Future Of Social Programs

"Extremely coherent and useful, this much needed volume is concerned with the current status of the poor in Western industrial states. Its closely linked essays allow comparisons between case studies and are often themselves cross-national comparisons....The essays also comment on the meaning of globalization for social policy." —Choice "Excellent and tightly integrated articles by a group of prominent international scholars....A timely and important book, which will surely become the basic reference point for all future research on inequality and social policy." —Contemporary Sociology The social safety net is under strain in all Western nations, as social and economic change has created problems that traditional welfare systems were not designed to handle. Poverty, Inequality, and the Future of Social Policy provides a definitive analysis of the conditions that are fraying the social fabric and the reasons why some countries have been more successful than others in addressing these trends. In the United States, where the poverty rate in the 1980s was twice that of any advanced nation in Europe, the social protection system—and public support for it—has eroded alarmingly. In Europe, the welfare system more effectively buffered the disadvantaged, but social expenditures have been indicted by many as the principal cause of high unemployment. Concluding chapters review the progress and goals of social welfare programs, assess their viability in the face of creeping economic, racial, and social fragmentation, and define the challenges that face those concerned with social cohesion and economic prosperity in the new global economy. This volume illuminates the disparate effects of government intervention on the incidence and duration of poverty in Western countries. Poverty, Inequality, and the Future of Social Policy is full of lessons for anyone who would look beyond the limitations of the welfare debate in the United States.

Informed observers and policy makers are well aware that in recent years social welfare systems on both sides of the Atlantic have been subject to growing scrutiny, debate and controversy, especially due to high unemployment rates and extreme interest rates experienced during the last recession as well as important demographic changes such as the increase of women into the labour market and the aging population. The papers included in the colloquium discuss the situation of social welfare policy in three stages: historical developments and forces for change; the influence of the political process on social security developments; and, the nature of policy responses to demographic change.

The core of the U.S. social welfare system provides old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children. In recent years, as social and economic developments have created new vulnerabilities for the American family, observers are asking whether the system needs refinement and rethinking. The Project on Social Welfare and the American Future was established by the Ford Foundation to address the issue of making the welfare system more responsive to the present needs of children and families. The project consisted of research, policy analysis, and deliberations by an 11-member panel of citizens representing the business, academic, labor, civic, and civil rights communities. This final report of the project includes the following sections: (1) Reexamining Our Social Welfare System; (2) Infancy and Childhood: A Time to Sow; (3) Young Adulthood: Preparing for a World of Work; (4) The Working Years: Increasing Economic Opportunity and Social Protection; (5) Old Age: A Time to Reap and Sow Again; and (6) How to Pay the Bill. Three appendices list related resources and other projects funded by the Project on Social Welfare and the American Future. (VM)

This collection charts the key developments in the social work field from 1970 to the present day and shows how by fully understanding social work’s past, we can make better progress for practitioners and service users in the future. It brings together a broad collection of experts from across social work who trace how thinking and approaches to practice have changed over time, examine key legislative developments in the field, look at the impacts of major inquiries and consider the re-emergence of certain specialisms. Providing students and practitioners of social work and social policy with a full picture of the evolution of social work, it also shares important insights for its future directions.

This book, under the title Social Welfare in Canada has been a standard text in the field of Canadian social welfare for twenty years. In this completely revised and updated third edition, Armitage examines the legacy of the welfare state in Canada and also explores an uncertain future for social welfare. Many changes in the Canadian political and economic climate threaten the social safety net that has been developed since World War II: the deficit burdens of federal and provincial governments; the real possibility of Quebec's succession from Canada; conservative and even reactionary government retrenchment in the social policy field as a means to cut deficits and to remain economically competitive in the face of globalization and North American free trade. Armitage writes that "the liberal vision remains capable of guiding a collective response to the economic and social policy changes of the twenty-first century" and emphasizes that "both sets of challenges have to be dealt with together". The foremost underlying theme here is a renewed conviction that Canadian society must become more just, more tolerant, and more humane, despite political and economic pressures to the contrary. While programs such as Unemployment Insurance, Workers' Compensation, and retirement benefits, which were designed for conditions 50 years ago, must be thoroughly reappraised, the "situation of single mothers and their children and the growing number of children in poverty comprise the central challenge for social policy. Social policy needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up, and the 'bottom' means the standard of living that is afforded to those who are worst off".

Social protection systems are often still designed for the archetypical full-time dependent employee. Work patterns deviating from this model – be it self-employment or online "gig work" – can lead to gaps in social protection coverage. Globalisation and digitalisation are likely to exacerbate ...