Defining social welfare It is difficult to define

Defining social welfare • It is difficult to define social welfare universally as services and practices of helping people differ from society to society and time to time. • There are many definitions of social welfare. • e. g. • Macarov says that in Poland social welfare is the compensation for injuries suffered in great risks like war, that lead to inability to work. • In Australia, Australia it is a public right to benefits, both by the individuals and the society as a whole.

• In Sweden social welfare is the redistribution of income more evenly, and in Iran, goals include bettering the quality of workforce and encouraging people to save. • David Macarov, The Design of Social welfare. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1978. p, 23.

• In America, America Social welfare means giving money to the poor– to people who cannot or do not work to support themselves and their families.

• According to W. A. Friedlander, social welfare is “an organized system of laws, programmes, benefits, and services, which strengthens or assures provision for meeting social needs…basic for the welfare of the population and … the social order… to aid individuals and groups to attain satisfying standard of life and health , and personal and social relationships which permit them to develop their full capacities and to promote their well-being in harmony with their families and the economy. • ( Phyllis J, Day. 1989, A New History of Social Welfare. London: Allyn & Bacon, p. 34. )

• Another expert says it is • “ a nation’s system of programmes, benefits, and services that help people meet those social , economic, educational and health needs that are fundamental to the maintenance of society. ” • ( Karen k, Kirst-Ashman, 2007, Introduction to Social work & social welfare. Belmont : Thomson, p. 6. )

For simplicity, the term is defined here in two different ways namely • 1. The Descriptive definition and • 2. the Functional definition.

The Descriptive Definition • The descriptive definition further falls into two categories 1. Social welfare as Non-market economic transfers 2. Social welfare as services to meet basic needs Descriptive: explain something: to give an account of something by giving details of its characteristics ۔ classifying: serving mainly to label, describe, or classify. Descriptive definition of social welfare labels/classifies Social Welfare as services for the needy

1. Social welfare as Non-market economic transfers of Benefits • Under Market System if some one needs some goods or services, he or she has to pay for that as per market value. • But social welfare services do not operate this way. • Some people get medicals services for free. Why? In Pakistan majority get this for free. why? • Food support programmes subsidized the price of groceries. Why?

• Some experts have made this point as a base for their definition and say; • It [Social Welfare] is a set of organized arrangements which results in the production and distribution to consumers of economic out put by methods, or on the basis of principles, which differ from those of the free economic market or prevailing OR • a benefit allocation mechanism functioning outside the economic marketplace • (Popple, R. Philip & Leighninger. Social work, social welfare and American society)

• If someone pays full price for what he/she buys, it is not social welfare. If some one pays less than full value, and gets things of need, that person is receiving social welfare. The second characteristic of social welfare is that it is not always for poor. In modern welfare states like UK, “Some people are getting some things for nothing” like child benefits. EXAMPLES • Utility Stores • CSD • Army welfare Shop

2. Social welfare as services to meet basic needs • A philosopher Nicholas Rescher, points out that the term welfare as is used currently, is derived from the original root meaning of (wel + fare) fare ‘having a good trip or journey”, journey thus conveying the idea of traveling smoothly on the road of life • But it does not relate to all aspects of smooth journey, it relates only to basic requisites of a person’s well-being in general , and it deals with health and economic adequacy.

• This characterization with reference to the basic --- makes transparently clear one negative feature of welfare in its relation to human well-being in general, namely, that welfare is a matter of well-being and not in its global totality but in its “ basic requisites”.

● ● ● This approach to social welfare which defines it as services designed to bring peoples’ wellbeing up to some minimal level, level is popular. The Encyclopedia of social work defines social welfare as “ an organized efforts to ensure a basic standard of decency in relation to the physical and material well-being of citizenry ﻭہ ﻣﻨﻈﻢ کﺎﻭﺵ ﺟﻮ کہ ﺷہﺮیﻮں کی ﻃﺒﻌی ﻭ ﻣﺎﺩی ﺧﻮﺷﺤﺎﻟی ﺳے ﻣﺘﻌﻠﻖ ﺑﻨیﺎﺩی ﻣﻌیﺎﺭﺷﺎﺋﺴﺘگی کﻮ یﻘیﻨی ﺑﻨﺎﺋے Eg. If you are getting two times meal and having a clean dress and a place to live in, participating in family and community affairs, and a little bit of recreation etc, and you have a job, then you are having a standard of Decency. q q Decency: conformity with moral standards: behavior or an attitude that conforms to the commonly accepted standards of what is right and respectable. Citizenry: citizens: the citizens of a place or area collectively

• Rescher notes that social welfare is more than physical and material welfare. • It also deals with people relations with each other and their personal and close range interaction (family contacts, professional interaction, friendship, and other human relationships) which are key aspects of well-being • Therefore, this means of defining social welfare include services such as recreation, socialization and counseling Descriptive: classifying: serving mainly to label, describe, or classify. Descriptive definition of social welfare labels/classifies Social Welfare as services for the needy

FUNCTIONAL DEFINITION • The functional definition for social welfare as given by Popple, p. and Leighninger, L. is as follow; • For society to survive , individuals must function as interdependent units, each carrying out the full range of his/ her role and responsibilities. A society cannot survive if it contains too many individuals Who cannot function in an interdependent manner i. e. who are dependent).

• On the other hand, , the social system cannot endure if it contains too many dysfunctional cultural patterns and inefficient structures that inhibit people’s ability to functions in an interdependent manner.

• This can be explained as this. • Up until 19 th century, the basic institutions. Like family and religion were able to handle the prob. of dependency. – This does not mean these institutions handled the problem well. • People were poor, disabled, sick, mentally ill, and starving to death. • Dependent people were few in no. and were spread out. • And the basic institutions were able to do enough so that they did not constitute a threat to the stability of the society.

• As society evolved from rural agrarian to urban industrial, these institutions lost the ability to handle dependency. When society recognized dependency as a threat , it began to do some thing to handle dependence and facilitate interdependence. Thus, a separate institution was established— social welfare institution.

AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL INSTITITION

• What is an institution? • According to Dictionary, an institution is a large important organization such as University, college, church, Mosque etc • OR • An institution is a building where certain people are looked after. e. g. Disabled children, mentally ill people.

– In sociology a social institution refers to a system or custom that is considered an important or typical feature of particular society or group, usually because it has existed for a long time and which satisfies some basic needs e. g. family, marriage, education, religion.

• Basic social institutions & their functions • 1 -Family; • Primary personal care • Mutual assistance system between children and parents & between family unit and society

• 2. educational institution • Socialization in a uniform way of all the youngest and preparation for productive, participatory citizenship

• 3 - Economic institutions • Allocation & distribution of goods and services

• 4. political institution • Distribution of powers and authorities • OR • Authoritative allocation of public social goals and values

• 5. Religious Institutions • Promotion of personal meaning and understanding of ultimate concern of life • OR • Beliefs and practices in super natural powers

• Social welfare institutions • Provision of support to sustain or attain social functioning • S. w. institutions respond to the needs of society and its members for health, education, and well-being.

• Social welfare is the first –line support to individuals to cope successfully with a changing economic and social environment and to assure the stability and development of social institutions (Romanyshyn & Romanyshyn; 1971; 34) • OR

• The administration of certain services to individuals or families who find it impossible or difficult to maintain themselves and their dependents in material solvency and in health by their own efforts (klein 1968)

Social welfare defined • Another meaning of social welfare derives from its role as an academic discipline. In this sense social welfare is the study of agencies, programmes, personnel, and policies which focus on the delivery of social services to individuals, groups and communities.

• One of the functions of social welfare discipline is to educate and train social workers. • Some colleges and universities call their professional preparation programme for social work practice “social work” and other call their programmes as social welfare.

Social services & social welfare services • Social services • refer to mean those services which are required on a very extensive scale by the normal population. • These services seek to meet the basic needs of the people and include services for health, education, housing, communication etc.

social welfare services • Not only in In Pakistani context but the entire ESCAP region the term is used to describe those services which are required by the vulnerable sections of the society and includes services for the handicapped and the traditionally under privileged groups such as minorities, women, children etc. •

SOCAIL POLICY DEFINED • Government policy in the area of welfare, and the academic study of its development, implementation and impacts, is called social policy. a program of actions adopted by a person, group, or government, or the set of principles on which they are based Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993 -2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

• The general accepted concept of social policy encompasses education, health, housing, social security, , including transfer payments such as pension, and the personal social services.

• The academic study of social policy developed initially as part of the longer established study of government policy associated with political science and public administration. Consequently, the field of study was originally that of social administration, which centered on the empirical

• examination of policy and the issues it was concerned with. This tradition is still central to the discipline, providing important information and analysis, such as by using evidences of government expenditure patterns to test assumption about the nature of government policies.

Welfare State • welfare state is a buzz word today. Every country call herself a welfare state but the level of welfare services vary from society to society. • The term refers to “those societies where the government has the responsibility for the wellbeing of the citizens and that this cannot be entrusted to the individual, private corporations, or local community.

• A welfare state typically protects people against poverty by means of 1. 2. 3. 4. Unemployment benefits Family allowances Income supplements for the poorly paid and Old age pension the state provide comprehensive medical care, free education, public housing. • These programmes are financed by state insurance schemes and taxation. •

• Welfare state also refers to organizing, financing, and provision of welfare benefits and services by government. The term “ welfare state” is used to describe the combination of benefits and services intended to increase the wellbeing of citizens and provided either directly or indirectly.

The welfare state also seeks to relieve poverty and reduce inequality by guaranteeing a minimum level of financial assistance through social security or unemployment benefits.