Social welfare policy overview

Social Welfare Policy

All nation states have some sort of social welfare policy. Social welfare may be defined as the explicit and implicit terms by which the state and its citizenry establish a network of relations with one another. (Blau & Abramovitz, 2003) Citizens may be said to owe the state certain things, like taxes, military service when called for, obedience to the law of the state, and in return the state provides them with everything from proper removal of their trash on a local level, social security payments on a federal level, and protection from insurgent powers in the form of community policing and a standing army.

Some states assume a large burden for their citizens in their social contracts, such as Sweden, which offers its citizens a virtual 'cradle to grave' system of social welfare protections. However, in financial terms the citizens pay dearly for it, in the form of a network of taxation. Singapore as well assumes a greater financial role for protecting the welfare of its citizens through its extensive network of protective laws, but it demands an extensive array of social controls in terms of obedience from its people in exchange.

The United States provides fewer social services for its citizens than do most European nations -- its citizens do not have universal access health care, for example. But America demands less in terms of taxes and encroachments upon personal as well as financial freedoms in the form of prohibitive laws and access to forms of health care -- health care is not rationed, and taxation is lower.