How can a social investment approach improve a country’s well-being? In social investment, resources are invested in people and policies are designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities and support their participation in employment and social life. The main policy areas targeted by social investment include health, education & training, childcare, employment. Due to changing socio-economic conditions, a country’s welfare state is constantly considered to be in development. A new concept of welfare has recently evolved since the final years of the twentieth century, and this has changed the social protection concept to that of social investment. Given that this concept is vague, it is mainly based upon the investment in human capital …show more content…
These socio-economic situations are leading to a transition towards alternative and active welfare states, which are resulting in higher labour market participation, thus altering the traditional notion of social citizenship which is based on social rights, putting more emphasis on reciprocity of rights and duties. Individual social responsibility gained more importance in social policy, but at the same time the social investment model puts emphasis on equal opportunities and increasing social mobility. The social investment approach is based on three fundamental concepts; the importance of having social protection systems (welfare states) which cater for the citizen’s needs, especially at critical phases of their lives, thus reducing the risk of social breakdown which causes higher social spending; better accessible social policies to deliver adequate and sustainable social protection systems, which may need lower budgets, therefore less stress on public coffers, but which are more efficient in social policy expenditure; implementation of active inclusion strategies by (amongst various) providing affordable or subsidised childcare and education, reduction of early school leaving numbers, training & employment assistance, housing support and accessible health …show more content…
Single mothers, inactive women of working age and elderly women over 75 were particularly at risk of poverty. The greater exposure of women to the risk of poverty and exclusion partly resulted from 42% lower overall earnings, through the combination of three gender gaps. More equal opportunities for women are creating better access to the labour market, support for independent living and thus better social protection particularly in retirement. Childcare assistance is a key factor in enabling female employment and encouraging labour market participation. There is a strong correlation between the employment rates of women with young children and the proportion who have access to formal childcare, especially in the first three years of a child’s life. Social investment approaches also focus on benefits and services that help people to achieve lasting positive social outcomes throughout their lives and reducing the dependency on benefits. In 2012, on average 12 % of the EU-27 population was overburdened by housing costs, but for those at risk of poverty the figure was 39 %. For the non-poor it
This essay will look at defining what social policy is and give a brief overview of the selected policy. Examining the need for the policy, statistical evidence supporting this. Then the pressure groups lobbying and who may have been influential in policy development.
The lives of all individuals are impacted by social policies that have been created and written in the past and this impact will continue as historical social policies are updated and with each future social policies that is created and written. The impact of social policy is significant because, “Although social policy may address individual needs, it also typically benefits the host society” (Chapin, 2014, p.2). In other words, each social policy does not directly impact each individual in society, but overall social policies impact the entire society in some form or another. “Social policies are the rules, laws, and regulations that govern the benefits and services provided by the government and private organizations to assist people in
Social care and healthcare are both included in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill. In England, there are two bodies that handle matters relating to social welfare. The National Care Standards is tasked with registering bodies that provide social care. The performance and progress of the organizations are monitored by the Social Services Inspectorate. The analysis of the social aspects of care involves collecting data that is analyzed so as to identify the differences that cause variation in the health of different people. The data collected may not be simple to understand. As a result, it requires a deeper analysis so as to establish the social factors affecting health (Larkin, 2011).
Throughout this assignment a variety of terminology will be used, first it is appropriate to define what the term ‘Social Policy’ means. Social policy can be defined in different ways and ‘there is no established or agreed definition of social policy’ (Baldock et, al., 1999:21). From reading different books on social policy, the author’s understanding of social policy is it provides guidelines to deal with social problems . Social problems are matters which direct...
“Poverty in the United States.” Congressional Digest 89.10 (2010): 298-300. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.
The welfare state is a political system that has been an important ideology used by countries that provide social programs to its people. One may say that the rise of the welfare state is caused by capitalist needs that lead to failure and end up hurting the well-being of its people. When the country is faced with a critical situation that hurts the people and the economy, the government is required to provide welfare programs that attempt to cure the consequences of failures of the country. For example, the Great Depression was the result of an economic crisis that caused the decline of people’s well-being. The society was faced with tremendous financial problems and the only way to fixed it was by providing an efficient welfare system, such as the New Deal. Among the programs certain acts passed, like the Social Security Act, provided benefits and compensation to workers and
It can’t be seen at from just one single angle, trying to find one single indicator. This gets clearer once we look at the other side of the coin i.e. the definition of social inclusion that was given by the EU Employment and Social Affairs Directorate, “The development of capacity and opportunity to play a full role, not only in economic terms, but also in social, psychological and political terms.” Practically speaking, if the idea of who qualifies as eligible to be called socially included, was based on only one determining factor, say, income, then, we would never have understood the plight of a person who might earn above that set standard of income, but does not have a say in who his/her country would be led by, ergo, a person who’s not poor yet, deprived of something essential. How can we even imagine living in a world framed by policies that ignore things as important as
"A Profile of the Working Poor". Center for Poverty Research, 24 July 2013. Web. 6
Jansson defines social policies as “collective strategies to prevent and address social problems.” They are “collective” because they are binding on those populations, communities, companies, and jurisdictions to which they apply (Jansson, 2016, p. 22). For example, the United States government have created policies to address the needs of a variety of social issues such as food and nutrition, assistance for needy families, housing assistance, health, unemployment benefits, equal opportunity, anti-discrimination laws, child welfare, and mental illness (Marx, n.d.). These social policies help promote the disadvantage, advance social change, ensure social protection from discrimination, and improve well-being of vulnerable individuals, families and children. Jansson (2016) noted “the policies are vertically distributed at the federal, state, and local government; community; and agency or organizational levels” (Jansson, 2016, p. 24).
Based on the a article “The Definition of Social Policy” my understanding of social welfare policy is law and rules that are set in place to develop the lives of people in the community and allow them to thrive. Social welfare is not only about programs and benefits provided by the government to assist disadvantaged groups. It is far more complex than that as Midgley states “This narrow meaning fails to capture the original significance of the term,
Poverty is a social issue that has be a problem for humanity since the beginning of time. Poverty has been a consistent and ongoing problem throughout history all over the world (Rasheed, 2013). No matter what the society is like or the median salary inside that society there have always been people who are homeless and starving (Rasheed, 2013). Despite the United States being a modern, developed country we still struggle with poverty and unemployment (Rasheed, 2013). Every day there are people struggling to find food, clothing and shelter. This problem in society has various effects on different government institutions (Rasheed, 2013). The federal government measures poverty by the numbers (Rasheed, 2013). “In 2007, the federal “poverty line” was set at $16,530 for a family of three and $21,203 for a family of four (USCB) (Rasheed, 2013).” If a family makes less money a year than they can live on they are officially classified as poor (Rasheed, 2013). “According to the Census Bureau, about 12.3 percent of all Americans were living in poverty in 2006 (Rasheed, 2013).” That means there are 36 million people at or below poverty level in the United States (Rasheed, 2013).
In academic discourse concept reemerged in the 1980s in France and then spread in most European countries, Latin and North America, and Asia. In the beginning of 21st century the social economy is considered as a possibility for a “third way” of development after the collapse of state-controlled economies and the criticism of liberal economies.
Walsh, M., Stephens, P and Moore, S (2005)Social Policy and Welfare, Cheltenham, Stanley Thrones Publishers Ltd
Social welfare dates back almost 50 years, but through those years the real question is, what is social welfare? The interesting part of social welfare is that one persons definition or belief may be different from another’s belief. The truth is, not one person is right about the definition or ideology of social welfare. Social welfare programs have grown, shrunk, stabilized, and declined over the years, and today many believe that we are in a period of decline. The text “Ideology and Social Welfare” states that there are four different views to social welfare, all having their unique attributes. Personally, my view is a combination of the reluctant collectivists, the anti-collectivist, and the Fabian socialists view. I strongly believe that government intervention is necessary in order to control and regulate social welfare while keeping ethics in mind, but at the same time, it is not necessary for everyone. People have the ability to change their lives for the better with hard work and dedication. My opinion is just one of the hundreds that exist today, but as proven throughout history, not one person is necessarily right. The three approaches towards social welfare, the reluctant collectivist approach, the Fabian socialist approach, and the anti-collectivist approach, encompass critical points on social welfare and what can be done to avoid inequality.
Social Policy as an academic subject can be discussed as the search of theoretical norms on how society should behave and the practical application of implementing policies considered to be social. (Alcock et al 2004) The study of social policy was originally known as social administration. (Spicker, 2008) describes social policy as relating to social services which include health, education, housing and social work. Spiker also describes these as being the “The Big Five”. Subjects like Social care offers contextual material about the many aspects required to develop social policies. Social Care touches on subjects such as sociology which gives a better understanding of minority groups and social control. The study of Social Policy and social care are both focused on welfare and people’s needs or problems such as disabilities, mental illness or poverty. While social care is mainly focused on the individual and social policy on the welfare of the individual both are needed simultaneously to deliver any