Changes in Welfare Policy - Essay Example

? SOCIAL POLICY AND WELFARE By Social Policy and Welfare Introduction The United Kingdom has undergone major changes in welfare policies over the decades tracing from 1930s up to the current government. These changes have been occasioned by many factors. The major factor has been the political effects on the economy, and the welfare of the citizens. With varied views from different thinkers, social welfare has been swayed from side to side seeking the best argument in developing the correct policy. While performing their part in providing the citizens with good services on their social welfare, the political interplays have taken center stage in the arena, and virtually taken over the entire decision-making. With the power struggle and elements of corruption, racism, and political favoritism, the policies, which would have remained paramount, have been changed from time to time all in an effort to reach an agreeable equilibrium. Social Democracy Following the reformist and gradual methods, the Social democracy approach seeks to put in place democratic socialism. It is a good take to advise that the democratic socialism should not be confused with social democracy. The former is a platform built by the later as will be established in this paper. This is a regime, which has a wider scope, and includes ideologies, which involve welfare states at a universal level. The policy also involves collective bargaining as a scheme. The collective bargaining involves a capitalist economy based framework. The social democrats have urged for the gradual and progressive change of the capitalism approach while healing the wounds from the split, which was suffered between the revolutionary socialists and the reformists. They believed that the gradual change would bridge the gap between the two groups, which seemed to be opposing each other (Walsh, Stephens, and Moore, 2000). By accepting and advocating for the representative democracy, the proponents of social democracy proposed that equal representation was the best way in the rule of law. This idea extends beyond political democracy and includes economic democracy in decision making when it comes to issues of social equity. This approach would give room to employees and stakeholders in the economy to participate in major decision making, rather than leaving the whole task to the political lot who in most cases do work in their personal political gains as compared to the interests of the general citizens. The social democrats worked to the betterment of equity in terms of wealth and opportunity distribution by checking against excesses in inequality. They had established that the high levels of poverty and oppression were because of lack of social representation in economic decision-making forum. In order to attain universal access to public services, the proponents argued for the creation of universal social right to education, treatment and health facilities, as well as proper wage scales for workers. Other services advocated for included child case and care for the aged in the society. The age of social democracy is traced in the 19th century during the era of Karl Marx who advanced the communism ideologies, as well as, international revolutionary socialism. The other proponents included Friedrich Engels and Ferdinand Lassalle though they were in rivalry with Marx over the issue of political influence. This was resolved in the 1869 era when Marx lobbied for the famous Social Democratic Workers Party and worn in Germany. Apart from the Marxists, the Fabian Society of Britain led by Frank Podmore urged for the gradual and reform based evolution in struggling to achieve socialism. The ideas of Podmore influenced Eduard Bernstein who was a strong Marxist, and the influence led to the rejection of some Marxist tenets such as socialist revolution and class conflict. He adopted the evolutionary approach of Podmore. The main ideas of the social democrats were based on the need to push the government to support her people, and to promote social justice and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities of her people. The proponents believed that it was the duty of the state to guard its people against poverty and oppression by the wealthy. These ideas were translated to mean that the less fortunate must be supported by the wealthy in the economy. This would translate to heavy taxes on the wealthy and those in high-ranking offices in order to generate money to support the less fortunate. The New Right Approach Being the opposite of social democratic approach, the New Right approach was established as a check on the accesses of socialist powers, which were rather being misused. Those who were referred to as ‘less fortunate’ had become more dependent on the government grants and support while ignoring the need to struggle at personal levels. The products of New Right approach were to see to the improved international trade participation and empowering individuals, as well as, institutions on their financial powers. The disempowering of the socialist unions was one of the intentions of this approach. Conservation was the driving force as the proponents such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan saw it. The commitment was aimed at neo-liberalism, and conservation of the social classes necessitated the move. Businesses were to be deregulated while national industries were to be privatized for ease of operations. This would move the economy of the country by huge figures as compared to the spreading of wealth to those who seemingly never wanted to put their fingers into real development, but instead sit and wait for the government to feed and nourish them. Thus, the government was awakening to a new era of real-time development with individual efforts highly appreciated without fear of oppression on anyone. The employment opportunities went higher since privatization led to automatic job creation. Dependency levels also went down significantly. Crime rates were reduced, and education sector picked up as citizens were seeking for academic power to secure the numerous jobs available. The other proponents of this theory apart from Thatcher and Reagan were Enoch Powel who contributed greatly to Thatcher’s economic policy, John Redwood who was also a Conservative MP, and John Chudd who alongside Terry Moe came up with New Right Theory in their book ‘Politics, Markets and America’s Schools’. On a contrasting platform, the two perspectives of social policies are totally contrasting. The former policy of social democrats promoted dependency of the low class on the wealthy. This could only solve the problem at face value but could not go deep into a permanent economic solution. On the other hand, the New Right approach, which came into action at the fall of the economy, salvaged the situation by taking a radical stance. The deregulation of businesses meant that one could operate their business with very few limitations. The government was not depended upon in matters of equity. This led to disarmament of the social groupings and subsequently opened their eyes to economic growth and power at personal levels. While the former policy advocated for equitable distribution of resources, the proponents did not take into account the source of these resources. They did not consider the toil of the wealthy in acquiring the wealth. Thus, the less wealthy members of the society were subjected to the assumption that they automatically had a share in the wealth of any other wealthy person by right. By such, crime rates went up. On the other hand, the New Right approach introduced a policy, which ensured that individuals operated at personal levels, and the central government had a reduced task of ensuring unnecessary equity measures and checks. New Labor As a relief to both ideologists, the New Labor party and its ideologies came in handy under the strong leadership of Tony Blair and other proponents. This was a synthesis of the two antagonistic policies of social democracy and New Right. In finding a synchrony, the proponents of New Labor rebranded the Labor Party which in existence. The New Labor was welcomed by the society naturally, as a unifying factor based on its modern ideas, which encompassed the entire society. Social justice replaced the struggle between democrats’ equity understanding and the New Right’s take on conservation. As a means of controlling resource distribution, the New Labor implemented good strategies such as free markets in the economy while rejecting capitalism as was understood by socialists. The efficiency of capitalism was maintained and used positively to enable free market stability and nationwide distribution of resources (Bochel and Defty, 2007). The manifesto that was introduced in 2001 which aimed at welfare reforms was welcomed positively. It was to check on taxation at family levels, national childcare, and the minimum wage for employees. Thus, work was promoted, and dependency levels reduced significantly. The crime rates were checked by facilitating the connection between the social environments and the police authorities. Traditional approaches of treating criminal activities were also re-established (Moore, 2002). The proponents of the New Labor policies included Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson, and Alastair Campbell. Conclusion While the Social Democratic approach was meant to reinforce equitable distribution of resources, the result was different from the real intention. Leadership styles adopted were more of laissez faire in which checks and balances were not easy to monitor. The society was spoilt with respect to labor. Thus, laziness and anti-interventionism was promoted. Crime increased because of overdependence on the government subsidies. While the New Right came into counteract the Social Democracy, individualism was promoted, and a level of oppression was re-introduced. This was the opposite of universalism as was expressed in the former policy. As a state intervention, the New Labor was set up to rescue the entire process and methods of ensuring equitable and sustainable resource allocation for the whole nation. This method has been borrowed and used in many parts of the world. Economies have grown because of the implementation of New Labor laws, and international standards have been set based on the very laws, which were originally used during the leadership of Tony Blair. Works Cited Bochel, H., and Defty, A 2007, Welfare Policy Under New Labor: Views from Inside Westminster, The Policy Press, England. Chubb, J 1990, Politics, Markets, and America's Schools, Brookings Institution Press, America Moore, S 2002, Social Welfare Alive! Nelson Thornes, England. Walsh, M., Stephens, P., and Moore, S 2000, Social Policy and Welfare, Nelson Thornes, England Read More