COMPARATIVE SOCIAL WELFARE

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COMPARATIVE SOCIAL WELFARE

(Please note that This is the only assignment that did not get  a high pass rate, although the information is all correct it does not appear to be very coherent (according to my lecturer) It did get a pass mark but I was disappointed as expected to get a high mark as put in a lot of work for this one! Ps. Did complain to my lecturer for being so harsh!!!!!!!!!

This study sets out to compare social welfare within the UK and Sweden. With an ageing population and a decline in fertility rates one must ask how these two states approach poverty, employment, income and social care as regards to provision for older people. In addition concepts of citizenship, solidarity, social inclusion/exclusion of older people within society shall be incorporated I shall begin by discussing the UK welfare state.

Welfare policies and provision consists of economic, political and sociological components. The state in the UK has been centrally involved in welfare policy, notably the Liberal government 1906-1914 with the introduction of the Old Age Pension Act 1908 and the Insurance Act1911, however these acts were only in favour of the ‘deserving’ poor and did not address the other members of society who were subjected to poverty. Subsequently it became clear that the principle of individual liberty was being challenged by strong emphasis on collective welfare rights. The principle of state intervention become firmly established during 1914-1945,

 

 The Beveridge Report 1942 was blueprint for the British Welfare State, the report aimed to combat the five social evils by providing; free education for all to combat ignorance, NHS to combat disease, public housing to rent to combat squalor, state commitment to combat idleness and National Insurance benefits for all in need. These required the development of state services for citizens and they resulted in major extension of state responsibility and expenditure. Beveridges report was to provide a comprehensive system of social insurance from ‘cradle to grave’. The report proposed therefore that all working individuals pay weekly contributions to the state, in return, benefits would be paid to the unemployed, sick, the retired and the widowed. This was to ensure that everyone would have acceptable minimum standards of living. The Government in 1944 introduced ‘white paper’ on education, strategies towards full employment and also the creation of the NHS, these changing attitudes in wartime Britain were reflected in the series of reforms introduced by post-war Labour Government. The National Insurance Act 1946 was to create a comprehensive system of sickness, pensions and unemployment benefits funded by employers, employees and the government. The NHS Act 1948 was the first universal state health service providing free treatment of illness and also free dental and eye treatment. The post war reforms of the Labour government established a domestic political consensus that was to last for over 30 years, as TH Marshall wrote ‘it is generally agreed… the overall responsibility for the welfare of the citizens must remain with the state’. This responsibility requires public spending on a large scale by the state for those on low income, and poverty, the majority of which is spent on older people as they form the largest group amongst the poor.

Whilst comparing welfare provisions between the UK and Sweden one must be aware of Titmuss’s 1994 traditional classification of social policy models, the UK has assumed his residual model of welfare, that is, means tested approach that provides minimum assistance (sounds all too familiar with that of the old poor law!)  This model assumed from the days of Thatcherism in which full membership of citizenship is established through the labour market, i.e. the onus is on the individuals to take responsibility for their own financial and social states, however the state will intervene, but only when the individual no longer has the means to sustain themselves. Given this context it would be fair to suggest therefore that the individuals right to social welfare is conditional i.e. assistance only given as a last resort, when the individual has exhausted all other means. The assumption is that the market and the individual are the natural channels to fulfil their welfare needs are just that, an assumption. Many individuals cannot participate in the market, in particular those on low incomes, unemployed, disabled, single parents, and the retired and widowed (the most vulnerable in society) who will be provided for by the state as a temporary measure. This combined with the fact that more people are living longer and the decline in fertility rates, will have major consequences for the welfare states and their citizens i.e. increase of welfare provision and pension costs. Before further discussion of the policies and pensions, consideration of welfare policy and social spending by Esping Andersons is given. Based on the work of Titmuss and Korpi Anderson developed an influential typology of post welfare states, with special reference to the composition of social policy spending rested on the conception of state welfare as sustaining social citizenship along two related dimensions, decommodification and stratification.

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 Anderson devised decommodification indices to measure the accessibility, coverage and performance of social welfare schemes, this led to his distinguishing 3 ideal type welfare regimes as the following;

  • Conservative/corporist regime in which occupationally segregated benefits were introduced by conservative dominated governments to secure both working class adherence and middle class support (France, Germany, Austria)
  • Social Democratic regime coalition of left wing labour organisations and farmers secured a state committed to full employment and generous redistributive universal welfare benefits, incorporating both middle and working class interests (Scandinavian, Sweden)
  • Liberal Welfare regime in which the absence of stable cross-class alliances, ...

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