SWRK1001H Week 4 WI25 OSH PDF

Pets of the week! Pets of the week! I'm attaching some pictures of my boy Rocky. We are celebrating his 6th birthday this weekend. He's a ShiTzu so the length of his hair varies and he's fluffier sometimes more than others, depending on the grooming schedule. He is our world. SW...

Pets of the week! Pets of the week! I'm attaching some pictures of my boy Rocky. We are celebrating his 6th birthday this weekend. He's a ShiTzu so the length of his hair varies and he's fluffier sometimes more than others, depending on the grooming schedule. He is our world. SWRK1001H W E E K 3 : S O C I AL WE L FAR E IN CA N AD A A N D P O V E RT Y I N C A N A D A Approaches to Social Welfare 1. Residual Approach – government assistance is provided as a last resort for those who have exhausted all possible forms of help and can demonstrate need. Assistance is targeted, meagre, and short-term, so as to discourage use and dependency. Stigmatization – negative stereotyping and labelling of the poor to discourage them from seeking assistance. Stems from historical views of “the undeserving poor.” Approaches to Social Welfare 2. Social Investment The social investment approach takes a proactive stance, to prevent problems before they arise by investing in long-term strategies that help individuals and communities build human and social capital, address skill deficits and provide opportunities. Examples – Social welfare programs that invest in children and youth and unemployment benefits that promote participation in the workforce are examples of social investment welfare practices. Approaches to Social Welfare 3. Institutional Approach Social Welfare is seen as a primary institution of society (like religion, government, and education) and therefore has a normal, legitimate, and necessary function in a civilized, modern society. Support is more comprehensive and rates higher, and thr system is more expensive. No stigma is attached to receiving government assistance because social welfare is a right. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES Political ideologies: Conservatism Primary values: Order, Morality, Tradition The role of the state as: ◦ Maintaining social order; defending existing structures and systems; protecting business People in need: personally culpable; due to poor choices; ‘deserving or undeserving’ Social welfare: responsibility of family; state role is residual (when all other systems break down) https://youtu.be/gNoB2B4kS2A Political ideologies: Liberalism Primary values: Freedom, individualism, self-reliance, competition The role of the state as: ◦ Defending personal freedoms and property; enabling free markets; creating equal opportunity People in need: Lacking skills; victims of lack of opportunity, and market failure Social welfare: social investment; social safety net and personal skill development https://youtu.be/hVNgLEvhL5Y Political ideologies: Social democratic Primary values: Solidarity, collectivism, equality and cooperation The role of the state as: ◦ Regulating the market; creating equality; ensuring social welfare; protecting people from markets People in need: victims of capitalism and unequal distribution of wealth and power Social welfare: Institutional; the right of citizens to comprehensive care https://youtu.be/AuN6I30NNa4 https://youtu.be/OvJ8YDma7Wk POVERTY Poverty https://www150.statcan.gc.c a/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627- m2022011-eng.htm Poverty: unevenly distributed Who? Poverty is not equitably distributed! Racialized, Indigenous, trans/GNB people, disabled people, refugees and women (esp lone mothers) are more likely to be living in poverty People who grew up in poverty more likely to to be poor (i.e. social mobility is not strong) When? Poverty isn’t distributed evenly across our lifespan Seniors (esp women) and children are more likely to live in poverty Source: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/ce nsus-recensement/2021/as- sa/98-200-X/2021009/98-200- X2021009-eng.cfm Source: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/ce nsus-recensement/2021/as- sa/98-200-X/2021009/98-200- X2021009-eng.cfm Poverty Why are we concerned? Poverty causes social exclusion, food insecurity, homelessness Poverty harms people, their well-being, health and opportunities Poverty is expensive (directly, e.g. income security, and indirectly, e.g. health services, lack of productivity) Video shown: https://youtu.be/w-s1p5z_W5E The working poor - But poverty isn't just about people who are homeless or destitute, it's also about 'average' people (who may not consider themselves poor) who worry about meeting their own basic needs and maintaining an acceptable standard of living - Video shown: https://youtu.be/LKycLnzHG Tg Poverty: defining Before developing solutions, we need to understand the problem. So: ◦ First: what is it really about poverty that makes it a ‘social problem’? ◦ thinking carefully: is it poor people who are the social problem? or is it the existence of poverty? Or the definition of poverty? ◦ Is the unequal distribution of poverty the problem? As in - is the poverty of one person as problematic as another? Is inequality of wealth a problem? ◦ Second: what is poverty? How do we decide who is poor and who isn’t? ◦ Third: We need to understand the causes of poverty to develop effective solutions… why are people poor?  What is it? ◦ We have very different definitions of poverty and of need Poverty: ◦ Poverty could be seen as: ◦ a lack of income, assets, resources defining ◦ inability to meet needs – i.e. difficulty functioning because a lack of money Read more! https://www.statcan.gc. ca/en/topics- start/poverty Measures How do we measure: assets/ income? In absolute or relative terms? Rate, depth or persistence? ◦ Low-Income Measure (LIM): poverty “those whose incomes are less than half the median family income in the area (income is adjusted according to family size).” ◦ The Low Income Cut Off (LICO): poverty as: “20% more of its after-tax income than the average household on basic goods and services is living with low income” (varying by family size and community size) ◦ *Market-Basket Measure (MBM): poverty as “lower level of income than is needed to purchase a specified “basket” of necessary goods and services. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75f0002m/75f0002m2020002-eng.htm Measuring poverty Video shown: https://youtu.be/mFHctW3zQgg