Issues in Social Policy

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Issues in Social Policy
[email protected] Equality, equity & social justice Wants vs. Needs Nick Manning, Student s Companion to Social Policy Social Welfare provision of certain social needs such as health, education, minimum wage provided by the state, NGOs, YMCA (for homeless), hospice movement, the church & the private sector (eg. Car insurance, pensions, health insurance). Family (oldest institution providing welfare) and friends is also a mode of social welfare. Facebook in Egypt want or need? What one government thinks is a need would be a want to another. Wants are commodities that cover a wider range of products and services. We might need things that we do not want Eg. Going to the dentist Wants that we can afford or obtain are sometimes representative of one s social status. We sometimes might not know about certain needs that we have. Needs, wants & PREFERENCES. Preferences making a choice at the expense of something else A need is something individual eg. Having a headache and going to the doctor or losing your job. C. Wright Mills when there is a high level of something like unemployment it becomes a social tragedy. Therefore in this case employment becomes a social need. From an individual need it becomes a social need. Realism vs. Constructionism Felt needs are needs which we are aware of Eg. Feeling sick and going to the doctor or being broke and getting a job or start saving up. Needs which one feels Needs defined by others Focault would say it is a question of power. People telling us what we need Eg. Health institutions telling us which pills we need to buy etc... Needs defined by friends, family etc... Comparative Needs when one compares people in the same society or people from different societies. EG. Malta has a low employment, participation of women in the market or education rates compared to other EU countries. What is defined as a need is debateable Eg. Some may see divorce as a basic civil right but others do not... for some Euthanasia is a human right while others view it as a sin. Same sex marriage and various other issues. Needs are socially constructed not something that is natural . Maslow Hierarchy of basic needs - Our needs develop in a progressive manner. He spoke of physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem and finally Self-Actualization. Inglehart one of the creaters of the eurobarometer: theory of human development Humans move from materialist to post materialist values. When societies are not so much advanced the most importance is given to materialist values like jobs etc... Once obtained they move into post marterialism focusing on values such as human rights etc... In Malta post marterialist values are becoming more and more important. In USA even though developed it still gives lots of importance to materialist values. Max Neef et. Al. Needs are interactive ie. Interchangeable, interdependent. Lifestyles are too complex.

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Marx one of the 1st sociologists who analyzed society as it is not through a divine or catholic way. Needs are historically shaped. Needs are shaped according to the context in which we are living in shaped by economic circumstance and historical patterns. Marcuse 1960s influenced by Marx. School of sociologists known as the Frankfurt school. Wrote a book, One dimentional man. Capitialism is constructing our needs and wants, in its drive to sell it shapes our wants and needs. TRUE NEEDS & FALSE NEEDS created by capitalism. Capitalist society superimposes false needs onto us and we associate ourselves without appliances such as fridge, Wi-Fi system etc... Michael CaHill capitalism is creating so much material consumption that is uncontrollable. Capitalism damaging the environment. Environmentalism makes us aware that we need to control our consumption Radical Feminism Grier: needs differ according to one s sex. Men are more dominant and if women are to satisfy their needs they must do it without a man. Men are becoming a disposable gender (when it comes to reproduction etc...). Social democrats believes that certain needs are universal and common to all. Universal rights of children, minorities, women. Pete Townsend & Doyle & Guff: Health is a universal need Post modernists disagree with the idea of universal needs. They believe that needs and wants are totally relative to the society or group one finds themselves in. Lyotard in his book of knowledge explains that knowledge is relative. Focault shows us how needs are contrsucted. Power Knowledge processes. Role of experts. Nancy Frasier mediation between realism and constructivism. She focuses on discourses of needs. Shes shows not only how they are contested but how their contestation. The claim for needs Eg. Hilton marketed as something that was needed for jobs etc... Protestors: fishing is going to be abolished etc... needs being CONSTRUCTED AND CONTESTED. No need is atonomus, they are constructed. Nancy: politics of needs has 3 steps/moments in the construction and implementation of a need a) establishment b) practical interpretation (the way different groups interpret this)c) satisfaction. Interpreting statistics in your own way shows that statistics are NOT neutral. C. Wright Mills: Unemployment: one person suffering from unemploayment the problem is acute however, when a group of people suffers from this it becomes constructed as a social problem. Social problem is something which we are aware of. Social need differs as we aqre not always aware of all our needs. NEEDS vs SOCIAL PROBLEMS When we are aware of problems there is also the problem of (multiple) solutions. Eg. Problem of ageing in Europe solution would be using immigrants because we need more workers. Others say Europe must be tougher in its way of integrating of immigrants.

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