Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of the Welfare State

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Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of
the Welfare State

• The SCEWS Model
• S Socio
• C Cultural
• E Evolution
• W Welfare
• S State

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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 welfare/social inequality 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.

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Rationale for the Model

• Facilitate interdisciplinary research to develop
  a comprehensive perspective of cross-national
  welfare state and welfare/social justice
  analysis.
• Provide a common model for international
  comparative analysis of social policy/social law.
• Enhance the intellectual rigor of social
  sciences.
• Incorporate social science principles into the
  economic and political realms of influence on the
  welfare state.

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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 differences.

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Questions that Underlie the Model

• What is the unifying social history of
  welfare/social justice?
• How is welfare defined as a social problem?
• How have societies dealt with welfare/social
  justice?
• 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?

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The History of Welfare in Western Society

• 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

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Philosophical Underpinnings of the Western
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

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SCEWS Model Assumptions

• The desire for a relatively 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 nations 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.

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SCEWS Model Assumptions (2)

• The political system cannot be considered
  separate from the power of the market economy in
  welfare state comparisons.
• Economic influences are subordinate to political
  systems in defining differences between welfare
  states.
• History, ideology and culture represent pervasive
  influences in all dimensions of the welfare
  state.
• 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 social differences/inequalities.

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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/law, 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.

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Society Goals

• Education
• Safety
• Health
• Economic System
• Social Security

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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

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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 SPEED
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900-1400
Globalization
China
Holy Roman Empire
Byzantium
Dalmatia
Hungary
Poland
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1400-1700
Globalization
China
Hapsburg Empire
Ottoman Empire
Hungary
Transylvania
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1700-1900
Globalization
China
Prussia
Russia
Austria
Hungary
Bavaria
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1900s
Globalization
China
Russia
Germany
Hungary
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2000s
Globalization
EU
China
Hungary
Russia
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Globalization becomes Culture

• As noted globalization moves clockwise and
  culture moves anticlockwise so that at any point
  in time they are moving counter to each other.
• BUT over time the effects of globalization can be
  internalized into the culture and become part of
  it moving in anticlockwise direction.

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Globalization to Culture

• 1500 brought to Spain
• From Spain was sent as gift to high ranking
  individuals in Turkey
• From Turkey to Hungary in the late 1500s
• Globalization !
• Now part of the Culture in Hungary and Globalized
  back to the world!

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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.
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Economy Sphere

• Rotations

Longitude political aspects of economy
Latitude differences between surplus of rich
and scarcity of the poor in welfare states GINI
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Governance Sphere

• Rotations

Longitude liberal political agenda
Latitude social democratic political agenda
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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 (given overarching cultural
  ideological influence)

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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 seen as oppression
  and governance is more aligned with social
  engineering to make society more socially
  oriented and less individually oriented.

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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

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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

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MACRO
MACRO
MICRO
MICRO
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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, regimes vary over time within a nation
  state resulting in movement along the continuum
  and subsequent changes in how the welfare state
  is defined

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

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MACRO
MACRO
MICRO
MICRO
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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

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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 defining those individuals who
  receive welfare. (Pensions at the time of change
  for loss of job)

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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.

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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.

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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?