WELFARE STATE
The term was firstly used by Pontiff Temple in 1941. However, some other
authors emphasize that it was firstly used in 1934 by Alfred Zimmern who is
from Oxford, besides that, it became even more popular thanks to the ‘’Citizen
and Churchman’’ book, written in 1940. Nevertheless, its widespread in
literature occurred by Beceridge Report in 1942. It is seen that before and most
of 20th century, ‘’welfare’’ and ‘’state’’ terms aren’t used together. It is only
between the years of 1945 and 1980 that these two words have a strong
relationship. During that period, the statement of ‘’welfare state’’ became a
common idiom in politics and citizen language.
Therefore, the statement of ‘’welfare state’’, which became widespread in
1930’s and 1940’s, can be accepted as a new term as it is a new term that belongs
to recent times. Welfare state notion has a relative meaning and when
economical, political and cultural legacy and historical developments are taken
into consideration, it can be interpreted in different ways. Indeed, almost every
state and each person interprets welfare state in different ways. Welfare state
notions generally focus on how and why a state interferes in economy and its
citizens’ welfare.
Another start point accepted for modern welfare state is the social insurance
application that was brought by Bismark in 1883 for the first time. Before these,
there had been a number of laws for the poor people but these aren’t generally
accepted as a start for welfare state. When we have a look at the countries that
welfare state was born, we can see that welfare state implementations started in
19th century, Germany and then spread to North America and ...
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...al development of social welfare can be shortly
summarized as stated below.
• Firstly, it can be seen that residual welfare approach left its place to institutional approach.
• Second, social welfare became more than services done by charity emotions, it turned into a human right coming from being a citizen.
• Third, it had been a service concept for the poor in the past but then it had a global shape to meet the needs of all of population.
• Fourth, to reinforce human source potential, wide welfare spending was passed from narrow welfare budget.
• Fifth, the reasons of unemployment used to be thought as personal error and lacks, but then it started to be thought that unemployment is reasoned by state and institutions’ inefficient conditions.
• The final one is, the responsibility of providing social welfare moved to public from person and institutions.
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
... objective was to pull out people from poverty as the poor migrates to the urban were duly attracted to the incentives provided by the welfare. Not only has it reduced the amount of federal spending it also provides the welfare to be more efficient as the people are only allowed to receive federal support with a limited time span.
Blau, J. (2004). The dynamics of social welfare policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
The idea of a welfare state was created from a misguided desire to gain social equality. This created a society dependent on the government, but with encouragement of individualism this dependence will be removed. The ideological perspective of the author is neoconservative, which in the message the author is trying to suggest that individuals in a welfare state will become dependent on the government to provide them with programs and initiatives. The author believes a state should not be involved within the economy and should encourage individualism. This is shown when the author says “a culture dependency on the state has emerged” and “only in a state that promotes individualism will such dependency be eliminated”. This relates to liberalism because of how it promotes self interest and self reliance compared to collective well being, this is shown when the author says “ only in a state that promotes individualism will such dependency be eliminated”. Society should rather embrace and develop the idea of a welfare state, which can improve and become beneficial to the state.
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.
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).
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
...enefits. The definition of disabilities also changed. (Morales, Sheafor, 2000) This forced many people who had previously been eligible for aid, off of the welfare roles.
...ican welfare system has many flaws and I have identified major problems and possible solutions/policy recommendations. We can’t completely dismiss government assistance because we are a land of the equality of all and should be proud to have services that help the less fortunate. However, we must identify people who misuse and people who become too comfortable. We can’t continue to fall deeper into debt by supporting people who are not making an effort to support themselves. Nonetheless, we should help and assist those who are constantly trying to become educated, skilled, and experienced enough to become self-sufficient. I will close with a quote from the article about welfare helping a lady survive while she was studying. Currently she has a degree and a job as a manager. “I had clear goals,” “I wasn’t raised to sit at home expecting a check to come in the mail.”
The prospect of the welfare state in America appears to be bleak and almost useless for many citizens who live below the poverty line. Katz’s description of the welfare state as a system that is “partly public, partly private, partly mixed; incomplete and still not universal; defeating its own objectives” whereas has demonstrates how it has become this way by outlining the history of the welfare state which is shown that it has been produced in layers. The recent outcomes that Katz writes about is the Clinton reform in 1996 where benefits are limited to a period of two years and no one is allowed to collect for more than five years in their lifetime unless they are exempted. A person may only receive an exemption on the grounds of hardship in which states are limited to granting a maximum of 20% of the recipient population. The logic behind this drastic measure was to ensure that recipients would not become dependent upon relief and would encourage them to seek out any form of employment as quickly as possible. State officials have laid claim to this innovation as a strategy that would “save millions of children from poverty.” However, state officials predict otherwise such as an increase in homelessness, a flooding of low-waged workers in the labour market, and decreased purchasing power which means less income from tax collections. The outcomes of this reform appear to be bleak for many Americans who reside below the poverty line. How does a wealthy country like America have such weak welfare system? Drawing upon Katz, I argue that the development of the semi-welfare state is a result of the state taking measures to ensure that the people do not perceive relief as a right and to avoid exploiting the shortfalls of capitalism ...
Mouhammed, A. H. (2011). Important theories of unemployment and public policies. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 12(5), 100-110.