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Social Welfare and Society
The Brutality of Laissez Faire Capitalism and the Minimal Welfare State.
For Chapter 5, the main point is that the U.S. went through a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization in the Gilded Age of 1870-1900 that was downright brutal in its treatment of immigrant workers, blacks and Native Americans. In this era, which resembles out own in many ways, racism was endemic, political corruption was common, and inequality in wealth and incomes was extreme. All of this is very similar to what has been happening in the U.S. For the last thirty years, which could well be thought of as a Second Gilded Age. Of course, in the late-19th Century only a very "primitive welfare state" existed with "a minimal set of poorhouses and mental institutions," as well as public hospitals and charities funded by religious organizations (Jansson, 2009, p. 159). In the cities, corrupt political machines...
160).
Ethnic and immigrant communities in the big cities today still follow these same patterns, and official welfare state institutions are often linked to various religious and nonprofit groups associated with them. This era also left many unresolved problems in the South and rural areas, where blacks did not really receive the land, education and civic equality promised at the end of the Civil War, and the federal government acquiesced to the rule of the Ku Klan and former Confederates after 1876. In this case, the social needs were absolutely desperate, but the federal government did little to meet them. Even the Freedman's Bureau of 1865-72 received "virtually no funding" because of the reigning laissez faire ideology that opposed making the lower classes 'dependent' on the state (Jannson, p. 155). Just as disastrous was the Dawes Act of 1887, which attempted to abolish the Native American tribes and turn them into communities of individual land owners, although in the end white "speculators and crooks" acquired most of the native land and resources (Jansson, p. 134). Policies like these left long lasting legacies for minority groups in the United States that still…
Progressivism was an urban, middle class reform movement of the late-19tha and early-20th Centuries that did attempt to deal with the social and economic problems of the United States in a limited way, almost always through regulations on the state and local levels. In many ways, the origins of social work as a modern profession and the welfare state can be traced back to this era, particularly to the work of Jane Addams at Hull house in Chicago and other urban reformers. Addams also supported national health insurance, public housing, old-age pensions and social security at the federal level, although these did not come about until the New Deal of the 1930s and Great Society of the 1960s (Jansson, p. 201). Early social workers like Addams soon came to understand that there was an "ethic of mutual assistance" in immigrant and ethnic communities that still exists today, and this was often the only form of welfare and social security that they had (Jansson, p. 169). This has changed little today with Latino and Asian communities in contemporary urban centers. In the post-1965 period, the U.S. again became the favorite destination for millions of refugees and economic migrants from poor countries, as it had been in the years 1880-1920. They again faced the same low wages and miserable housing and health care conditions that the earlier immigrants had, and also had no "right to safety net programs and protections that other working Americans receive" (Jansson, p. 200). Since the Progressive Era welfare state was more concerned with regulation of capitalism than social welfare and entitlement programs, present-day social workers "need to be familiar with the regulatory side of the American welfare state," especially regulations of wages, hours, workers' compensation, public health, food and drug safety and housing conditions, all of which had their origin in the Progressive Era (Jansson, p. 207).
REFERENCE
Jansson, B.S. (2009). The Reluctant Welfare State: Engaging History to Advance Social Work Practice in Contemporary Society, 6th Edition. Cengage Learning.
Last year, 76 minors were homicide victims." The child has lost her life and the government is now trying to take actions to revamp the system. Under the new system, Children's Trusts will be set up "at the local level to bring experts - psychologists, social workers, education officials - together, with a local director ultimately accountable." There may appear to be few similarities between EPL and current social welfare policy
Aboriginal Activism in Australia The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the centuries of new exploration; the scientific discoveries had allowed Europeans to build better ships and navigation system and to explore the new worlds. The French, British and Spanish explorers were more successful in these endeavors. They not only found new lands but were able to exploit the small local population of Natives to control the land. North America is perhaps
Domestic Violence and Social Learning Theory Domestic Violence on Children and Social Learning Theory Domestic Violence on Children, Juvenile Delinquency and Social Learning Theory Domestic Violence on Children and Juvenile Delinquency in the light of Social Learning Theory This research paper includes and talks about the global issue of family or domestic violence experienced and observed by children. The first part defines and explains the domestic violence and child abuse. The second part explains
Rap Music and Society Rap Music currently enjoys a status of mouthpiece for society's rebels. In fact, since the music of Elvis, various forms of music have pushed the boundaries of acceptability and decency in culture. According to some critics, rap has done this to an extent that cannot be condoned in terms of social norms. Below a short historical overview of this music genre is examined, followed by a consideration
Conflict between Civil Obedience and Moral Freedom (Free Will and Personal Conscience) in the Discourses of Henry Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and Plato People in societies, upon establishing institutions that provides and maintains order, unity, and peace within the society, are bound together through an agreement. This agreement, termed the "social contract," binds people together to commit subject themselves to the power of the government, where part of an individual's free
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