The Social Democratic Approach

Contrasting the views of the New Right, is the Social Demorcratic. The social democratic approach is based on the ideas of the Labour party and has been influenced by the work of Beveridge. They believe that poverty is a result of the inequalities created by the labour market in capitalist societies. As a result of capitalism they say there is a free market economy where, there are low wages and high unemployment and as a result there is a need for a welfare state. Unlike Marxist, they do not think that revolution is the answer; they believe that the state should intervene. A profit driven market does not adequately care for the elderly, poor and disabled. Economic development under capitalism leads to conditions which threaten social stability. Wealth is not distributed evenly; some people need support in order to promote social stability (s-cool 6 November 2012).

 

One major influence in social democratic was R. Tirmuss. He was concerned with the creation of greater social justice and equality. Titmuss believed that the welfare state could bring people together and give them a shared sense of citizenship. He firmly believed that there should be universal social services and benefits that are available to all regardless of their income. Universal social services referred to services such as family allowances, the NHS, free state education and pensions, these were provided through national insurance and was available to all. Titmuss believed that the universal benefits should not be means tested as it is humiliating, bureaucratic, and off putting, which may discourage people from claiming benefit to which they are entitled. For social democrats the low take up of means tested benefits is an important failing of the current social security system. In 1980, no means tested benefit had more than an 80% take up. (Parliamentary answer, 1981). Universal benefits are cheaper to administrate and are less complicated. Means- testing benefits can also produce a poverty trap. If the person was to get a job, then their benefits would stop which may result in them being worse off than they were on benefits therefore, this may result in higher unemployment. The Beveridge report strongly supported universal benefits; he stated that they are funded from tax and national insurance that is paid for by the people, so therefore, the people should be entitled to support. Furthermore, means testing can be seen as a form of social control through a framework of rules (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008).

 

The social democratic approach had some influence on the Labour governments of 1964-70 and 1974-9. It influenced the introduction of comprehensive schools which replaced the tripartite system. The social democratic approach also had a big influence in the new labours welfare to work programmes. The new deal was introduced by labour in 1998 it was set up to reduce unemployment by providing training, subsidised employment and voluntary work to the unemployed. In 1998 National child care strategy was announced this promised early education places for all three and four year olds. In 1999 Britain's first national minimum wage was introduced. In 2002 the job centre plus was established, this is a centre where the unemployed may go to get support finding work. All of the above where all introduced to support people in society who were struggling and was a result of the Social Democratic Approach. (S-cool 1 November 2012)

 

The social democratic approach has been criticised for being naively optimistic. It fails to see the problems of the development of welfare. Social democratic societies do not live in a problem free society. Pierson points out that Sweden who has the most advance welfare state in the world has had serious problems of unemployment. Some feminists believe that the social democratic approach emphasis on the rights of workers leads to a neglect of the rights of women, particularly in their roles as mothers and domestic labourers. Marxists believe that anything approaching equality cannot be achieved in a capitalist society and they believe that social democratic policies on welfare fail to distribute wealth and income from the rich to the poor. Marxists therefore, believe that social democrats do not go far enough in wanting only to reform capitalism. However, Pierson argues that the social democratic approach acknowledges both the importance of political factors and social changes such as industrialization, technological change and the development of capitalism which other perspectives does not (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008).

 

The Joseph Rowntree foundation conducted a study in 2010 called “Addressing in-work poverty”. The report shows that although families are working they are not always better off and that they still face poverty. It found that there were 1.8 million impoverished children in homes where parents work – this is an increase from the previous year. Child poverty within working households accounts for 58% of all UK cases. Even with, child and working tax credits many families are unable to get out of the cycle of poverty. Of these, 44% were considered to be in deep poverty, a household is considered to be in deep poverty if its income is less than 60% of median household income. Save the children said the report showed that for 2.1 million families, work did not pay. Further plans to working tax credit and childcare support will penalise working families even more. The coalition government claims that this is due to benefits being too high and radical reforms to the welfare system will ensure that work always pays and people are not trapped in a cycle of dependency and worklessness. (Kenway, P 2008)