SWRK1001H Week 3 Social Welfare In Canada PDF

SWRK1001H F I N I S H IN G U P TO P I C 2 : H I S TO RY O F S OC I A L W E L FA RE Colonialism and Industrialization Confederation ‘Nation-building’ project of colonialism demands that the ‘Indian Problem’ be solved through assimilation, violence and genocide: residential schools, reserve sys...

SWRK1001H F I N I S H IN G U P TO P I C 2 : H I S TO RY O F S OC I A L W E L FA RE Colonialism and Industrialization Confederation ‘Nation-building’ project of colonialism demands that the ‘Indian Problem’ be solved through assimilation, violence and genocide: residential schools, reserve system, outlawing ceremony, language, medicines BNA 1867 Provincial responsibility for increasingly institutional services: hospitals, asylums, poor relief Quebec relief grounded in church; Ontario in UK Poor Laws Industrialization, WW1, and the Great Depression : Social change -> e.g. shift wage economy, urbanization, labour laws, worker’s compensation, child welfare; Changes in structure, role and stability of family First notions of state responsibility for welfare (e.g. injured workers and children) and social causes of poverty, though assessments remained deeply moral, racist, sexist First pensions, mother’s allowances, government relief benefits (direct and indirect) and (finally) UI Social reformers: (white) women’s suffrage The development and expansion of social welfare After World War Two ‘Golden Age’ of social welfare, with vast expansion of programs Focus on social cohesion, poverty and unemployment prevention, and health promotion Marsh Report and Beveridge Report called for institutional social welfare Keynsian redistributive taxation, comprehensive and universal benefits and services 1970s Slowing of economy after post-War regrowth; debt, deficit, oil crises Post-industrial era: globalisation Video shown Piketty on capital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL-YUTFqtuI Post 1970s Neoliberalism A response (?) to slowing economy and crises Thatcher, Reagan, Mulroney Focus on Monetarism; deregulation Suspicion, derision of civil service, public provision Reduced social welfare spending; retrenchment of welfare benefits and amounts Dismantling of universalism, welfare rights; increased in conditional eligibility, clawbacks, caps Post 1970s Neoliberalism and globalisation The Income Security Review (1970) 1990s shift in political landscape with increased global trade… Shift in labour markets: fewer unskilled jobs, less stability and permanence, precarious and PT work, decrease in benefits Centrist parties (incl Liberals) moving rightward: ’Third Way’ or a move backward? Privatisation & marketisation - focus on competition, trust in capitalism Actuarialism: evaluation, outputs, managerialism Decentralisation: dismantling federal responsibility, austerity Welfare state retrenchment through stealth cuts Video shown - H. Giroux on neoliberalism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW5FRuMkQ6g Harper’s Conservatives Neoliberalism and the welfare state Universalism -> selective, targeted Rights -> conditions, eligibilities, “active” programs Comprehensive -> residual (cuts, clawbacks, caps, de- indexation); end to ’generous’ welfare state Public -> private, PPP, stealth privatisation CAP -> CHS/CHT, loss of federal standards, rates, responsibilities Focus on social control: regulation, retrenchment, surveillance What did this mean for social work? CBC interview: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2689290775 SWRK1001H W E E K 3 : S O C I AL WE L FAR E IN CA N AD A SOCIAL PROGRAMS ROLE AND STRUCTURE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORbEsHlBwo0 The state role in meeting needs States make political decisions about which needs to meet and for whom. Based in ideas, beliefs and values around: ◦ What needs are important, why and for whom ◦ The role and responsibility of the state ◦ Which behaviours and elements the state values, seeks to encourage or discourage ◦ Ideas about the role of families and other caregivers The state role in meeting needs ◦ Individual Role ◦ “Canadian individuals are considered responsible for meeting their own basic needs (for food, shelter, safety, and affection)”* ◦ Government’s Role – gov’ts intervene through a range of social welfare programs when: ◦ People “fail” to meet their own needs adequately themselves? ◦ It would create chaos, disease, unrest, etc not to do so? ◦ It is more efficient to do so collectively? ◦ It is considered right, fair or good to do so based on political and moral values Government meeting Targeted cash needs: transfer mechanisms Universal cash transfer Income support Contributory program Direct service provision Tax credits and reductions  Targeted: Meeting needs: Means tested eligibility Income Assets Needs tested + Less expensive; seen as efficient, seen as ‘fair’ by some Universal: + Social cohesion and solidarity; not stigmatising; cheaper to administer