Describe about the Applied Sociology for Welfare and Health.
An overview of the British “welfare state” will be discussed involving the history, origin and leadership of the government. The reasons for health inequalities in the growth of the “welfare state” in Britain will be discussed.
The historical evidence which reflects the fact that the British society has witnessed a lot of problems in the late eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century will be illustrated.
The nature f the welfare provision involving the “Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601” and the various provisions would be discussed.
The negative effects of the law and the consequences of the Boer war on health will be elaborately discussed.
The Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree’s research conducted in London and York to observe the level of poverty will be discussed.
“The 1800’s were a time of liberal reform in Britain. These reforms came as a result of two things: the French Revolution and the industrial revolution.” The idea of “Liberalism” in Britain influenced politics and lead to reform. This concept will be discussed.
The reasons for changes in the British society structure due to Jarrow March” which led a protest march against poverty and unemployment in Britain will be elaborated.
The way “Beveridge Report” impacted on the society and the mode of tackling the “Giant Evils” will be discussed.
The various Laws implemented to bring about changes in the British welfare state will be illustrated.
Then the two theories will be evaluated namely the Marxist theory and the Feminist theory.
The impact of the two theories on the British society will be discussed. The Marxist approach adopted an exceedingly functionalist considerate of the welfare state will be elaborated. The theory intends to recognize the gender inequality and also inspects women’s experience, interests, social responsibilities and feminist politics in the various sectors. This will be illustrated.
Haralambos, social perspectives based on health inequalities will be illustrated.
“Registrar Generals’ Class Classification Scale” will be outlined and the impact of social classifications leading to the differences in the lifestyle of class I and V will be illustrated.
The differences that exist between the class I and V based on the food, education, medical remedies, alcohol consumption and housing amenities will be discussed.
An outline of the “European Standard Mortality Rates” based on the coronary heart diseases and lung cancer will be discussed. The report on the mortality rate differences in various years will be discussed.
The Black report will be discussed involving the Artefact explanation, social selection, behavioural model and material deprivation. The discussion will be based on the inequalities among class I and V related to coronary heart diseases and lung cancer.
A conclusion will be discussed based on the ideas generated after the end of the report.
The bibliography will be based on the references used in discussing the points using the Harvard style citation.
Appendix will involve “The Registrar Generals’ Class Classification Scale,” and European Standard Mortality Rates and the Black Report.
Introduction-
The term “welfare state” is a notion of government which allows the state to play a significant part in the shielding and growth of the monetary and social well-being of the community of the nation. The whole concept is dependent on the philosophy of equal distribution of wealth, equality of chance and community responsibility for a standard life. On considering Britain, the base of the welfare state originated with the “Liberal Party” under the rule of the government headed by Prime ministers “David Lloyd George” and “H. H. Asquith” (Savage et al. 2013).
The “United Kingdom” is a unitary state which involves the central government to direct most of the activities of the government. According to Friedman and Miles (2013), the British system has been categorized as a “liberal welfare state system.” Over the last two hundred years, Britain has experienced reflective changes in the nature and degree of the state welfare. The historical evidence reflects the fact that the British society has witnessed a lot of problems in the end phase of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. This report highlights the nature of the British welfare state and how much impact it left on the development and the welfare provision regarding housing, health, education and etc. (Le Roux et al. 2012).
As stated by Mills (2014), the present social policies and welfare provision in Britain has connection and roots in the end phase of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. The British policies relating to the social structure was dominated completely by Poor Laws. It was first passed in the year 1598 and continued till 1948.The “Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601” involved provisions for –
Although the Law proposed was effective, there was no universal mechanism through which it could be enforced, and this law was inconsistent in certain areas. The social condition of Britain in that period involved modifications in the industrial revolution that caused growth in the town, rapid elevation in the population and initial experience of modern redundancy and the business cycle. Such extreme conditions lead to an elevation in the poor rates. The Poor Laws were not liked by the community (Savage et al. 2014).
In terms of Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree’s research conducted in London (1886-1903) and York (1899-1901) respectively, it was found that thirty percent of the people in London and thirty percent of the people in York were on positioned on the poverty line (Whelan et al. 2012).
The Boer War reflected the illness and undernourishment among the labor classes and therefore developed a feeling of fear among the community for future generations being not able to uphold his military control of the Britain’s empire. This war revealed the physical and mental consequences of poverty. The two factors that contributed to the poor condition of the soldiers were that the soldiers were not trained properly and were physically unprepared to face the war. Such conditions lead to high level of losses with regards to the British soldiers. Secondly, the policies such as “scorched earth” and also “civilian internment” devastated the civilian pool. Moreover, Germany appeared predominantly instructive for a lot of reasons. Both Britain and Germany were observed as conflicting poles amid industrialized and prosperous European nations. Although Germany, a late comer to industrialization, was a pioneer in wide-ranging schemes of state based social insurance, Britain being has industrialized sooner was held back. Moreover, the insurance system in Germany rapidly acquired recognition for generosity. As discussed me Mackenbach (2012), history reveals that Germany was strong in terms of military and economy. On the contrary, the British insurance system provided inadequate services. Such actions lead to an elevation in the poverty level (Bossert et al. 2013).
The 1800’s witnessed the liberal reform concept in Britain. The result of two revolutions lead to such reforms: the Industrial and French Revolution. The idea of “Liberalism” in Britain influenced politics and lead to reform. The major problem that existed in Britain in that era was that only men who owned some property had the right to participate in election, and wealthy landowners were elected to the “House of Commons.” According to Scambler (2015), in 1900 the estimated population calculated that lived on the edge of poverty and starvation was found to be thirty percent. There lacked equality in the wealth and income. In the year 1906 the Liberal government introduced a numerous number of social reforms. The inclusions of this reform were free medical tests and treatment for pupils at school, workers were compensated for any sort of injuries at work, free meals were introduced in schools, and pension amount of five shillings was initiated for people over the age of seventy years. The significant component of the reform was introduced in the year 1911 in the form of “National Insurance Act” that provided insurance for the working class people in time of sickness and also unemployment benefit was also introduced in certain sectors (Carter-Harris et al. 2014).
The Liberal reform was on the verge of attaining success but e consequences of the first and Second World War lead to poverty and the outbreak of diseases. The Boer War made Britain realized that the country has very few friends. During this period “Jarrow March” led a protest march against poverty and unemployment in Britain. Such activities brought about a lot of changes in the structure of the British society. Britain needed such reforms in order to renovate the whole country against the disastrous effect of the world war. This march continued for twenty six days where the people who participated carried a petition requesting the British government to re-establish of new industry in the city. This march resulted in few immediate outcomes. In the duration of eighty years around one thousand ships were launched in the town Jarrow (Lebel et al. 2013).
During the foundation of the “welfare state” in the United Kingdom, an influential document was produced commonly known as the “Beveridge Report.” This report was a part of the “Social Insurance and Allied Services” report of 1942. As stated by Munson and Saulnier (2014), this report was published in the middle of the war and according to the documents it promised to reward those who have sacrificed during those crucial periods. It was in the form of a post-war reform and was the basis of the Welfare State. This was leaded by the Liberal economist named “William Beveridge” who recognized five major “Giant Evils” in the society. The evils involved squalor, want, ignorance, diseases and idleness. In order to address the five evils a proper system of unemployment and sickness was required. The welfare state was established to fight against the five “giant evils.” Beveridge aimed to break the cycle of poverty which was the cause of insufficient shelter and restricted work ability of the members. The system involved National Health Service, full time employment policy and also family allowance. The reform got a structure when the Labour Party in the year 1945 won the general election and promised to address the five evils of the society. Recommendations were put into practice through a succession of acts of parliament such as the “National Insurance Act,” the “National Health Service Act” and “National Assistance Act” and beginning the contemporary welfare state. Some of the major implementation of the reform was pension policies for the elderly people, supply of milk and meals in the schools; emergency healthcare services were introduced and improvement in the diets of poor families. These provisions lead to a dramatic change in the social and economical condition of the country (Shilling, C., 2012).
(a) Marxist theory:
The Marxist theory refers to an approach to bring about welfare for the working classes. This theory is completely based on the philosophy of Karl Marx. Marxism has a multiple doctrine with a broad range of opinions involving an analytical framework which is critical of the capitalist society. If functionalism emphasized the constructive role that welfare spending had to participate in order to confirm the smooth performance of industrial society, “a Marxist approach,” while also accepting a superior functionalist thought of the welfare state, emphasized as an alternative that welfare expending was a opposing course which formed tendencies towards social, political and economic crisis (‘Hesse-Biber 2012).
“The welfare state” which emerged in the highly developed capitalist society aids both in confirming the perseverance, constancy and regimented operation of the financial system and the welfare state established the connection of community and social classes and the preservation of social order. The main beliefs of the Marxist theory put down the common, negative restrictions of this autonomy. Some Marxists argued that the ‘free’ health service is a victory for the working class. Marxist reasons set poverty in the situation of the class arrangement, purposely the association of social assembly inside a capitalist system of financial manufacture in which there were the oppressed and the exploiters (Hesse-Biber 2012).
A key statement of the Marxist viewpoint is that material manufacture is the most basic of all human activities. These involved human necessities like food, clothing and shelter in a survival financial system, to the accumulation manufacturing of merchandise in contemporary capitalist societies. During this period of war, Britain has experienced a middle way situation with capitalism was on one side and communism on the other. The direction of this advances enhanced the welfare activities such as health care and income maintenance. (Hesse-Biber 2012)
Criticism – The Marxists theory believed that the state first needs to be transformed and sooner or later overcome. There were two problems related to the principles of this theory firstly, it is not possible to transform the state and secondly, a society cannot exist without state power.
The “Feminist theory” is a philosophical and theoretical extension of feminism. The theory intends to recognize the gender inequality and also inspects women’s experience, interests, social responsibilities and feminist politics in the various sectors. As discussed by Hay (2016), the theory explores the themes such as discrimination, oppression, objectification, art, history and stereotyping. Beveridge’s view was mostly in accord with those of the bulk of the organized “women’s movement in Britain” in between the years the 1930s and 1940s. For example, the socialist feminist, failed to take into contemplation that the “national insurance system” approved by Britain also discriminate against several other pools in society, that the “Beveridge Report” was basically defective because it failed to concentrate on class inequalities.
Feminist theories from the 1970s have made a considerable and lasting contribution to the British welfare state. Since, this was a non-insured advantage, paid for out of common taxation, it unavoidably destined that many unconfirmed women were questioned to humiliating means-tests which were awkwardly evocative of the old Poor Law. The turning point was observed from the 1980s and little development had been made. Around sixty percent of all adults sketching means-tested reimbursement were female. With the advent of 1980s slight progress was made. Almost sixty per cent of all adults who took means-tested remunerations were female. Furthermore, in the post-war years, the rising number of “single parent mothers” who received revenue support became uncovered to the charge of being “welfare mothers” and of being the producers of an “under class.” With the advent of the 19th century, which was the age of the reformist many changes took place such as new law was passed which made divorce a civil affair of the court, protection for both the upper and lower classes, more career options were introduced along with the removal of the challenges, etc. (Henry 2013).
Criticism – The feminists have stressed on the social control and also the authoritarian nature of the welfare state policies. There were two notions – one represented that gender played an important role in shaping the welfare state, while the other represented female as a supreme power in the development of the welfare state. These two notions gave birth to the differences rather than equality among the feminist society.
In the year 1913 the “Registrar-General’s Social Classes” were introduced and it was renamed in the year 1990 as “Social Class based on Occupation.” The society was classified into classes class I (professionals), II (managerial and technical occupations), III (skilled non-manual), IV (partly-skilled) and V (unskilled). The classification was based on the occupational skills (Beveridge 2014).
Refer to table 1
According to Haralambos, social perspectives is that “a person’s chances of obtaining those things defined as desirable and avoiding those things defined as undesirable in their society.” According to Rugg, (2014), the class I members they had more education thus their lifestyle was much better in terms of health, housing and welfare. High numbers of doctors, engineers and nurses were seen in the class I group. In contrary due to lack of education, their health and standard of living were low. The amenities of the housing also differed in terms of class I and V. Regarding food the class V people due to lack of money survived on the low nutrition food or consumed cheaper amount of food, whereas the Class I community feed on high nutrition and costly foods. This resulted in health deterioration in class V. The Class I community were financially stable thus could adopt for health regime, whereas, the class V community could not adopt such policies due to lack of money. Social circumstances lead to the exposure of drinking and cheap tobacco consumption in the class V community. To the contrary, class I members used high quality drinks or tobacco.
The “Standard death rate (SDR)” is a standard measurement of the rate of death of a population against standard age distribution. According to SDR there exist a statistical difference in the mortality between class I and V based on lung cancer marked between1986-92. In terms of lung cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease it has been observed that the mortality rate decreased steadily among class I population. While for class V members the mortality rate decreased but the amount was quite less. On the contrary, the data collected from 1970 to 1993 revealed that the accident level and suicidal case was much more in class V members that class I which accounted to 22 between the years 1991 to 1993. This was a rise from the statistics of 1970 to 1972 which was 15 (Englander 2013).
The “Skadon Mavron Report” is also known as the “Black Report” was a document published in the year 1980. The document demonstrated that there has been an improvement in the health observed with the introduction of the welfare state. The Artefact explanation states that the inequalities are the outcome of inappropriate statistics and meaning of the social class. Social class is the notion that relates to the stratification of the society depending on financial and social status. The main significance of social class is that such classification affects the rewards and opportunities of an individual. The social classes can be measured based on the education, health, disability and race. According to the “Artefact explanation,” the main reason of health inequality was found to be economic inequality. Based on the report of table 2, it can be concluded that suicide, injuries and health problems were more prevalent among the members of class V than I due to financial crisis and inequality in medical facility. The report reflected that the death rate of the social class V men were twice that of the social class I men (Englander 2013).
The natural/social selection states that the life status of the people is the reason behind their bad health condition. The status of the lower level people is preventing them from maintaining and obtaining higher-ranking jobs. In Black report, it is observed that the death rate is more in social class V as compared to social class I in relation to Coronary Heart Disease and Lung Cancer. According to this explanation, the differences in death rates between these two classes are due to their life styles, professional life and life style (Henry 2013). In the social class V, the life status is very low as compared to the class I.
The Behavioral/Cultural Explanation states that people in the lower class do not look after themselves due to their cultural and behavioral attributes. This reason leads to poor health conditions. In Black report, it is observed that the death rate is more in social class V as compared to social class I in relation to Coronary Heart Disease and Lung Cancer. The reasons behind their differences are their behavioral characteristics. For example, the people of social class V are not having regular medical checkups, are not following healthy lifestyles and healthy diets (Englander 2013). Due to these reasons, they get affected easily through lung cancer and coronary heart diseases. Their negligence leads them to the deaths. This is not observed in social class I.
The Material Deprivation Explanation states that certain materialistic and structural factors are responsible for giving rise to poor health conditions in lower class level. In Black report, it is observed that the death rate is more in social class V as compared to social class I in relation to Coronary Heart Disease and Lung Cancer. According to the explanation, the reasons behind this differentiation are depression, stress, dangerous working environments, inadequate housing, subsequent poor diet, and restricted access to good quality health care, low childcare practices and low diet (Ramsay et al. 2014). Due to these reasons, they get affected easily through lung cancer and coronary heart diseases. Their negligence leads them to excess drinking and smoking.
According to the author, the behavioral and cultural explanation can explain the inequalities in better way. As this explanation states that, the differentiation is observed because of their behavioral characteristics.
In between the years 1970 to 1972, “Decennial Supplement of Occupational Mortality (OCPS)” reported that men belonging to the social class V, who are unskilled were twice more prone to die before the age of sixty-five as those in professional social class I. The young ones in the families of the social class V were twice more prone to coronary disease and lung cancer than those in social class I. The reason behind this is that the worker class possessed less economy for treatment (Digby, A., 1982).
Refer to table 3
There exist social class disparities in health detrimental or health development behaviors like the dietary choices, tobacco and alcohol, active free time pursuits, and employ of contraception, antenatal services, and immunization. Furthermore, “assessments of interventions that seek to change health behaviors have rarely found clear-cut improvements in health that would be predicted by the behavioral model.” The low economic condition, stress, knowledge lead them to being addicted of certain drugs. That led to the deterioration of the health condition in class V that class I. For example, tobacco consumption caused lung cancer, and low diet and stress lead to coronary diseases (Scott-Samuel et al. 2014).
As stated by Di Cesare et al. (2013), poverty renders individuals to health risks. Disadvantaged individuals of class V were more probable to reside in sectors in which they are uncovered to harm like the moist shelter and air pollution. “The Black Report” established materialist elucidations to be significant in amplification of social class dissimilarities in health among communities. There was little precise proof for materialist explanations. For example air pollution was the causative agent for the development of lung cancer (Ramsay et al. 2014).
Conclusion –
On considering Britain, the base of the welfare state originated with the “Liberal Party” under the rule of the government headed by Prime ministers “David Lloyd George” and “H. H. Asquith.” The impact of the “Poor Law” passed on 1601 reflects the pros and cons of the welfare state. In the year 1913 the “Registrar-General’s Social Classes” were introduced and it was renamed in the year 1990 as “Social Class based on Occupation.” With the reforms based on the Marxist and Feminist theory in Britain in the 1800s and 1900s respectively experienced changes in the social welfare structure of Britain. The research conducted by Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree’s d in London (1886-1903) and York (1899-1901) respectively helped to recognize the economic status of the country.
The introduction of the “Registrar-General’s Social Classes” in 1913 divided the society into five classes depending on the community occupation. The “Black Report” was a document published in the year 1980 which demonstrated that there has been an improvement in the health observed with the introduction of the welfare state. Thus it can be concluded that “the theme of most welfare histories is ‘the coming of the welfare state’ as though all previous forms of welfare were temporary and incomplete, that it was inevitable Britain’s welfare should be ultimately dominated by state provision, and that, somehow, the journey is now at an end.”
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