Social Exclusion as Social Problem in Relation to Social Work Practice - Essay Example

Social exclusion as social problem in relation to social work practice A social problem is a condition that at least a group of people in a community view as being undesirable. Not everyone has the same degree in viewing social problems. Nonsmokers view smoking as an undesirable social condition and should be banned in public places. On the other hand, smokers do not view it as a social problem. Thus, not all social conditions become elevated to the status of "social problem" unless some of the conditions are met.1 These conditions include the following: a. The objective condition must be perceived to be a social problem publicly, i.e., there must be some public outcry. People must become actively involved in discussing the problem to a point that public attention becomes directed toward that social condition. b. The condition must involve a gap between social ideals and social reality, i.e., the condition must run counter to the values of the larger society. At the beginning of the 20th century, alcohol abuse was perceived to be a very serious social problem, responsible for family breakdown, abandonment of children, accidental death at work, and violence in society. A "Temperance Movement" emerged that further consolidated public opinion to a point that people wanted to do something about it. c. The condition must be capable of solution through collective action by people. If no solution is perceived possible, people will resign themselves to their fate. A good example is government bureaucracy-- If everyone takes the attitude that "you can't fight city hall", government bureaucracy doesn't emerge as a social problem. Rather, it is a part of life that everyone must live with.  d. If people affected by a condition are influential, or powerful, the condition is more likely to be considered a social problem than if those affected are not.  The chances of a condition to be considered a social problem increase substantially when its begins to affect the white middle class, particularly those who are able to influence government policy, or the content of the mass media. e. The mass media also plays an important role in the selection and definition of social problems. It gives selective attention to certain conditions. The liberal press will highlight certain issues while the conservative press will select others. f. Finally, ideology plays an important role in determining which conditions are singled out as social problems.2 Emergence of social exclusion as a social problem Now, one of the problems in our society today is the social exclusion. As a social problem, it emerged in France in the 1970s to respond to the problem of sustaining social integration and solidarity (Barry, 1998). Also, social exclusion surfaced as an answer to the need for the improvement of the living conditions of those left behind by economic growth in order to reinforce the principles on which the French economic system was based (Ebersold, 1998). While in Great Britain, social exclusion grew in 1980s to 1990s as a result of the neo-liberalist agenda of the Conservative government that was in power in this period (Walker and Walker, 1997), an agenda that reversed the postwar trend towards a narrowing gap between the rich and poor. The term also reflected the sweeping economic and social changes that took place in Europe over the 1980s and resulted in the rise of long-term unemployment and poverty, the growth of people relying on the state for support, growing problems among youth and others where the "new" poor joined the ranks of poor elderly and other unemployed groups (Ebersold, 1998. There has been an increasing outcry of the importance of social exclusion as shown by a wide range of academic researches focusing on issues such as housing, health, disability and employment among others (Valentine, 2002). As a social policy under the Thatcher government in the 1980s, social exclusion was heavily influenced by the "underclass" debate with a focus on stereotypical notions associated with the "undeserving poor" (Barry, 1998). In the European Union, its social policy shifted from the term "poverty" towards a "social exclusion" framework since the early 1990s coinciding with the continued worsening of the economic climate as well as increasing pressures on the welfare state (Evans, 1998). This paradigm shift was manifested was by the establishment of the European Observatory on National Policies for Combating Social Exclusion in 1990 to examine the "social rights of citizenship to a basic standard of living and to participation in major social and economic opportunities in society" (Cousins, 1999). In these contexts, the term social exclusion, therefore, is ‘culturally defined, economically driven and politically motivated’ (Barry, 1998). In the political perspective, the issue is not so much, therefore, whether the concept of social exclusion has analytical rigour but rather whether its deployment can convince the wider public that government policies are effective. Commentators (from the works of Levitas (1998; Berghman 1995; Marsh & Mullins , 1998; Andersen 2002) argue that the vagueness of the term encouraged politicians within the European Community to adopt it as a mainstream policy issue in the late 1980s. It enabled politicians to use the concept strategically without detailing precisely its substance. Silver (1994) and Levitas (1998) both stressed the ease by which a social exclusion strategy was politically used to convey to the public as a commitment to address poverty. It was also used to legitimise new approaches to government service delivery that imply more complex policy solutions. The political dimension of social exclusion is evident in the policies that have been pursued by the Social Exclusion Unit of the UK Labour Government where it was disputed by critics that policy makers have concentrated on the most visible and extreme issues which are likely to capture wider public attention such as street homelessness, teenage mothers, drug related crime and polices to reduce anti-social behaviour (Burchardt, Le Grand and Piachaud 2002). Thus, there is a continuing debate on the use of social exclusion in politics as a terminology whether the concept enhances understanding of poverty and inequality because there remains its analytical rigour and conceptual clarity (Arthurson, n.d.) Social Exclusion in relation to social work practice Despite critics on the concept of social exclusion, the mediation role of social work practice is indispensable in the attainment of the goals “social exclusion”. Social work practice and social exclusion are in the same realm, as both consider problems of societal importance. Social work practice consists of the professional application of social work values, principles, and techniques to achieve the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services; and participating in legislative processes (Searing, 2004). It is broadly interpreted to refer to the application of intentionally designed social work intervention programs to problems of societal or interpersonal importance. Aside from behaviour analysis and therapy; psychotherapy or counseling with individuals; case management; education; supervision; practice involving couples, families, or small groups; advocacy; community practice; and organizational management, one of the most important interventions of social work practice can contribute is the evaluation of social policies (Sage Publications) which includes the social exclusion-related policies of governments. To better understand social exclusion in the context of social work practice, one needs to know the societal spheres where social exclusion is manifested. In the social realm, social exclusion is evident in the following areas: lack of citizenship rights, no right to minimum wage, and prevented access to education, health and other services, among others. In the economic aspect, it is the lack of access to labour markets, unemployed prevented from accessing resources and activities readily available to others in society, particularly consumption and activities and savings. In the legal/political sphere, it is the manifested in the lack of access to democratic decision-making in society, being a non-voter, uninvolved in community organizations and includes problems in accessing structures and processes that enable and facilitate effective community participation. In the cultural side, it is the exclusion from common cultural practices within society, traditionally, associated with religion, language and nationality, new notions of exclusion in contemporary society, ‘Community effects’ and network poverty, causing lack of access to role models and informal contacts providing useful pathways to jobs, symbolic economy, develops cultural products that can exclude particular groups of people (Arthurson, 2002). Social work has long recognised its mediating role and therefore the social exclusion discourse, which embraces this role, was initially accepted by social workers. However, what is lacking is the recognition of the contradictions at the heart of social work, which is the reconciliation of psychological theories concerned with attempting to control, cure or correct the 'socially excluded' to anti-oppressive practice. The theory of social exclusion can be interpreted in a variety of ways and even allows people to see things in it which are absent. They can read into it their own feelings about the relationship between the individual and society, about conformity and non-conformity, and about belonging or being an outsider. It offers an understanding of the social work role that avoids any serious discussion of the political issues that underpin practice. It allows social workers to reach their own private view of the social work role (Searing, 2004). Academics works and researchers papers abound on issues concerning the extent of social exclusion in the society. These may be useful to politicians and policymakers in crafting strategies for intervention but social workers learn nothing new from them. Social workers learn from their everyday experience that poverty is the core of social exclusion. They work closely with people living in run-down council estates and high crime areas who are locked in a cycle of deprivation and helplessness. They expect the “social exclusion industry” to come up with strategies on how to alleviate poverty but instead arrive into various philosophical debates on the concepts. Academe seems interested in social exclusion as a marketable product which it can sell and tend to gloss over the difficult problem of finding solutions to poverty and inequality (Searing, 2004). While UK government’s thrust as shown by its policy is on changing individual behaviour. Its main solution to poverty is through work and has invested in various services to support this strategy, e.g. financial help through the tax system and expansion of child care provision. In addition to government’s efforts, social workers are going into schools to help the fight against social exclusion, while assertive outreach teams are dealing with social exclusion problems of mental health users. But still, beyond these efforts of the government, there is still a half-hearted response to the problems of poverty and deprivation at the root of social exclusion. And there lies the reality that the poorest and most vulnerable continue to live in very impoverished environments (Searing, 2004). Government has also been successful in developing a theory which has been mainstreamed in the society. With the support of various powerful groups in the society, it has created the notion that the socially excluded are outside the norms and conventions of society and are somehow deviant and problematic. Thus, social work practice is being challenged in bringing these people in line. Social workers provide services for those individuals who most needed intervention. Above all these, they are expected to help people overcome social exclusion. They need to encourage their unemployed clients to get jobs, including those with caring responsibilities. They need to help clients overcome their deprivation even in the midst of under-resourced and inadequate public services. They must also help change the behaviour of the deviant and nuisance poor. Indeed, social workers are given challenging roles in overcoming social exclusion (Searing, 2004). The role of social workers is to try reaching out those most difficult to reach; and those who have often been failed to get support from other agencies. However, social work practice has been increasingly expected to take interest in aspects of family life that were previously seen as a private domain and outside the concern of the state and of other people. This raises important ethical issues about personal freedom and state intervention (Searing, 2004). According to David Miliband in his article on social exclusion: “Where people's lives improved, they were not "going from being socially excluded to being middle class overnight” (cited in Searing, 2004). Endnote 1 as cited in http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jmahoney/define.htm 2 as cited in Project LEGAL. [Accessed at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/sp.html]. Sources ANDERSEN, H. Can deprived housing areas be revitalised? 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