Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of the Welfare State

1. Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of the Welfare State The SCEWS Model S = Socio C = Cultural E = Evolution W = Welfare S = State

2. Problem StatementsWelfare State Analysis • Cross-national welfare state analysis rarely accounts for the socio-cultural foundations of each nation which have a unique influence on the way that poverty is interpreted and addressed as a social problem. • Discipline-specific research (political, economic, sociological etc.) of welfare states using discipline favored theories that analyze only particular welfare state attributes results in a lack of conceptual analysis of the welfare state in its entirety. • The macro conceptualization of the welfare state incorporating social rights, equality and eradication of social exclusion versus the micro level of individual services, in which these goals are put into practice, results in ambiguity in the analysis within and between nations.

3. Problem StatementsSocial Work Discipline • The social work discipline lacks the requisite grounding in history, social philosophy, political theory and political economy to proactively influence social policy relative to poverty reduction. • Social work’s legacy of remedial intervention at the individual level has hindered consideration for the broader systemic problems of poverty and involvement in welfare state analysis. • Social workers have a poor understanding of how globalization influences domestic practice.

4. Rationale for the Model • Facilitate interdisciplinary research to develop a comprehensive perspective of cross-national welfare state and poverty state analysis. • Provide a common model for international comparative analysis of social policy. • Enhance the intellectual rigor of social sciences. • Incorporate social science principles into economic and political realms of welfare state influence. • Enhance the social work role in domestic and global arenas.

5. SCEWS Model Rationale • Account for the pervasive influence of history, ideology and culture in all dimensions of welfare state analysis, within and between nations. • Explain the evolution of welfare states by virtue of socio-cultural interactions with political institutions. • Identify the circular interaction between economics, politics and culture in the social policy process. • Enhance socio-economic and political interpretations of welfare state poverty differences.

6. Questions that Underlie the Model • What is the unifying social history of poverty? • How is poverty defined as a social problem? • How have societies dealt with poverty? • What are the different types of welfare states? • What are the similarities between them? • How have historical, cultural, economic and political experiences influenced welfare state emergence? • What are the ramifications of the model for the social work profession?

7. The History of Poverty in Western Culture • The Evolution of Civil Society • Greek Political and Moral Philosophy • Roman Law and the Justinian Code • The Church and Early Poor Relief Endeavors • The Elizabethan Poor Law

8. Philosophical Underpinnings of the Welfare State • Politics and Social Contract Theory – Hobbes, Locke, Rosseau • Moral Philosophy – Hume, Kant • The Political Economy Paradigm – Smith, Malthus, Owen, Mill • History and Perceptions of the Poor – Hegel, Marx

9. SCEWS Model Assumptions • The desire for a balanced society is instinctive to all cultures, but nations do not interpret social justice in the same way due to unique historical experiences. • The ideologies on which each nation was founded and have developed over time have formed for that particular nation a unique culturally defined basis for that nation’s political action. • In time, friction between the emerging market economy and the well-being of the impoverished became a universal problem presenting a catalyst for the appearance of the welfare state. • The recognition that poverty resulted from systemic socio-economic reasons coincided with the refinement of political systems based on democratic principles.

10. SCEWS Model Assumptions (2) • The political system cannot be considered separate from the power of the market economy in welfare state comparisons. • Nonetheless, economic influences are subordinate to political systems in defining variances between welfare states. • History, ideology and culture represent pervasive influences in all dimensions of welfare state analysis. • Ideology is a precursor to, and a reflection of, the political extremes which determine differences in the way that welfare states define and respond to poverty.

11. SCEWS Model Assumptions (3) • At the macro level of social insurance which includes unemployment, pension and healthcare benefits, the welfare state is balanced by the relationship between capitalist and socialist ideologies. • At the micro level of individual services ideologies of social justice represent the foundation of the process that defines social welfare policy, and the welfare state culture. This occurs within the framework of the political system as influenced by socio-economic factors. • The economic, political and ideological results of globalization are overarching influences relative to future constructs of welfare states and the social work discipline.

12. SCEWS Model Elements • Civil Society and Globalization • History, Ideology and Culture • The Economic Sphere of Influence • The Governance Sphere of Influence • Welfare State Defined Quadrant • Social Policy Process and Welfare State Culture • Future Challenges and Social Work

14. Globalization and Civil Society Ring Rotates in Clockwise Direction Civil Society.. America ..Individual exercises rights above state (God given) Europe..exercise rights with state provided by law Ring started with Greeks slow movement over time much faster now blurs civil society in world relationship

15. History, Culture, ideology .. Moves in Counter Clockwise Direction..Foundational Aspects of the Welfare States. Pervasive Effect in All Parts of Model Found in economics, political and social spheres of any country Counter to globalization

16. Globalizations Relationship to Socio-Cultural History Hungary 900-1400 (Not welfare States) Globalization China Holy Roman Empire Byzantium Dalmatia Hungary Poland

17. Globalizations Relationship to HistoryHungary 1400-1700 (not welfare states) Globalization China Hapsburg Empire Ottoman Empire Hungary Transylvania

18. Globalizations Relationship to Socio-Cultural History Hungary 1700-1900 Globalization China Prussia Russia Austria Hungary Bavaria

19. Globalizations Relationship to Social-Cultural History Hungary 1900’s (emerging welfare states) Globalization China Russia Germany Hungary

20. Globalizations Relationship to Socio-Cultural History Hungary 2000’s Globalization EU China Hungary Russia

21. Wave the Flag! Each nation state has been influenced differently as depicted by different colors in the flag.. A unique multi-hued socio-cultural foundation established for each nation.

23. Economy Sphere • Rotations Longitude =political aspects of economy Latitude = differences between surplus of rich and scarcity of the poor in welfare states

24. Governance Sphere • Rotations Like a planet the governance sphere has gravitational pull on each welfare state

26. Orbit of Economy and Governance Spheres • These spheres orbit around the Welfare State Defined • They pull the Welfare state toward either a Liberal Democracy or Democratic Socialism • There is a vacillation between SELF INTEREST AND ALTRUISM that is based upon economic and political influences

27. Orbits of Governance and Economy Cont. • Liberal Democracy is a belief in economy based on commercial activity of free individuals and strong central government and a paternalistic political system • Democratic Socialism is based on utilitarian principles of individual happiness and happiness of society. Private control is seem as oppression and governance is more aligned with social engineering to make society more socially oriented and less individually oriented.

28. Welfare State Defined • The Welfare State Defined is a quadrant that had multiple influences • As shown the governance and economy spheres are influenced by the rotation of the globalization and ideology discs • In turn these spheres create pull that can be visualized as political regimes on a continuum from liberal to social democratic

30. Ideology Fluctuations in US 1800 rugged individualism, liberal democracy robber barons 1900-1920 Progressive Era more socialistic 1930 Depression – Democratic Socialism 1980 Reganomics – political and economic to liberal democracy 2009 Recession – Obama moves to more democratic socialism reversing Reganomics

31. MACRO MACRO MICRO MICRO

32. Macro Conceptualization • The upper part of the model presents the Macro conceptualization and influences of the political and economic spheres on the welfare state from capitalism to socialism. • Thus, various regimes vary over time within a nation state resulting in movement along the continuum and subsequent changes in how the welfare state is defined

33. Liberal Regime Social Democratic Regime Conservative Regime Capitalism Socialism Welfare Regime Continuum WELFARE STATE DEFINED Social Welfare Policy Universal Individual Mixed Government and Individual With Requirements

34. Welfare State Defined by “Social Welfare Policy” • The Welfare State is not only defined by how larger systems influence its definition and its overarching welfare state construct, but also by how the nation state implements ideological paradigms into actual services at the personal level. • Thus the bottom half of the model refers to the realization of services

35. MACRO MACRO MICRO MICRO

36. Policy Process • The process of moving ideology from the economic and political spheres through the welfare continuum into the “real world” rests upon the different policy processes employed in each welfare state. • Each welfare state has different policy processes and as one can see from the model policy is also informed by globalization, history, culture and ideology both indirectly from the definition of the welfare state and from them directly

38. Welfare Culture • Another result of the interactions of the model is a viewpoint of the welfare culture • The welfare culture is what the people residing in the welfare state perceive as “welfare services” and those individuals who receive welfare.

40. Future Challenges • As we have seen in the recent past there are many challenges to what is a welfare state and how it will be defined. • Demographics and environment are some of the major challenges to the welfare state as populations are aging and environmental situations are creating different views of what constitutes the common welfare.

42. Social Work • One of the dilemmas for social work is to see how the profession fits into the model. • Social work has vacillated back and forth from the macro to micro delivery of services without ever being fully engaged in the overall process of developing the “welfare state” • Thus, for social work there are 2 challenges: (1) to be able to navigate within this complex system with understanding and (2) to be able to successfully provide services based upon both the macro and micro levels of intervention.

44. SCEWS Model Implications • The manner in which the common analytic elements of SCEWS are incorporated into an overarching, inclusive analytic tool establishes a unique methodology for cross-national welfare state poverty analysis. • SCEWS is applicable to a) both domestic and international analysis, b) non Western nations who are transitioning into capitalist economies, and c) social policy analysis of countries not typically considered welfare states. • The model is adaptable to various types of analysis ranging from poverty research to the development of enhanced curriculums for the social sciences. • SCEWS can assist in the development of a global service role for the social work profession.

45. SCEWS Model Potential • Can physical science paradigms be incorporated into analysis of social science phenomena? • Is there a means to calculate the “force” of SCEWS elements to predict their respective influence in welfare state poverty analysis? • How can research contributions of respective disciplines be integrated within the SCEWS model construct? • Can SCEWS facilitate development of an overarching welfare state theory? • Can SCEWS facilitate development of an overarching theory of international social work?