Assessment of UK Policy Approaches to Poverty Reduction

Assessment of UK Policy Approaches to Poverty Reduction Compare, contrast and critically assess two differing approaches to the relief of poverty. Introduction Poverty is a social problem and how best to deal with it has been the object of study and research since the nineteenth century. Townsend (1979) has defined poverty thus: Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diets, participate in the activities and have the living conditions which are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies to which they belong. Townsend (1979:31). This paper will look at two approaches to the relief of poverty. The Beveridge approach of full employment and social ensurance, and the welfare to work approach of the New Right and New Labour. There will be a comparison of the differences between these two approaches in terms of their underlying ideologies. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches will then be examined in the light of a feminist critique. Beveridge and the Welfare State In 1906 what is known as social protection, a range of state benefits aimed at relieving poverty in the general population, began with various Acts, the most important being the introduction of pensions. The Welfare State as we know of it today became fully established between 1946 and 1948 following the 1942 publication of the Beveridge report. This said that there were five giants which were the underlying causes of poverty, these were disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness and want. The report suggested a system which was aimed at relieving poverty through the introduction of a number of measures including National Assurance. This was a system of benefits that were based on everyone paying some money out of what they earned to the Government. This was National Insurance, those who did not pay this were entitled to the safety net of National Assistance. This was to be made available to all people at times of greatest need. It was never envisaged that people would be reliant on it fo r a good part of their adult life. National Assistance eventually became known as social security (Moore et al, 2002). At the same time the Government also introduced the National Health Service. In addition to this it extended the state education system in 1944 to include secondary education, raising the school leaving age to fifteen. The policies that resulted from the Beveridge Report tried to ensure that people would be looked after from the cradle to the grave. Post-War welfare reform was basically a war on poverty and was based on a vision of full employment and a social contract between the Government and the members of society each of whom had equal responsibility for their welfare.The system grew out of the thinking of the economist John Milton Keynes. It became known as universal welfare provision where the state was involved in people’s lives at all levels (Giddens, 2001). The post-war government also introduced a system of benefits for couples with children in the Family Allowances Act of 1945, this later (1975) became known as Child Benefit which replaced family allowance and tax benefits for families with children. It was payable to all families for each child. The National Health Service grew out of the publishing of a National Health Services Bill by Anuerin Bevan in 1946. Healthcare and hospitalisation were envisioned as being free at the point of access but by the 1950s the Government were forced to introduce some charges for dentistry, spectacles and prescriptions to ease the growing tax burden (Marsh et al, 2000).. The Post War welfare state was based on theories of full employment. It had not envisioned massive unemployment and the resultant reduction in tax revenue. Butler (1993).notes that there have been differing views on government’s role in welfare provision and it is only in recent years that there has been a consensus on this. It is not however, a consensus that benefits the vast majority of the population. The New Right and New Labour In 1979 the Conservative Government headed by Margaret Thatcher came to power. Government debastes centered around a free market economy versus the welfare state. The new government introduced measures that would roll back the welfare state and control spending. They did this by introducing marketing concepts and business strategies into policy making. They also began an intense process of privatization because it was thought that public ownership of companies, and the public sector in general undermined market forces. Introducing marketing principles into social care allow Governments to (hypothetically at least) improve services. It also enables a government to retain a greater degree of control. Giddens (2001) says that: †¦the momentum of Thatcherism in economic matters was maintained by the privatising of public companies†¦..(this)..is held to reintroduce healthy economic competition in place of unwieldy and ineffective public bureaucracies, reduce public expenditure and end political interference in managerial decisions (Giddens, 2001:434). The introduction of market forces into social care was considered the best way of allocating resources because free markets were considered to be self organising (Olssen 2000).It was anticipated that this would increase productivity and improve care while at the same time being cost efficient. Government discourses, both Conservative and New Labour have revolved around the notion that the introduction of market mechanisms would result in a more equitable system. Alcock (1994) has argued that the Conservative policies which rolled back the welfare state and introduced changes into social care and the benefits system resulted in greater unemployment, a rise in the number of homeless people, and a general growth in social inequality. In 1997 the Conservative Government was voted out and New Labour came into power, with its New Deal promising a hand up not a hand out. It was believed that the introduction of market forces would improve the economy. In reality it has had the effect of excluding some people from mainstream society and led to the setting up by the present Government of the Social Exclusion Unit in 1997. This Unit is an example of the contradictions engaged in by policy makers in a free market economy. On the one hand the general philosophical approach of both this Government and its predecessor has been on the responsibility of the individual. This is nowhere better expressed than in Labour’s New Deal Documentation. The present Government with its talk of a third way have continued to build on the policies introduced by the Conservatives and it is here that theorists maintain there is a new consensus. Means testing has not only continued but increased and this is nowhere more evident than in the Government’s policy on employment. Job seekers allowance is dependent on a person actively seeking work and Job Centres now have the powers to stop a person’s benefits if they are not seen to be pro-active in finding a job. Under New Labour many of the welfare reforms introduced by the Conservatives have been continued yet the Prime Minister maintains that his party differs from the old way of universal provision and from the New Right policies of the Conservatives. New Labour, he maintains, offers a third way. This draws on ideas from a number of areas and stresses the importance of business success in providing wealth for society and reducing unemployment. This view also promises freedom from discrimination based on gender, race, age and disability. Critics maintain that this view is little more than conservativism with some bolt ons. Universal Provision or the New Right? Welfare provision arises from society’s concerns for social justice and the redistribution of wealth (Sears, 2001)The post-war welfare state claimed to be based upon the idea of universal provision. That is to say that everyone in a certain category would receive a given benefit rather than having to prove their entitlement by means testing. In reality even in the early days of the welfare state few provisions were truly universal because most of them were means tested (Moore et al, 2002). Post-War welfare provision was largely a result of the activities of the social democrats. In this approach the Government in power should ensure that every citizen has the right to be free of poverty and healthcare should be provided on the basis of need rather than the ability to pay. Poverty stems from the idea that modern society produces people who are victims, the unemployed, the disabled, and those who suffer from long term illness. The duty of the state is to look after such people ( Giddens, 2001). Many commentators however are of the opinion that the welfare state failed to deliver its promises. Alcock (1994) has argued that while the post-war welfare state may not have been successful it had attempted to bring about equality in society. He maintains that the Conservative Government that was in power from 1979-1997 arguably actively pursued policies that created greater inequalities. Conservative and New Right thinking (and in this one should include New Labour) do not subscribe to the victims approach but believe that each individual is largely responsible for their own welfare. This approach is not really new, it dates back to the Elizabethan Poor Laws and most particularly to the reforms of that law in the 1830s. it argues that state services are not efficient and that welfare should be provided through the market, the family and charity, this encouraged self-reliance. New Right policies, it is argued, hit the poorest in society. Under the Conservatives the wages of those at the lower end of the labour market fell to an extent where some people were earning less than they would have receive on benefits. As a result of this the Government introduced benefits such as the Family Credit system to subsidise wages (Deakin, 1994). These kinds of policies harked back to the Poor Law where the poor were required to work for the poor relief that they received, such policies also make a distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor, whereas the welfare state in many ways appeared more equitable. However, some theorists maintain that this type of provision was only possible because it was based on the subordination of one set of people to another. Feminist Approaches Feminists argue that we live in a society that for centuries has worked for the benefit of men and that the cost has been borne by women. Thus social policy is based on an existing set of social inequalties (Abbott and Wallace, 1997). Oakley (1982) has long maintained that the welfare state and its legislation operates for the benefit of the wider economy and for the worker. As a result of the nineteenth century distinction between the public and private spheres, and women’s banishment from the workplace, those who benefit from this legislation are men. The whole system is based on traditional notions of the family where the man is the breadwinner and his wife and children are dependants. This concept if the family and the fact that both males and females are socialized into different gender roles means that women have been disadvantaged in the education system, in the workplace, and in the wider society. Feminists have lobbied for equal pay for equal work and against sexual h arassment and discrimination in the workplace. While feminists will allow that the welfare state has played some role in advancing women’s independence e.g. the provision of benefits to women who leave violent partners, and legislation on pay, it also tends to reinforce traditional gender roles. (Moore et al, 2002). Conclusion This assignment has looked at different types of welfare provision and then compared their ideological underpinnings. It has also given a feminist critique of welfare in general. It would seem that there is no easy answer for policy makers, and perhaps nothing short of a total redistribution of wealth in society would alleviate the increasing spread of poverty in the world. Bibliography Abbott, P and Wallace, C (1997) An Introduction to Sociology, Feminist Perspectives Routledge, London. Alcock, P. 1994 â€Å"Back to the Future: Victorian Values for the 21st Century† in Murray, C. 1994 Underclass: The Crisis Deepens London, IEA Beveridge, William (1944). Full Employment in a Free Society. London: Allen and Unwin Butler, A. 1993 â€Å"The end of post war consensus† Political Quarterly Vol 64 No. 4 pp 435-446 Deakin, N. 1994 The Politics of Welfare Hemel Hempstead, Harvester Wheatsheaf Giddens, A. 2001 4th ed. Sociology Cambridge, Polity Press Marsh, Keating and Eyre et al 2000 2nd ed. Sociology: Making Sense of Society Essex, Pearson Education Moore, S. Scourfield, P. Sinclair, S. Burch, S. and Wendon, B. 3rd ed. 2002 Social Welfare Alive Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes. Oakley, A (1982) Subject Woman, Fontana, London Olssen, M. 2000 â€Å"Ethical liberalism, education and the New Right† Journal of Educational Policy Vol 15No. 5 2000 pps 481-508 Sears, M 2001 â€Å"Welfare with or without the state: British Pluralists, American Progressives, and the Conditions of Social Justice† The European Legacy Vol 6 No. 2 pp. 201-213 2001 Townsend, P. 1979. Poverty in the United Kingdom. Harmondsworth, Penguin. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/elizpl.html

Determinants of Earnings

Determinants of Earnings Improving someone’s success in the labour market is a main objective of both family and policy makers, especially those with low earning in recent years. In the classic view of labour earning, we assume that the skills of individuals are the dominant factor to determine the earnings’ level. However, the recent year study manifests multiple factors have been weighed more than before.To illustrate this new situation, it believes that individuals’ successes in labour market are quite differentiated from one’s family background support, capacities to contribute to production or service, genetics, the education level, and the working experience in the labour market. Specifically, the low earning individuals’ situation can be well-persuasive proof for it. An individual might hold various earnings at the same time such as the interest of saving, stock, fund of dividend income and property of real estate of individual.The developed labour market economy directs that an individual’s earning is equal to the number of production factors sold by the individual times the price of various elements. Personal income is equal to market income and transfer payment. A majority of market income comes from wages and salaries. Few of market income come from property rights. The transfer payment of the government is mainly for those old men’s social security. In standard of earning equation for individuals of the same race and sex in Canada, between two thirds and four fifth of the variance of the natural logarithm of wages or of annual earning is unexplained by the above variables. † This statement is said by Bowles (2001). A few of the variance is contributed by the unstable factor of earnings and response error. For example, from the more detailed Employers’ Manpower and Skills Practices Survey of 1693 British employers reported in Green, Machin and Wilkenson (1998).Of the somewhat more than a t hird of the establishments reporting the â€Å"skill shortage†, personnel managers identified the recruitment problem as â€Å"lack of technical skills† in 43 percent of the cases. However, â€Å"poor attitude, motivation, or personality† in a remarkable 62 percent of the cases. Poor attitude was by far the most important reason for the recruitment difficulty given. The importance of motivation relative to technical skill was even greater among the full sample. Such a model, however, is readily provided, even within a fully competitive framework.If disequilibrium rents arising from technological or other shocks are persistent and if labor services are not subject to enforceable contracts, individual behavioral traits unrelated to productive capacities may bear a positive price. For example, aspects of an individual’s personality such as fatalism or impatience may reduce the likelihood of capturing disequilibrium rents and dampen the employee’s resp onse to common employer strategies aimed at eliciting high levels of labor effort.Furthermore, the behavioral traits that contributed to high income in some works might have the negative effects. For instance, an individual who prefer not to subordinate himself to others will be highly successful in some works, but abject failures in others. â€Å"Understanding why individual characteristics that are not skills may be rewarded in a competitive labor market may enhance the explanatory power and policy relevance of the human capital model by shedding some light on how schooling and other human investments raise individual earnings. † Bowles mentioned in 2001.

The Hidden Truth on Business Major Essay Samples Revealed

The Hidden Truth on Business Major Essay Samples Revealed Business Major Essay Samples: the Ultimate Convenience! While each particular criterion has its specific directions, to find a fantastic grade, you will need to learn how to properly combine them. The simplest approach to fix the sort of an essay is to realize the writer's point of view. To begin with, it's important to pick a topic that it is possible to take a stand for. If you are searching for a sample persuasive essay then one of the very first places you will most likely look is the web. The remaining part of the paragraph should argue the principal point. All of the primary points ought to be concisely mentioned in the preview. Having found the side that you're standing for, you want to make certain you fully grasp the standpoint of the opposite side. Business Major Essay Samples Features As a result of high cost people using internet only for leisure purposes will decrease. Some folks using social networking networks as a means to attach with the outside world. The issue, nevertheless, is that not all businesses can be relied on to deliver quality essays on time so you need to be cautious in selecting one. So far as businesses are concerned they would need to consider cloud computing. Then you're interested in figuring out how to compose persuasive paper. In most high schools, your capability of writing this kind of essay is going to be evaluated in class. You want to understand how to compose an effective essay as it is a typical foundation for a student's grade. There are many persuasive essay examples college students are able to make use of online. Being a real college or university student, you will find how important it's to be a very good orator and understand your intended reader. Developing a title is among the hardest things that student might deal with. Trying to persuade your teacher may be quite exhausting. Students shouldn't have to wear school uniforms due to the fact that they limit students' capacity to share their individuality. No matter your reasons for choosing to use this kind of essay, you must be aware that the results will probably be negative. If you wish to learn how to compose a fantastic persuasive essay, you're looking in the proper spot! Just take a look at the next persuasive essay. As it is, if you should use a persuasive essay template, after the very long search to find something dependent on the topic which you wish to write about, it's still highly unlikely that it is going to reflect your requirements adequately enough to secure you a nice grade. Qualities of a fantastic persuasive essay topic The topic ought to be specific. Selecting an excellent topic for your essay is among the most crucial and frequently tricky parts for many students. If you're on the lookout for essay topics for your business major paper, the ideal idea to try to find a subject which you are either a specialist at or truly feel passionate about. Essay writing is often practiced is schools. It will be simpler that you compose a very good persuasive essay if it's a subject in which you have knowledge. Weave in your perspective to earn your essay unique. In this way, you are going to be in a position to know for sure what your essay is all about before devising your thesis. Life, Death and Business Major Essay Samples Begin with general subjects that you are conversant with then narrow down to a particular topic. Supporting details have to be presented accurately too. Such a paragraph might incorporate a succinct overview of the ideas to be discussed in body of the paper and other information related to your paper's argument. The absolute most important role of the introductory paragraph, nevertheless, is to present a very clear statement of the paper's argument. In your introduction paragraph, it is sufficient to introduce the topic and offer meaningful background info. Any sentence that isn't furthering my thesis is distracting from it and should be taken off. The Benefits of Business Major Essay Samples Other goals include the demonstration of fantastic research abilities and deep understanding of the subject. Possessing very good research abilities and selecting a superb topic is essential. Therefore, it's essential to learn how to approach any issue with a strong focus on solving it. To do this, it is first of all essential to formulate an issue and attempt to discover effective method of solving it.

Leadership The Steve Jobs Case Study - 1549 Words

Leadership: The Steve Jobs Case study During his life, Steve Jobs was one of the most innovative and influential leaders of his time. It could be said that he occupies one part of the continuum as a transformational leader who demonstrates the qualities of a transformational leader. Jobs used the corrective transactions of a transactional leader, such as harsh criticism (which can be seen as punishment) when a staff did not meet his expectations. Just like a transformational leader, he paid attention on â€Å"transforming† others by looking out for each other, to help each other by being encouraging and harmonious and to look out for the organization as a whole. At Apple, he is seen as a leader whose idealistic and brilliance vision of†¦show more content†¦This is what made Steve Jobs the leader so many know him as today. Adaptablility With his ability to adapt, Steve Jobs used this to his advantage in multiple situations. At the age of 30 he was ousted from Apple due to his lack of empathy and leadership skills. Steve Jobs spent the next 12 years adapting his innovative skills and his unique style of leadership to better fit the needs of the company (NeXT). He was known to be too focused on work to care about others feelings which was one of the reasons Apple cut ties with him in the first place, however, he adapted and came back before going to pioneer some of Apple’s greatest products ever. Act with a Sense of (Controlled) Urgency Steve Jobs was known for acting with a sense of urgency and many found that this is what gave Jobs his incomparable drive. Grabbing on to a moment and an opportunity right away and not just waiting until the right time comes was another thing that he was known for. This is what allowed Steve Jobs to create innovative solutions and cutting-edge products before customers ever knew they wanted or needed the products. 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