Question 2:
What is the relationship between economic development and social
welfare policymaking? Does the economic principle of the government contradict
with the welfare principle? What should be the role and position of social
worker in policymaking?
In the developed society,
the social welfare system is one of the most crucial factors when detriment the
overall quality of life of the community. People believe the more protection
provided by the welfare system, the more stable life they have. However, some
opponents argued that those resources should be used to boost up the economic
development of the society. At which the debate between economic development
and social welfare has been raising a controversy among different communities.
In order to approach this controversial issue, this paper will use the real
situation in Hong Kong in discovering the subordinated and interrelated
relationship between economic development and social welfare policymaking, then
explain the contradictive and cooperative relationship between economic and
welfare principle, and finally explaining the researching, advocating and
evaluating role and position of social worker in policymaking.
The relationship between
economic development and social welfare policymaking should be interrelated and
mutually affect. However, the situation in Hong Kong and some developing
countries and society, the welfare policymaking looks like subordinated to
economic development.
The first idea to be
noted here is that the social welfare policymaking releases the adverse effects
of the economic development (Chapin, 2014). It cannot be denied that the
economic development provides the essential resources for the social welfare
policymaking (Chapin, 2014). However, there are lots of people could not
benefit from the development of our economic, namely: people suffer from
disability, sickness and discrimination (Reisch, 2014). With protective social
welfare policymaking, namely: the set-up of Statutory Minimum Wages,
Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme(CSSA) and Poverty Line, the
core protection of the disadvantaged group will be provided, at which can
reduce the problem of inequality and social exclusion of disadvantaged groups.
At the same time, if the economic are facing a big depression, the social
welfare policymaking can maintain the overall quality of living and social
order (Chapin, 2014). For example, due to the increasing number of impoverished
citizens, the government of the United Kingdom introduced the English poor law
in 1601 (Glicken, 2007). This policy aimed to provide necessary assistance for
people suffering from unemployment and homeless etc. (Glicken, 2007). From the
above examples explained that the social policymaking provides programs to
balance the adverse effects of economic development and maintain the social
order, preventing chaos and political movements. Therefore, the relationship
between economic development and social welfare policy making is interrelated
and mutually affecting.
However, from the
perspective of Hong Kong economic development, the social welfare policymaking
seems to be subordinated to economic development. Hong Kong is a developed
society, which highly following the principle of Capitalism and Liberalism. The
government of Hong Kong is adopting a non-intervention policy, trying to
minimize the restriction and control of the market (Chau & Yu, 1999).
Seemingly, the hidden assumption of the government might be that even there are
some policies will affect the welfare system, the government might still uphold
their well-known economic principle. From the example of The Link, we can
approach this idea more clearly. Due to the 85,000 Policy implemented by Chief
Executive Chee-Hwa Tung, the Housing Authority was facing a tremendous shortage
of funding (Li Y. S., 2012). As a result, the Housing Authority was trying to
privatize shopping malls of public housings. At that moment, there were lots of
discussions of whether the public and welfare resources should be privatized or
not. However, the government insisted its economic belief on the big market and
small government, at which the government did not do any actions to protect the
welfare of the citizens (Li Y. S., 2012). The privatized of the shopping mall
was finally be implemented, causing the increasing living expenses on the
citizens. From this example, we can understand that due to the government’s
economic belief even it was found out problems of the implementation of the
policy. The government might not against the policy, showing the subsidiary position
of welfare policymaking.
Apart from the above
explanation, the current residual approach to social welfare, proving that the
social welfare policymaking is subordinated to economic development. There is
two approach when formulating social policy –the institutional and residual
approach. The first approach is focusing on universal programs, funded by
taxation to provide basic needs for all citizens. (Chapin, 2014) In contrast to
the institutional approach, the residual approach representing that government
will only intervene when residents are unable adequately to sustain their basic
living (Chapin, 2014). The belief behind this decision is to reduce the
financial burden of the government in social welfare. Providing resources in
particular welfare policy will hardly benefit the development of the economics
of the community, namely: the universal retirement protection. When to compare
to another social welfare, namely: education, medical service, the pension
protection towards the elderly is not developmental. Implementing this welfare
policy will not improve the economic development. Due to this reason, the Hong
Kong government has hesitated when considering this welfare policymaking. From
the government perspective, the sustainability of the policy is the primary
concern (Yau, 2016). If the policy is run out of the budget, it is mainly the
responsibility for the government to tackle the situation, who needs to be
responsible to the major financial support towards the scheme (Yau, 2016). At
which might affect the resources on the development of the economic. Therefore,
from the government’s perspective, the economic development is far more
important than the welfare policymaking, showing the subsidiary position of
welfare policymaking.
When it comes to the
question of whether the economic principle will contradict with the welfare
principle. In general, people believe they are mutually exclusive due to the
ideological differences. In the following part of the article, two ideological
differences will be firstly discussed to show the hidden contradictions between
two principles. Besides, the real example from the United States will use to
explain the cooperative relationship between the two principles in reality.
Firstly, the principle of
the economic focus on the competitive market, while the welfare principle
concentrates on minimizing the extremes of competitive distribution (Segal,
2013). From the economic principle, the supply and demand should base on the
competitive, if there are only limited services or products, for the person who
can pay the most can enjoy the service or product (Segal, 2013). However, there
are something services and products are necessary for every human. From the
welfare principle, the competitive distribution will deprive people of
accessing the basic needs, namely: housing and transportation. As a result,
following the welfare principle, the distribution of resource should be
controlled and not following the economic principle. The public housing service in Hong Kong is one
of the examples. Due to the poor living environment and increasing expense of
housing, the government started to provide public housing service for citizens
with low-income. From the news ‘‘Hong Kong most expensive housing market in the
world for the sixth year in a row: survey classifies our homes as ‘least
affordable’ ever’’, the writer suggested that it is hard for citizens to afford
their house in Hong Kong, as the average flat prices are nineteen times of
annual median income of its citizens (Li S. , 2016). Seemingly, it is even
harder for low-income residents to find a house without the public housing
service. When the economic principle focus on using competitive distribution,
the welfare principle focus on balance the market, providing basic needs for
people to against the competitive distribution. Therefore, there is a conflict
of the ideology behind the economic and welfare principle.
Also, the economic
principle is concerned with finding the least expensive way to produce the
greatest outcome, while the welfare principle is concerned with the most
appropriate to help the people in need with less calculation of the cost
(Segal, 2013). When it comes to policy making, if applying the economic
principle various quantitative indicators will be used in calculating the
outcome and effectiveness of the policy, namely the increase in Gross Domestic
Product(GDP). When it comes to the welfare principle, it is using the most
suitable method to tackle the problem (Segal, 2013) . For example, the
youth unemployment problem causing the adverse effects on the society. If the
government approach this issue from the economic principle, it will focus the
number of employment opportunities been increased, and how many people can go
back to the job market. However, from the welfare principle, it will further
concentrate on the origin causes of this problem, namely: the lack of
vocational and communicational skills. After identifying the reasons, some
training will be provided to enhance their competitiveness. When following this
principle, not only the government will calculate the number of employment
being increasing, but also whether the job suitable for them or not. Owing to
the ideological differences, the hidden contradiction of the two principle has
been a debate for the general public.
Although there is a great
difference between the ideology of the economic principle and welfare
principle, they can be mutually cooperative to achieve a win-win situation.
From the example of integrating mental illness patients into the mainstream
society in the United States is the most successful example of balancing the
economic and welfare principle. Throughout the history of western society, the
mental illness patients are treated in mental hospital and social welfare
institutions (Chapin, 2014). At which the causing a high social welfare burden
of the state to support the daily operation of facilities (Chapin, 2014). At
the same time, the government starts to reflect their welfare policymaking, considering
its financial stainability and the social responsibility. It seems the
government is trying to balance the interest of economic and welfare principle.
Finally, after discussions between the economic sectors and social workers, the
government was started to integrate people with mental illness into the
society, by providing them basic trainings and employment opportunities
(Chapin, 2014). The patients are now able to release their mental pressure and
change their life by their job. In addition to the benefits of the individual
on the welfare perspective, this policy also reduces the financial burden of
the government in welfare policy. At which the government was able to decrease
the number of pressure used in the social welfare perspective, achieving a
highly efficient settlement system.
When it comes to the role
of social worker in policymaking, it is common for us to identify three
principal roles and position of them. The first role of social worker in
policymaking is to conduct research of the concerned social issues (McInnis-Dittrich, 1994) . As social workers
are the one who engage in the social environment and interactive with people
with various concerns (McInnis-Dittrich, 1994) . After their
interaction, it is much easier for social workers to identify the concerns of
the general public and the disadvantaged groups. At which, this the first step
of investigating social issues. An academic and formal research studies can be
done by the social workers to increase the awareness of the public and the
government (Zastrow, 2014) . At the same time,
if the local government is looking for solutions to tackle some social issues,
the social workers might also be appointed to conduct studies. For example, the
Hong Kong society is currently facing the aging problem. The local government
is concerned about the future manpower supply and the formulation of the
retirement protection. Therefore, the government appointed Nelson Chow Wing-sun,
a social work professor at the University of Hong Kong, to conduct research on
retirement security (Yau, 2016) . This example helps
us to prove that one of the roles of the social worker in policymaking is to
carry out research of the concerned social issues.
Secondly, the social
worker can work as an advocator role in policymaking (Zastrow,
2014) .
The idea of advocate was borrowed from the legal profession. When social workers
identified some groups of citizens are in lack of assistances or the current
resources are far less that the standard level, the advocate’s role may be
appropriate for social workers. Under this role and position, social workers
will collect information, argue for unappreciated policies and distribution of
resources and challenge the government for the improper policymaking (Zastrow,
2014) .
This role is not going to contest the authority of the local government, but to
voice out the needs and problems of some disadvantaged groups, to maintain the
interest of citizens and preventing social exclusion among the society (Zastrow,
2014) .
The example of Ms. Fermi Wong (王惠芬) will be the suitable example for this
ideas. She is one of the advocates of the right and justice of ethnic
minorities in our community. Due to the limitations of the current policy, the
ethnic minorities in Hong Kong are facing various problems, namely: the
integrating difficulty, the cultural and communication barriers. In light of
their problems, Ms. Fermi Wong did a lot of advocacy projects to protect their
fundamental right and eradicate the racial discrimination among Hong Kong
society.
The final role of the
social worker to be noted here is the role of evaluating social welfare policy.
The social welfare policy evaluation refers to ‘the critical and rigorous
examination of a program’s operation and outcome with attention to the program
goals and effects, intended or unintended' (Rutman, 1977). Through different
scientific and systematically methods to compare the real situation and
hypothetically statement about the policy. It can show whether this policy is
adequate, effective or not, if there are any problems regarding the policy, it
is the responsibility for social workers to change the system. For example, the
eligibility to apply CSSA was increased from citizens who lived in Hong Kong
for one year to seven years, to reduce the financial burden of the Hong Kong
government (Ng, 2013) . At which, it
restricted the application qualification from Hong Kong resident to Hong Kong
permanent resident, affecting the right of Ms. Kong Yun Ming(孔允明). She came to Hong Kong for a family reunion, but her husband died
on the second day after she arrived Hong Kong. At which, she lacked financial
supports for her living. Although she got the residency of Hong Kong, however,
the social welfare department rejected her application for CSSA, due to the
newly implemented policy (Ng, 2013) . Some social workers
were concerned about this issue, as the decision might affect the human right
of Hong Kong citizens and causing the problem of social discrimination and exclusion.
Ms. Sze Lai Shan(施麗珊) and another group of social workers
started to evaluate the policy, considering the aims of the policy and the
current situation. They believe the right to apply CSSA is the basic right
stated in Basic Law, the limitation for the new immigrants is not fair. They
tried to appeal this policy and finally, the judge ruled the government was in
violation of the law. Showing that social workers might have role and position in
evaluating the current policies, so as to identify and evaluate the limitations
and problems of the policy, provide suggestions to the government or taking
actions to against the policy.
In conclusion, this paper
firstly discussed the subordinated, and inter-related relationship between
economic development and social welfare policymaking; secondly explained the
contradictive and cooperative relationship between economic and welfare
principle; and finally revealing the researching, advocating and evaluating
role and position of the social worker in policymaking. It is time for us to
rethink and reflect the appropriate relationship between economic development
and social welfare policymaking in our society. The government should take the
lead to balance the economic and welfare principle while the social workers
should take their initiative to be responsible for their role and position, so
as to building up a greater society.
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