Social Policy and Its Changes due to Economic and Historical Factors - Assignment Example

Introduction Social policy is not just limited to what government has to spend on the welfare of the individuals but it is much more than what government can do for its citizens. Social policy however, in a sense refers to the policies, procedures as well as guidelines which have an impact on the conducive living of the citizens of the country in welfare. Older population forms one of the major chunks of the population in the developed countries due to slow population growth rates. The low population growth rates therefore make the population of older people as relatively large portion of the total population size. However, the overall requirements for the older people may change considering the fact that they have higher human needs. Since social policy has more to do with how the policies and procedures are designed to improve the life of the individuals and how their needs are fulfilled therefore older people occupy a relatively special position in the overall process of social policy making. However, despite such significance, social policy and provision for the old people has kept on changing due to different factors. Two of the most important factors are the historical factors and the economic factors which relatively reshaped the way social policy has been designed over the period of time. This paper will therefore focus upon how the policy and provision for older people changed due to changes in economic and historical factors. Social Policy As discussed above, the social policy refers to the guidelines, principles, procedures as well as legislation required to be made to make living as conducive. This also therefore requires that the rules and regulations should be prepared in such a manner which can foster and encourage such conducive living for the citizens of the country. This therefore has to be related with how government responds to the different challenges and make policy and provision to ensure as to how the overall welfare of the persons can be improved. (Alcock, May, & Wright, 2011) Governments including of UK and Ireland every year budget and spend money on the social policy spending which requires the government to actually spend the money on the welfare of the citizens in a relatively different manner. It is important to understand that the given the political and economic conditions of a country, the overall spending for the purpose of social policy keep on changing and there are countries which even spend one third of their total GDP on the social policy spending. (Whelan, 2009) Such emphasis on the spending for the social policy purposes therefore gives it one of the most important policy part of the overall policy of the government. Since government plays a larger role in the shaping and designing of this policy therefore the changes in the way government is operating and constrained can have an impact on the social policy also. (Dean, 2006) There are two important factors which seem to have an impact on the way social policy has changed over the period of time. Economic Factors and its impact on the social policy for older people The economic performance of Ireland has remained impressive in the distant past however, the current economic situation of the country may not be considered as entirely conducive as the Ireland government is constantly facing strong challenges to implement austerity measures to control the fiscal deficit and put economy back on track. Over the period of time, Ireland followed into the footsteps of other capitalist economies and also took advantage of its inclusion in the European Union. However, due to integrated nature of the developed global economies, the economic situation of the Ireland has started to get into difficult situation. The unemployment level is on the higher side as well as the government has imposed certain restrictions which basically further restricts the ability of the government to spend for the welfare purpose of its citizens specially older people. (McDonough, 2010) It is important to understand that with the increase life expectancy there has been an increase in the number of people being declared as old. The improved health provision as well as other factors therefore have combined together to increase the number of older citizens living in the country. According to some estimates, there were more than 450,000 people living within Ireland who were the age of 65 years or more. Such higher proportion of people living in the higher age brackets suggests that it is even more than 10% of the total population of the country. It is also important to note that the older people are considered as the major users of the welfare services and as such in the wake of the declining economic performance, such welfare may not be possible. It is however important to understand that during last decades of the previous century when Ireland was recording higher growth rates and employment levels, the overall spending on the welfare of the older people was relatively higher. Better housing units were developed in order to further accommodate the older people so that their overall standard of living can be improved. Some statistics suggest that the spending by the government on the pension and other public expenditure related specifically with the older people is relatively lower as compared to other countries in the European Union. Such low expenditure on the pensions and other expenditure related with the older people therefore outline that the government has relatively changed its overall policy stance regarding providing effective healthcare and other associated services to the older citizens. It has been argued that before the first half of the current century, the overall population of the older people will increase to more than 23% thus indicating that larger chunk of the government’s funds will be diverted to such population which is non- productive and does not participate into the process of generating revenue for the government. This may therefore further has an impact on the government’s policy towards the welfare of the older people because overall dependency ratio will increase. Historical factors and social policy Historical the basic orientation towards the social policy in Ireland has not changed since it started to operate under the British rule. Such an impact of the British rule therefore has made Ireland a welfare state where it seems to be sharing the institutional responsibility for the welfare of its employees. (Burke, 1999) Historically, Catholic Church seems to have an impact on the social policy development process within Ireland too. Catholic Church not only influenced the social policy making for children by occupying important position in educating the children but it also gained significant control over the way the sick and older people have been taken care of. The overall influence of the Catholic Church therefore has made it relatively important for the Irish government to focus its policy stance according to the wishes of the Catholic Church. (Moran, 2010) State’s relationship with corporations have further redefined the way the social policy for older people has emerged over the period of time. The adaptation of the neoliberal corporate ideology therefore has resulted into improved relationships between the state and the firm. Such relationship therefor has further resulted into a kind of social relationship which has greatly influenced the way social policy has been shaped in the recent past. It was also because of this reason that the care for older people has gradually shifted towards the private sector where it is now playing a major part in ensuring that the social policy spending is routed through private sector. The inter-linking of the historical factors with the economic factors also suggests that the government, especially since 2008 is focusing on an approach which is not based upon the equality between the different segments of the population. There have been bans on the spending for the welfare purposes and on improving the healthcare as well as reduced pension payments to those who are already been declared at the risk of the poverty. Such policy changes therefore seem to have direct impact on the way the lives of the older people are affected due to historical factors. Conclusion The overall population of the older people is gradually increasing in Ireland and with this increase, there will be increased dependency on the government to provide the welfare services to the older people also. Though historically, the social policy for the older and the social policy in general have been greatly affected by the Catholic Church however, the new social partnership between the corporations and the Stat is resulting into redefining of the social policy. The impact of Church has been significant however; it has now being redefined by the renewed relationship between the firms and the State. Economic performance of Ireland has not been good in the recent past and it is because of this reason that there have been drastic reductions in the spending on the welfare. This has therefore a direct impact on the health care services, pensions as well as housing for the older people within the country. Bibliography Alcock, P., May, M., & Wright, S. (2011). The Students Companion to Social Policy. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Burke, H. (1999). The Foundation Stones of Irish Policy 1831-1951. In G. Kiely, Irish social policy in context. Dublin: UCD Press. Dean, H. (2006). Social Policy. Cambridge: Polity Press. McDonough, T. (2010). The Irish Crash in Global Context. The Citizen, 4-10. Moran, J. (2010). From Catholic Church dominance to social partnership promise and now economic crisis, little changes in Irish social policy. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from University Collages Cork: http://publish.ucc.ie/ijpp/2010/01/moran/01/en Whelan, K. (2009). Policy Lessons from Ireland’s Latest Depression. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from UCD Centre For Economic Research: http://irserver.ucd.ie/dspace/bitstream/10197/2612/1/wp09.14.pdf Read More