Social Policy

The Government

The set of people which rule a society and do so through the apparatus of the state.

The State

A self-consciously organised institution by means of which a society is regulated and preserved.

Problems with defining the State

Weber: the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. → questions about the basis of ‘legitimacy’

Individualism/Social Atomism

Individual human beings are regarded as prior to society. Society is a sort of association. → a mere association of different views & interests.

Liberal individualism views society as being a plurality.

Communitarianism/Collectivism

Regards society as a community, meaning that society is a unity in which individuals are bound together.

Right wing traditions speak of society as a BODY POLITIC.

Left wing traditions speak of society as a FAMILY.

Society as a Body Politic

RIGHT-WING

Each member has their own distinct features, but only as one in a society, they’re important and useful.

Emphasis on the virtues of order and continuity + aversion to radical change.

Society as a Family

LEFT-WING

Society is much like a family: natural formation, means for socialisation + community of feelings.

Social ties are valuable + the political virtue of fraternity & comradeship.

Welfare

Refers to well-being + the provision of social services.

Social Services

Reinforce economic policy, achieve equality/social justice + be an instrument of social change.

Curative: provision of treatment. → health

Developmental: help individuals realise their potential. → education + employment

Protective: acting as a safety net. → housing + social welfare

Individual Welfare

Feinberg uses the term ‘welfare interests’ to refer to interests that are considered to be needs.

Maslow writes about the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’.

Bradshaw distinguishes between 2 types of needs:

* Normative/Absolute - at a fixed level
* Comparative/Relative - based on comparison with others

Social Welfare

The sum of individual welfares.

Sugden points to 3 principal value judgements:

* Each person is the best judge of their own welfare
* Social welfare depends on the welfare of individuals
* If one’s welfare increases, and no one else’s decreases, there’s been an increase in welfare

Jordan proposes a model of Social Welfare:

* Each individual’s welfare depends on needs which they’re not capable of meeting on their own
* Social welfare depends on cooperation and social solidarity
* Therefore, social welfare is different from the welfare of individuals

Egalitarian Policies

1. Equal treatment: the prevention of disadvantage in access to services; treatment without favour/prejudice.
2. Equality of opportunity: the removal of disadvantage in competition with others.

**Prospect Regarding -** people are able to participate on the same terms, in a contest that anyone can win.

**Means Regarding -** people have equal means to achieve the end.
3. Equality of result: the complete removal of disadvantage in practice. 4 stages how such can be obtained:


1. Maximin - raising of minimum standards through selective/universal policies.
2. Addressing the ratio of inequality - increasing the resources of those who are worse off.
3. Equality may aim for the least difference - reducing the range of inequality.
4. Minimax - reducing the advantage of those who’re most privileged.

Positive Discrimination

* Introduced in the Plowden Report - this was significant as it shifted policy from person-regarding to bloc-regarding + argued that in order to gain equality of opportunity, some schools needed to be given ‘unusually generous treatment’.
* Implies that people are first treated equally, and then treated better; inequality in one respect may lead to greater inequality in others.

Affirmative Action

* Used to allow black people access to medical school.
* Justifications: black people have been disadvantaged in the educational process previously + they aren’t being adequately provided with medical care and more qualified black doctors will provide this.
* Critiques: Rae argues that this opposes equality of opportunity, tends to be means regarding + is bloc regarding.

Social Services

* Have a residual function → acting as a safety net when other methods fail.
* Means of transferring resources to people who’re dependent.
* Eyden: social institution that has developed to meet the personal needs of individual members of society not adequately/effectively met by the individual from his own/his family’s resources.

Public services

Collective resources which members of the public share

The Welfare State

Briggs outlines 3 ways in which the welfare state affects social relationships:


1. Guaranteeing individuals and families minimum income irrespective of the market value of their work/property.
2. Narrowing the extent of insecurity by enabling individuals and families to meet certain social contingencies.
3. Ensuring that all citizens are offered the best standards available in relation to a certain agreed range of social services.

The Model of Institutional Welfare

* Based on views that most people are likely to have a need for welfare services at some time in their lives
* More associated with the developmental aims of welfare

The Model of Residual Welfare

* Associated with activities which cure/protect the individual
* More associated with ideas of social control

The Social Contract

* A formal agreement made by the people who come together from ‘a state of nature’ to form a society, in order to achieve certain ends desired by all of them.
* The society contracts with a government, which is set up to rule it. Finally a contract is made between each new individual and a state to become a citizen.
* The point is to provide a basis for what is legitimate

The Social Division of Welfare

Titmuss described 3 main forms of welfare services:


1. Social - covers the area considered to be within the social scope of ‘social services’ → mainly the direct provision of services by the state.
2. Fiscal - the process through which people benefit from tax relief.
3. Occupational - concerns benefits given by reason of a person’s occupation/employment.

Important deficiencies of this model includes the exclusion of the voluntary + informal sector.

The Mixed Economy of Welfare Model

Proposed by Judge. Cawson outlines 3 ideal models of state activities with the context of Welfare Pluralism:


1. The state facilitates private provision, through the creation of a legal framework which regulates activity in the market.
2. Bureaucratic: the state directs activity and provides services itself.
3. The state may bargain and negotiate with various organisations in order to bring about changes.

**Rein** points out that the state can (i) regulate, (ii) mandate, (iii) stimulate, and (iv) support the private sector in the provision of welfare.

Ultra-Obligation

Type of behaviour which depends not on obligations to particular people, but on a general sense of moral principles. This concept provided the basis for a model of welfare which would unite society as a whole (Titmuss).