Social Policy
In This essay I will look at what is new about New Labour in regard to
social policy. To begin a description of social policy is provided
together with a brief history of the welfare state in Britain. A
strong debate exists in social policy as to whether provision is about
social care or control. This debate will be explored. The three
prevailing political ideologies Social Reformism, Market Liberalism
and the Third Way will be discussed in regard to social provision and
their policies will be compared. Finally I will identify aspects of
New Labour policies that establish it as a new way of thinking in
regard to social welfare policy
According to Marsh (1979) social policy can be described as action on
the part of the state or voluntary organisations to deal with the
myriad variety of individual and social problems in a complex
industrialized society. Marsh (1979) argues the state has, over the
centuries, attempted to provide help to the poor, and to overcome many
other forms of 'social evils' such as improving living and employment
conditions, education and healthcare etc through legislation and
voluntary action. Hill (1993) goes on to say that the study of social
policy, in Britain, is primarily concerned with the extent to which
the welfare state meets the needs of people and the extent to which it
contributes to social equity.
During and after the Second World War social policy and its
implementation began to develop into a highly significant and
important area within the political realm. It was this period that
gave rise to the welfare state and introduced legislation that brought
about the:
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Marsh, D. (1979) Introducing Social Policy. London: Routledge
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Piachaud, D. (1998) Changing Dimensions of Poverty, in N.Ellison and
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95-118
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1979-1987, London: CPAG Limited
Welfare can be defined as “systems by which government agencies provide economic assistance, goods, and services to persons who are unable to care for themselves” (Issitt). The United States welfare system is an extremely complex and unique entity that encompasses ideas and concepts from an abundance of different places. Many people believe the current system is an excellent resource for the population, while others believe the current welfare system requires reform and budget cuts to become effective.
The conservative party has been in existence since the 1670s and was first called the ‘Tories’, a term used by the Scottish and Irish to describe a robber. This party is a right- wing party which believed in conserving the tradition and the king, as the name entails. David Cameron, the current party leader became the leader in 2005. He is also the present prime minister of Great Britain and he has made a lot of changes since he became the leader of the party. In this essay, I will talk about the history of the party, looking into detail at their gradual changes or transition in ideology and the various changes that David Cameron has made to the party’s image and beliefs.
This essay will address whether New Labour contained policies with which it wished to pursue, or was solely developed in order to win elections. It is important to realise whether a political party that held office for approximately 13 years only possessed the goal of winning elections, or promoted policies which it wished to pursue. If a party that held no substance was governing for 13 years, it would be unfair to the people. New Labour was designed to win elections, but still contained policies which it wished to pursue. To adequately defend this thesis, one must look at the re-branding steps taken by New Labour and the new policies the party was going to pursue. Through analysis, it will be shown that New Labour promoted policies in regards
these ideas just as much as they are by the right of the labour party.
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Since the Welfare reform law was introduced in 1996 it has impacted American society greatly. The new welfare policy, named the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), replaced the Aid to Family and Dependent Children (AFDC) program; they have five known differences that only affect the ones who need the assistance. Critics argue that the TANF has negatively impacted the society while some argue that it has not. Linda Burnham, author of “Welfare Reform, Family Hardship & Woman of Color,” asserts that “welfare reform has increased the hardship faced by many women leaving welfare for work and their movement into low-wage jobs, exposes them to higher level of housing insecurities, homelessness, food insecurity, and hunger.” She also argues that women of color “are especially vulnerable to the negative impact of welfare reform” (38).
Social Security is on the verge of taking care of the baby boomers generation. This means that it will be paying more benefits than taxes it receives. In lay-man’s terms it means it will be spending more money than it is making. I think that you should pay into your own private retirement account for you to reap the benefits in the future. Not for you to pay into a cluster of workers money for current elders to benefit from. You need to take care of your own future and not rely on other people’s responsibility. “…people began to think retirement funding as a right…and so…started saving less” (Klay & Steen). That being said, people of a certain age should be “grandfathered” into this meaning, people of the age of say 40, still get the normal social security retirement money but anyone younger must start abiding this new reform. If you get married, keep paying into your own unless your spouse is not working. If that is the case then pay the same amount BUT put half into your own and half into your spouses. If the other spouse is working however, they should pay into their own account and you into your own.
Being raised in a single-parent lower class home, I realize first-hand the need for welfare and government assistance programs. I also realize that the system is very complex and can become a crutch to people who become dependent and complacent. As a liberal American I do believe that the government should provide services to the less fortunate and resources to find work. However, as able-bodied citizens we should not become complacent with collecting benefits and it is the government’s job to identify people who take advantage of the system and strip benefits from people who are not making efforts to support themselves independently. I will identify errors that exist within the welfare system and several policy recommendations to implement a change that will counteract the negative conditions that currently exist.
Works Cited The Movements of the New Left 1950-1975: A Brief History with Documents.
When considering social welfare in the United States, one can clearly notice that there is a wide range of different policies. According to Howard Jacob Karger and David Stoesz, provided benefits that are intended to meet the essential life needs of individuals (such as active work, revenue, relationships, health care, sustenance, and shelter), (which) are regulated under social welfare policy (2010, p. 3). For the purpose of this paper, we will analyze a specific social welfare policy known as president Obama’s Race to the Top initiative. In general terms, this policy was shaped on four areas of core education reform, which will be discussed later. Even though the main subject is centered on education, this policy clearly has many different focuses. For this reason, we will mainly focus on higher education. This includes the following goals: helping families in the middle class afford college, keeping the cost of college down, building more strength within community colleges, and increasing public participation in government (The White House, n.d.). The most attention will be given to the individual initiatives related to making college more affordable and keeping college costs down.
Governance and a concept of a sort of pragmatism were at the core of the New Labour ethos when it arrived to power in 1997. They were promoting an outcome-oriented approach rather than a more ideological one (Temple, 2000). The New Labour approach to planning contrasted with the view of the New Right which preceded it by adopting a much more positive approach to planning (Rydin, 2013,
The role of the welfare system within our society has always been controversial. This can be because of the numerous negative connotations that address who benefits from the welfare system. These negative connotations address that only the poor and unprivileged members of society can are benefiting from welfare programs. However, many scholars argue that in fact almost everyone in society benefits from the welfare system. This is the case of Mimi Abramovits (2001) who argues in the article “Everyone Is Still on Welfare: The Role of Redistribution in Social Policy” that almost everyone in society is on welfare. Abramovits (2001) uses Richard M. Titmuss's three-tiered social welfare system framework to discuss how everyone benefits from the welfare system. The three-tiered welfare systems are social welfare system, fiscal welfare system and occupational welfare. According to Abramovits (2001) all three welfare systems provide individuals with similar services. These services include “minimum income; replace income lost as a result of retirement, joblessness, disability, and the absence of a breadwinner; and underwrite the costs of health care,
Thelen, K. (2001) ‘Varieties of Labour Politics in the Developed Democracies’, in Hall, Peter A.; Soskice, David (eds.) Varieties of Capitalism: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, pp. 71–103. New York: Oxford University Press
In 1997, Tony Blair of the labour party won the United Kingdom’s general election on the ideology, goals and a party manifesto of a ‘new labour’, a revision, an update and a reform of the old labour party, bringing new radical politics to the 20th century - although some believe that labour only won the election due to the British publics increasing hate for Thatcher and the conservatives. The term new labour was a reflection on how the labour party was trying to reform itself and depart from the ideas of ‘old labour’ that had failed to win an election since 1974 and take on new ideas and politics that seemed radical, new and progressive and that would regain trust from the British voters. ‘New labour, new for Britain’ was the slogan that first appeared on the party’s manifesto in 1996 and soon became the party’s main slogan for the campaign of the 1997 elections. But how exactly was new labour new? New labour was trying to become more progressive with its politics that reformed all of the key policy domains that the government were interested in. By attempting to reform the party’s manifesto as well as clause IV, new labour attempted to become a new party that could progress British politics rather than rely on traditional politics of old labour. New labour wanted to modernise the party’s by perusing their traditional goals which include job support, economic growth, investments in public services, welfare and redistribution but they also wanted new progressive politics that catered to the minority groups in terms of social justice, for example civil partnerships (King,2002). However, some argue that new labour was not particularly ‘new’ and instead that Blair’s government had betrayed the traditions of the labour party and inst...
Social welfare is an expansive system proposed to maintain the well being of individuals within a society. This paper will explain the progression from the feudal system and church provisions for the poor before the Elizabethan Poor Law to the gradual assumption of the responsibility for the poor by the government. A responsibility assumed not out of humanity and concern for the poor, but as a process of standardizing the ways in which the poor were to be managed. The history of social welfare reflects differences in values as they relate to social responsibility in taking care of the needy. Our society has been influenced by values like Judeo-Christian humanitarianism and the economic doctrine of laissez faire. Our present social welfare structure is also influenced by these values.