Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of the Welfare State

1. Socio-Cultural Influences and the Development of the Welfare State The SCEWS Model S = Socio C = Cultural E = Evolution W = Welfare S = State

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 nation’s 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Society Goals Education Safety Health Economic System Social Security

13. 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

15. 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

24. 900-1400 Globalization China Holy Roman Empire Byzantium Dalmatia Hungary Poland

25. 1400-1700 Globalization China Hapsburg Empire Ottoman Empire Hungary Transylvania

26. 1700-1900 Globalization China Prussia Russia Austria Hungary Bavaria

27. 1900’s Globalization China Russia Germany Hungary

28. 2000’s Globalization EU China Hungary Russia

29. 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.

30. 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 1500’s Globalization ! Now part of the Culture in Hungary and Globalized back to the world!

32. 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.

34. Economy Sphere • Rotations Longitude =political aspects of economy Latitude = differences between surplus of rich and scarcity of the poor in welfare states GINI

35. Governance Sphere • Rotations Longitude = liberal political agenda Latitude = social democratic political agenda

37. 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)

38. 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.

39. 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

41. 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

42. MACRO MACRO MICRO MICRO

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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

46. MACRO MACRO MICRO MICRO

47. 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

49. 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)