Social Welfare for a Global Era

International Perspectives on Policy and Practice

James O. Midgley

• Editorial: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Año: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781483314167
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Sciences sociales
• Categoría: Travail social

Written by internationally renowned author and scholar James Midgley, Social Welfare for a Global Era provides a comprehensive framework for examining social welfare from a global perspective. Drawing on a large body of literature and his own extensive knowledge of the field, Dr. Midgley offers students, scholars, and practitioners an up-to-date account of the complex ways social well-being is enhanced in the global era, including the major welfare institutions that provide a cultural context for social welfare policy and practice.

Part I The Global Context

1 The Field of International Social Welfare

This book defines international social welfare broadly to include a great variety of practical activities that promote social wellbeing around the world. The term is also used to refer to the academic study of these activities. As mentioned in the book’s introduction, practical activities, which are known as interventions, include policies, programs, services, and projects. These interventions are implemented by different agents in the context of culturally embedded institutions. The field’s second aspect, namely the academic study of international social welfare, is concerned with documenting, classifying, analyzing, and evaluating these activities. Scholars have also developed theories that explain how welfare institutions evolve and function in different societies, and in addition to studying welfare institutions, they have undertaken research into policies and programs that operate at the international level. Academic inquiry into international social welfare has expanded rapidly in recent years. Today, scholars in sociology, political science, and economics, and in interdisciplinary fields, such as social policy, development studies, and social work all contribute to understanding the complex ways that social welfare is promoted in the global era.

The chapter begins with an account of the practical aspects of international social welfare by describing the different types of interventions that are used to enhance social wellbeing. These include social policies, social plans, social services, programs, and projects. It then discusses the major welfare institutions that provide a cultural context for the implementation of interventions. These institutions also shape the way different agents implement interventions. Next, the academic study of international social welfare is examined by tracing the historical evolution of the field and discussing the multiple contributions of scholars working in different disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects over the years. Different academic approaches are reviewed and some of the methodological issues arising from international social welfare scholarship are discussed. Finally, the benefits as well as the challenges of engaging in international social welfare are considered, revealing that today there is a greater awareness of the challenges facing international social welfare practice and scholarship and that many of these challenges are being addressed. This augurs well for the future and suggests that the field is rich with opportunities to contribute to social wellbeing around the world.

Practical Aspects of International Social Welfare

The practical dimensions of international social welfare are concerned with interventions that are purposefully designed to promote people’s wellbeing. Although some commonplace activities like showing kindness to others are not usually regarded as interventions, they contribute to social wellbeing and should be kept in mind, especially when considering the role of nonformal welfare institutions. Also, those activities that diminish social wellbeing by fostering illfare should also be kept in mind. Nevertheless, this book focuses on those interventions, including policies, plans, services, programs, and projects that are purposefully intended to enhance social wellbeing.

Policies are prescriptive statements that define goals and govern the implementation of services and programs. Policies are formulated by many different organizations, including nonprofits and commercial firms, but many social welfare scholars focus on the policies and programs of governments, which may be contrasted with other types of government policy, for example dealing with national defense, the environment, or international relations. Government social policies are based on legislation and implemented by public agencies responsible for the major social services. As discussed in Chapter 8, governments also use incentives, regulations, the tax system, and mandates to implement their policies. Although formulated primarily by politicians and their professional staff, interest groups, lobbyists, the media and public opinion can also affect the formulation of social policies. The implementation of government social policies is usually the responsibility of the civil service, which is also responsible for evaluating outcomes; however, it is now quite common to contract out or outsource services to nonprofits and commercial providers.

Plans direct and facilitate the implementation of policies by setting quantifiable goals that are implemented according to a predetermined time scale. Plans concerned with social policies are known as social plans and are focused on improving health, education, employment, standards of living, and enhancing social service coordination and delivery. In Western countries, social planning is usually undertaken through the regular budgetary process, whereas in many developing countries, separate governmental planning agencies are created at the national level to formulate long-term plans that define social and economic development goals. Planning is also undertaken, although on a lesser scale, by nonprofit and faith-based organizations and commercial firms.

Services are well-established provisions designed to benefit particular groups of people (known as clients or sometimes as consumers) on a regular basis, and are the primary means governments use to implement social policies. Generally, social policy writers focus on the “big five” social services that include social protection (including social insurance and social assistance), health and medical services, educational programs, housing, and the social work services. This latter group is also known as the personal social services, human services, or family welfare services. They include mental health, child welfare, and family services as well as services provided to elders and people with disabilities. Although some writers believe that transportation services, nutritional programs, and the correctional system should be regarded as social services, they are seldom included in the social policy literature. Although the social services have historically been administered by government agencies, it was mentioned earlier that they are often contracted out or outsourced to nonprofits and commercial providers.

Services are very similar to programs and the two terms are often used interchangeably, although programs are usually of shorter duration than services. Projects are small-scale and time-limited interventions usually implemented at the local level by nonprofit and community associations, but of course, government can also implement these types of projects. Projects are widely used in developing countries to serve low-income communities and they are often funded by international donors through aid programs. Generally, projects are concerned with achieving short-term goals, such as constructing maternal and child health clinics, or establishing youth centers or cooperatives. Unlike projects, programs may comprise a number of projects, but they are not usually located in particular communities. Like services, programs are often funded by governments, but contracted out to nonprofits and commercial providers.

People, groups, and organizations that implement interventions are known as agents. Welfare administrators, managers, policymakers, planners, and professionals, such as social workers, teachers, and nurses are readily identified as welfare agents, but the contribution of paraprofessionals and volunteers should also be recognized. Families, grassroots community associations, and clubs are also welfare agents as are formal organizations, such as nonprofit and faith-based organizations, commercial firms, and government agencies, including social service departments or ministries. Welfare agents also include foundations and international organizations, for example the United Nations, International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the World Bank. As will be apparent, many different individuals, groups, and organizations function as welfare agents to promote social welfare in the global era.

The Role of Welfare Institutions

Welfare agents do not operate in isolation, but channel their activities through culturally embedded institutions. These include nonformal institutions, such as the family and community as well as formal institutions, including philanthropy, the market, and state. These institutions have evolved over the centuries and shape the activities of agents who promote social wellbeing at the individual, family, community, and societal levels—as well as the international level. Although the major welfare institutions are briefly described in this chapter, they are examined in more detail in Part II of this book. The role of different agents operating within the context of these institutions is also considered.

Some welfare institutions are more prominent in some societies than others. Nonformal institutions are especially important in traditional communities in the Global South while statutory institutions play a more prominent role in the Western nations. Nevertheless, both formal and nonformal institutions operate throughout the world today. As in the Western countries, the governments of developing countries have assumed greater responsibility for social welfare, especially after the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000 by the member states of the United Nations. Government involvement is set to continue with the recent adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Also, the number of nonprofit organizations has increased rapidly in the developing world where they previously played a minor role. Another development is the greater prominence given to the market in social welfare and the emergence of new institutional approaches like social development.

The oldest and most pervasive nonformal welfare institutions are composed of family and community welfare practices. The family is arguably the most important nonformal welfare institution since it is the locus of care, nurturing of children, and support of needy family members. Throughout history, women assumed primary responsibility for caring, but this situation is changing, particularly in Western countries, where men are much more involved than before. Traditionally, the family has also been the site of economic activities. For centuries, family members worked together in agriculture, herding, trade, and similar activities to meet their material needs. With industrialization and the expansion of wage employment, the family has been distanced from these livelihood activities, but even today family members share resources and many assist in running family businesses. Families also seek to solve social problems, often with the help of kin, friends, neighbors, and other community members.

Welfare practices also operate at the community level through social supports and reciprocal obligations. Throughout the world, many local people use community support networks and participate in projects that promote community wellbeing; many also belong to member-owned mutual aid associations and cooperatives. These activities are particularly strong in the Global South where village people collaborate to build wells, bridges, and roads, and where farmers help each other with planting and harvesting crops. However, similar cooperative activities are also found in Western rural communities. Community support networks also function in the cities of Western countries where neighbors often provide care for elders, small children, and needy families.

Nonformal welfare practices give expression to institutionalized cooperative values and expectations rooted in reciprocal exchanges. Cultural expectations of this kind are particularly strong in traditional communities in the Global South and among migrants in Western countries where familial, kin, and clan networks link people together. Unlike many Western countries where family obligations have been eroded by a decline in the extended family and by the rise of individualism, families in traditional communities are major providers of social welfare. Nonformal welfare is also enshrined in religious mandates to give alms, care for the needy, and support those who provide religious charity. These ideals continue to motivate many people who give generously to charities and support the work of faith-based organizations around the world.

Nonformal welfare practices may be contrasted with formal social welfare institutions that include faith-based and secular philanthropy, the state, the professions, the market, and new institutional practices like social development. They are known as formal institutions because they use organizations, policies and procedures, and often employ staff to achieve welfare goals. Faith-based philanthropy is arguably the oldest formal institution since hospitals, asylums, and orphanages under religious sponsorship catered to those in need for many centuries. However, many faith-based organizations no longer restrict their work to charitable activities, but provide educational and medical services and engage in social development projects. Many have also adopted managerial procedures to enhance their efficiency. In addition, their services are usually not limited to their own congregants, but cater to other groups as well.

Religious philanthropy is augmented by secular philanthropy, which grew rapidly in Western countries in the nineteenth century. Although many nonprofits were founded by pious social reformers, they were not linked to any particular denomination and instead based their activities on what was regarded as a scientific approach that would be efficient and effective. Since then, the nonprofit, voluntary, or third sector has grown exponentially and now functions as a distinctive welfare institution around the world. Although nonprofit organizations were previously not very prominent in the Global South, they are now extensively involved in social welfare, often with the assistance of international donors and foundations.

During this century, the government or the state assumed a major responsibility for social welfare. Although previously limited in scope, government welfare programs expanded rapidly in the years following the Second World War and now consume sizable revenues in the Western nations. They also grew rapidly in the Global South. Governments are the primary provider of education, health care, and social services today and they also address a range of social problems, including poverty, crime, homelessness, and ill-health. In addition to providing social services, governments promote welfare through mandates, regulations, subsidies, and incentives and often the tax system is used for this purpose. Through legislative and executive power, they have the authority and resources to promote social wellbeing on a major scale and it is for this reason that many welfare scholars focus on their activities.

The professions comprise another institutional approach to promoting social well-being. Professionals, such as social workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, and physicians staff the social services both in the governmental and nonprofit sectors and many also work as independent providers. Although different professionals are involved, this book focuses on the role of professional social work to illustrate the way professions contribute to social welfare. Best known for their casework and counseling, social workers bring their skills, values, and knowledge to bear on welfare issues, and in addition they are involved in community organization, residential care, and social service administration. Social workers are also employed by government social service agencies and especially in fields such as child welfare, mental health, and family services; they also work in nonprofit organizations and some are finding employment with commercial providers.

Although the market is an economic institution, it also contributes to social welfare. To meet their needs, families have traded and purchased commodities on markets for centuries and used financial firms to obtain insurance and save for retirement. However, markets have not been as important as the family, philanthropy, or the state, and it is only recently that commercial enterprises have become extensively involved in social welfare, particularly in Western countries. Unlike voluntary organizations, commercial firms are motivated by profits rather than altruism and many have secured lucrative social service contracts from governments. Accordingly, their involvement is controversial. Although many believe that social welfare should not be driven by commercial considerations, others contend that efficiency is increased when competition and the profit motive governs welfare policies and practices.

Another institutionalized approach for promoting social wellbeing, particularly in the Global South is social development. Social development differs from other welfare institutions in that it links social programs directly with economic development. Social development advocates argue that social wellbeing can best be enhanced by harnessing economic growth to create employment, generate incomes, and raise standards of living. Social development projects and programs are implemented largely by grassroots community organizations and nonprofits with the support of governments and international organizations and they make extensive use of social investments to enhance the wellbeing of families, communities, and societies. Although social development emerged in the Global South, it is being adopted in Western countries, even though it has not attracted much attention from social welfare scholars in these countries.

Academic Aspects of International Social Welfare

In addition to comprising a practical field, the term international social welfare refers to academic inquiry into social welfare undertaken by scholars working in different disciplines and interdisciplinary fields, and also by practitioners who have documented welfare projects and programs in many countries. Politi...

Índice

• Cover
• Half Title
• Acknowledgements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Welfare and the Global Era
• Part I The Global Context
• 1 The Field of International Social Welfare
• 2 Understanding the Modern World: From Nation State to Global Era
• 3 Globalization and the Global Era
• Part II Promoting Social Welfare in the Global Era
• 4 Families, Communities, and Nonformal Welfare
• 5Nonprofits and Faith-Based Services: International Dimensions
• 6 Professional Social Work in the International Context
• 7 Welfare, Markets, and Commercial Provision
• 8 Government Welfare in the Modern World
• 9 Governments, Welfare, and Social Change
• 10 Social Welfare and International Social Development
• Part III Social Welfare for a Global Era
• 11 International Collaboration in Social Welfare
• 12 Epilogue: Toward a One World Perspective in Social Welfare
• References
• Index
• About the Author
• Publisher Note