Understanding Social
Welfare
Social welfare concepts and
definitions
Conceptualizing human needs
and social institutions
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
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Psychological survival needs: nourishment, rest,
sex, warmth.
Safety needs: preservation of life and sense of
security
Belongingness needs: to be part of a group and to
love and to be loved.
Esteem needs: approval, respect, acceptance,
appreciation, etc.
Self actualization needs:to be able to fulfill our
fullest potential
NASW statement of needs
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Need for physical and mental well being
Need to know
Need for justice
Need for economic security
Need for self realization, intimacy and
relationship.
Social institutions
Social institutions are networks of
relationships that carry out the essential
social functions. Social institutions develop
around these needs. Kinship & family,
religion, workplace, market place, mutual
assistance and government, etc. are
organizational forms. They are formalized
way of providing resources for helping to
meet human needs.
Key organizations and
functions
Organizational
forms
Primary
functions
Social welfare
functions
Families
Procreation,
Care, Financial
intimacy,support support
Churches
Spiritual
development
Counseling,
social services
Organizations and functions
contd.
Organizational
forms
Primary
functions
Social welfare
functions
Work
organizations
Employment
Employee
benefits
Producers &
consumers
Exchange of
goods/services
for money
Commercial
so.welfare
goods/services
Organizations and functions
contd.
Organizational
forms
Primary
functions
Social welfare
functions
Support groups,
vol. agencies
Mutual aid,
philanthropy
Volunteering,
com. Social ser.
National/
Regional/local
governments
Mobilization &
distribution of
goods for
collective goals
Antipoverty,
economic
security, health,
education,
housing, etc
Questions to ask

Degree to which human needs are met or
unmet
 Degree to which problems are solved or
unsolved
 Degree to which opportunities are provided
for advancement
Social welfare characteristics:
Residual approach

Help provided only when needs are unmet
by other institutions- family, religious
institution, market, etc.
 Viewed as a safety net
 Temporary and viewed as negative
 Stigma attached. It is curative
 Sees poor as incompetent, second-class
citizens & provides second class services
Social welfare:institutional/
developmental approach
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SW is considered as a first line defense of modern
industrialized society.
Seen as normal and accepted way of fulfilling
social needs.
No stigma attached. It is preventative.
Recognizes the need for variety of social services
to maintain good standard of living.
Social problems are rooted in social structure and
hence planned social change.
Residual Vs institutional

The residual welfare ameliorates the problem of the
‘unfortunate classes’ through middle and upper class
benevolence.
 Institutional view considers SW as front line function of
modern society in a positive way working with other
institutions for a better society.
 These concepts are reflection of broader cultural and
societal conditions & values
 American social welfare has combined both these
conceptions
Social welfare characteristics
contd.

Right versus charity
 Minimal versus optimal
 Identify examples
 Discuss
Social welfare:Selective and
Universal services.
Selective services
Residual/minimalist

Means tested
 Eligibility & benefit levels are determined
on a case basis
 Financial assistance not a right
 Benefits paid from general revenue
 State control is important
Advantages of selective
programs

Limitation on cost
 Society does not pay for services if can be
afforded privately
Universal services
institutional/developmental

Available for all. E.g. public education, day
care, social insurance.
 They are quality services that attracts all
categories of people.
 No stigma attached.
 E.g. children in the U. S. are required by
law to attend school
Advantages of universal
programs

Universal programs limit stigma
 Difficult to find fair formula to administer
selective program
 Universal programs tend to improve itself
once they are established.
 Selective programs have limited
constituency
Hard Vs Soft goods and
services
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Hard or concrete services are tangible goods or
services like food stamps, meals-on-wheels,
housing, rent subsidies
 Soft services are in the forms of guidance and
counseling to help people cope with social and
emotional problems. They include counseling for
family problems, psychiatric treatment for mental
disorders.
 Hard services & poor. Soft services & higher
income group.
Direct and Indirect services
Direct services are
intended to benefit
the recipient
immediately. E.g.
family counseling,
health care, etc.
Indirect services are
primarily intended to
improve the general
social welfare; they
may also benefit the
individual recipient.
E.g. education,
incarceration of
convicted victims
Public Vs Private agencies

Public agencies: Veterans, state mental
hosp.
 Private voluntary agencies like United Way,
Muscular Dystrophy Association.
 Private for-profit agencies
Control: Federal, State, Local

Community control movement after the 60s
 New Federalism of Regan placed greater
burden on states
 Recently states assume more responsibility
under the new welfare reform (The Personal
Responsibility Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996).
Changing concepts of social
welfare
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From residual to institutional
From charity to citizen right
From special services to universal services
From minimum resources to optimal social
environments
From individual to social reform
From voluntary to public and private
From welfare of the poor to Welfare State
From social welfare to Social Development
Changing conceptions contd.
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From residual to institutional
 From charity to citizen right: To T. H. Marshall,
citizenship consists of three sets of rights and
duties, namely, Civil, Political and Social rights.
Civil right: Right to liberty, freedom of speech,
equality before law,etc. Political right: right to
vote, get elected, etc. Social rights: Refers to
‘modicum of economic welfare and security and
the right to share to the full in the social heritage
and life of a civilized being according to the
standards prevailing in society’.
Charity to citizen right contd.
Political rights, initially restricted to the
aristocracy were extended first to the
middle class, then to the working class and
finally to the women. Similarly, social rights
in the form of Poor Law, were first
restricted to the needy. As social services,
they were later extended to the working
class and eventually to the whole
population.
Charity to citizen right contd.
Marshall point out the paradox of the
development of citizenship (equality) in
capitalism which is a system of
inequality.For him, welfare measures are
not an egalitarian measure. Social services
are not primarily a means of equalizing
income. Welfare state in fact makes
inequality more acceptable and legitimate.
From special to universal
services
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We tend to think of SW as special services
to poor. Increasingly, SW programs are
developed to meet universal needs of the
population. Special services tend to isolate
the poor to be inferior in quality. Universal
services are free of stigma and integrate the
poor into the society. The SSA of 1935 is
the first National venture in this direction.
From minimum to optimal
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There is a move from providing minimum
resources to the creation of optimum social
environments and resources to nurture and
develop human potentialities.
From individual to social
reform
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A move from psychological and moral
defects/deficiencies to structural and social
factors.
 Is poverty due to individual deficiencies or
due to structural and social factors?
From voluntary to public
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During Elizabethan poor laws the approach
to relief was voluntary.
 With the Social Security Act, the approach
is public where the Government has a role
in dealing with the poor.
From welfare of the poor to a
welfare society

From the relief of immediate needs to a
long term planning that will prevent future
needs
From social welfare to social
development
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Social welfare
 Social development: Planned institutional
change including social, economic and
political change for the welfare of the nation
as a whole.
Analytical perspectives
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Studies of the process of welfare policy:
Focuses on the dynamics of policy
formulation with regard to socio-political
and technical-methodological variables.
Deals with the societal context in which
policy decisions are made, the behaviors,
motivations and goals of various actors who
participate in the process and stages of the
process of policy development
Analytical perspectives contd.

Studies of the product: Analyses the policy
choices which are the product of planning process.
 Studies of performance: How well is the program
carried out? What is its impact? Impact is the
difference between pre-program behavior and
conditions and post program behavior and
conditions which can be legitimately be attributed
to the intervention.
Social welfare:
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As moral concept reflecting value
preferences.
 As social policy
 As programs and services
 As income transfer
 As study of functions outside market forces
to meet human need.
Methods of policy practice
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Social Work Journal article by FigueiraMcDonough
Legislative advocacy
 Reform through litigation
 Social action