Maslow and Social Services

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Barry Fotheringham – October 2008

This essay will describe Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  It will explore how these different needs are met by Social Services whilst clarifying the distinction between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’.  In doing so, it will define ‘social services’ in its widest sense, including facilities available from the voluntary sector and, on a more informal basis, from family and friends.

The Hierarchy of Needs model was developed by Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist.  Maslow (1943) publicly set out his ideology for the first time within an article written for the Psychological Review journal.  The basis of Maslow’s theory was that individuals, as human beings, are motivated by unsatisfied needs.  He stated that people can only strive toward self-actualisation once their more basal needs are fulfilled.  Maslow’s model (shown below) groups human needs into five different levels, forming a pyramid of progression, with the most basic needs at the bottom.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Abraham Maslow – Father of Modern Management, 2007)

As illustrated above, the first level is concerned with physiological needs.  These are the resources required for basic survival, including air, water, food and sleep.  Once physiological needs are met, Maslow’s model indicates that focus turns to safety and security.  These needs are concerned with emotional security as well as physical safety and include a safe living environment, job security, financial reserves and insurance.

Following the achievement of safety and security, social needs are addressed.  Included in this level are a sense of belonging, interacting with others, giving and receiving love and making friendships.  Esteem needs follow social needs.  This level incorporates the requirement to feel significant, including a sense of achievement, receiving recognition from others, building a strong and positive reputation, obtaining status and possessing self-respect.

Only when all these needs are satisfied can self-actualisation, which is concerned with fulfilling potential, become the focus.   Maslow believed that, unlike the lower stages of the model, this level could never be fully satisfied as there would always be opportunities to grow and develop further.  In his words, “what a man can be, he must be.” (Maslow, 1943 p.382).

The term ‘social services’ can be used in differing ways.  The Collins Gem Dictionary (2006, p.548) defines Social Services as “Welfare services provided by local authorities or the state”.  This properly defines the welfare state, however it does not acknowledge that social care is also provided by private businesses, voluntary bodies and, on a more informal basis, by family members and friends.  The following exploration of available social care resources will, therefore, also include these additional service providers.

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The Welfare State, as defined above, came into effect on 5 July 1948 alongside the creation of the National Health Service.  The broad framework was originally set out in 1942 in a report by British economist Sir William Beveridge (Moonie, N. ed. 2000).  Originally entitled ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’, the piece has since come to be known simply as ‘the Beveridge Report’.  It states that all people of working age should pay a weekly contribution in the form of National Insurance and, in return, benefits will be paid in times of need such as sickness, unemployment or retirement.

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