Social welfare systems and policy frameworks

Social Welfare

In the Social world we inhabit, how unique, or individualistic, can we be? Can we "be whatever we want to be and do whatever we want to do"? "NO"

In the world that we inhabit, we are free to choose how we live our lives and where we go with it, but at the same time, we are also chained by certain restrictions. These restrictions place a limit on the extent to which we have control over our lives as well as our behavior. It is not possible to exercise complete control over our individualism. There are some invisible and visible forces that affect our sense of individualism. It is also more sensible and realistic to heed these forces and acknowledge their presence in order to live a more trouble free life.

When we talk about these forces, one may wonder what exactly they are? N. In his book on the subject of how societies work identifies these forces and explains their influence on us. The one important force is power of various institutions and people on thus from childhood right up to adult life. These powerful forces may be transitory in nature but they do have a limited influence over us. For example as children we are restricted in our behavior by parental influences. We cannot eat as much candy as we want. We may not skip school if we feel like it. And we may not go for sleepovers as many times as we like. So there are always some influences on us. When we pass that stage, and enter young adult life, parents lose their control over us to a large extent. As a college student, since we are away from them, their control vaporizes and they cannot shape our behavior according to what they think is right. But we are not free completely. In college, we come across professors who have a considerable degree of control over our lives. Their approval is important for our progress but as soon as their course is over, we move on and get out of their sphere of control.

Apart from power in the society, there are other forces that affect our individualistic streak and these are human nature, personal beliefs and cultural influences. Everyone is a product of his or her own culture and whether we like it or not, culture has certain degree of influence over us. The way we want to go ahead or live our lives may not be in accordance with our cultural beliefs and this tends to create an impediment. There are people who would like to dress a certain way but are told that culture doesn't approve and they change their attire to be more in accordance with cultural values. Similarly often our religious beliefs or personal views formed by other factors may clash with our individualism. In countries where sexual contact before marriage is prohibited, there are many young men and women, desirous of having a sexual relationship but cannot proceed because their own beliefs often cause them to stop.

People may often be unaware of the cultural influences in their lives. They may think they are highly individualistic and original thinkers only to realize later that they are nothing like that and are actually heavily influenced by cultural beliefs. For example every culture finds itself superior to others and this is called ethnocentrism. People in the east actually believe they are far superior to those in the west because of the boundaries they maintain and respect. However in the west, people may think they are better off than those in the east because they have more freedom.

It is so unfortunate that even the so-called wise and intelligent people among us can be blindly controlled by ethnocentrism. For example in one Oprah Winfrey show, she commented against the practice of arranged marriages in the east and said, "we should be grateful that we were born in American where we can choose our partners." This is really the height of ignorance. People in the east must have laughed at this comment because they believe Americans have to suffer so much- moving from one partner to another in search of the One. They consider this disrespectful and degrading. Oprah Winfrey really needs to become more broadminded than that.

It must however be made clear that all these forces or influences are usually positive. They tend to benefit us if exercised in limits because any freedom without limit is neither cherished nor needed. You may become a completely free individual but then you turn into someone like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. To be more normal and sensible, its good to life yourself with limits imposed on you. People with absolutely no limits are either celebrities or freaks and if you think carefully, we don't want to be like them because we can see the nuances of abnormality in their behavior.