functioning of the overall economy.

  Agriculture in the United States, and most nations, is characterized by heavy government intervention. Governments provide many programs and policies to ensure the provision of a sufficient, safe, and nutritious food supply. So far, this book has emphasized the benefits and advantages of markets: whatever goods that consumers desire are supplied by producers at the lowest possible cost. Competitive markets ensure that consumers have access to the goods and services that provide the greatest level of utility. Market-based economies, however, require government intervention due to “market failures,” or situations where markets provide undesirable outcomes.

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  Lectures and Essays II

  1987 - 1996

  • Reinhard Mohn(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Bertelsmann Stiftung

    (Publisher)

  In this connection, it is proper to stress the need for philosophical signposts. In our striving for untrammeled space and individual sovereignty over our lives, we run the danger of losing our ability to become part of a community. Excessive stress on material goals and the softpedaling of ethical values have already today placed a heavy burden on society. If we apply standards and rules from the past to the institutions of our contemporary society, we find that these traditional values fail to do justice to the conception of man inculcated by our educational system. In accordance with their contemporary self-image, people seek self-realization in their lives. Everyday reality in the business world rarely if ever matches this desire. Unless we first set up new philosophical signposts, our efforts to design a more humane Social Welfare Policy will all be doomed to failure.

  To conclude, please bear with me while I once again summarize my theses on the issue of reforming European social welfare policies:

  1. In view of the heterogeneous mix of national cultures present in Europe, and since Social Welfare Policy is as a rule defined in terms of these national cultures, the European Community will have to restrict itself to a merely coordinating function in this area.

  2. The institutions that design and execute Social Welfare Policy are located at the national level. The great diversity that distinguishes European cultures from one another, together with the social foundations of national social welfare policies and the inevitable innovations that characterize their evolution, must be deemed capable of further evolution. Moreover, such diversity must be treated as a permanent condition. As in other spheres of human life, competition among the various systems is the best guarantee of future progress.

  3. The EC is responsible for establishing rules to limit harm to the common market and its environs ensuing from disparities in culture, productivity, and social arrangements among its nation-states.

  4. The Treaties of Rome provide for equalization of living conditions throughout Europe. However, this demand is unrealistic and politically unnecessary. Accordingly, any pertinent transfer payments should be subject to caps on duration and amounts.

  5. The European Community should support social progress by financing research, spreading knowledge, and facilitating exchange of experiences.

  6. Competition and the demands on performance exerted by the international market will convert humane social welfare arrangements into success factors of the greatest importance. It behooves business, and in particular multinational companies, to promote and help design national social welfare policies, making use of the private sector’s commitment, creativity, and vigor.

  7. The culture and experience of European peoples furnish our continent with an excellent opportunity to forge ahead and prove its worth in the international competition taking place among social systems. However, security and progress demand of us all a readiness to reform Social Welfare Policy and the ability to develop new objectives and solutions.

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