Multiple Disadvantage and Development of Social Policies - Research Paper Example

 How has the concept of 'multiple disadvantage' influenced the development of social policies? Introduction Over time society has realised that solving problems of the poor and disoriented is not a simple process. The misfortunate faction of the society at times is stuck into a web of problems that are interlinked so much so that one problem becomes the cause of another. In such a situation social policies that are aimed at eradicating singular issues might be futile as a whole. The holistic view of the problems is to be taken in order to find out the solutions that can work in the real sense and play a pivotal role in dragging the misfortunate from the pit of endless miseries. The concept of ‘multiple disadvantages’ therefore holds great value in the field of public policy. In this paper we will explain the concept and then will discuss the influence of ‘multiple disadvantages’ on development of social policies. A future outlook on the issues of public policy relating to social welfare will also be taken in the paper. The Concept ‘Multiple Disadvantage’ Sometimes many different aspects of disadvantages go hand in hand like poor education can be linked to poor employment prospects, and this is known as ‘multiple disadvantage’ (SCRGSP, 2011). The concept explains the plight of people who face more than one problem in such a way that one of their problems causes or inflames other problems. For example extreme poverty leads to lower standards of health in people. Also if a person belongs to race that is considered inferior then it makes the problem even worse. When we use the concept of ‘multiple disadvantage’ we refer to a collection of problems that are being faced by a group of people in the society. Multiple disadvantages can be of many forms. Even gender can cause multiple disadvantages for a poor teenager who lives in a closed and extremely patriarchal society. A female might not be allowed to go outside openly like in Afghanistan and that make health problems go untreated in areas where there are no female doctors. She might also not be able to acquire education therefore she cannot do anything to protect her from health problems. All the problems combined like this give rise to the concept of ‘multiple disadvantage’. The relevance of the concept is great to social policy making because it is not possible to eradicate suffering of the people facing multiple disadvantage by just solving one or few of their problem. These people are to be dealt with in a separate manner in order to ensure that they are able to escape all, not some of, their problems. For example providing health care facilities to women in Afghanistan will not help before the main problem of gender discrimination is not solved. Also help should be devised in a way so that the affected party gets all the help it requires. The different aspects of disadvantage should be considered if people are to be helped in the real sense. People who face ‘multiple disadvantage’ require immediate attention of policy makers because they are the most affected. It is also not possible to solve their problems by eradicating a single issue they face. On the contrary special policies are needed for people facing multiple disadvantages. Influence of ‘Multiple Disadvantage’ on Development of Social Policies Many aspects of disadvantage can make life tough for people because it affects even the coming generations. Sometimes it is difficult to tackle problems when all of them are closely linked and it takes generations to get out of the mess. For example a person who is not educated will land a menial job. Because of his job he will not have enough money to educate his son or daughter. Moreover the person will be forced to live in a place that may be unhealthy and this will negatively affect the health of the family. He will also have no money for medical insurance as well. All this will decrease the life span of the person and even his children. This may continue for generations and this is why social policies should be equipped to solve problems related to ‘multiple disadvantage’. Social policies are usually aimed at providing help to the impoverish factions of the society. These policies are related to the development of human welfare and focus on issues like health and education. Other areas which come under social policy include criminal justice, inequality, and labour. The aim of social policy is to alleviate the pain of the people of the society who cannot make their end meet themselves. The vulnerable groups of the society are usually taken into care through social policy. Social policies are designed by governmental institutions and that are aimed to improve the conditions of the vulnerable groups. The development of social policies has been influenced by multiple disadvantages greatly. Policy makers have now understood that it is not possible to eradicate individual problems rather holistic view must be taken in order to provide relief to the vulnerable groups. This is why in the 20th century governments of developed countries provide health care benefits, child support programs, and public education to almost all nationals. Such steps are taken in order to allow people who face multiple disadvantages to have an opportunity to get out their problems. ‘Multiple disadvantage’ are not only health and economical in nature. The perception of the society vis-à-vis a particular group might also increase the suffering of that group. For example the treatment of people of African Americans is still not similar to those of white people in many developed countries to this day. Therefore race has become ‘disadvantage’ for people. Black people who are poor and uneducated can be termed as people having multiple disadvantages. If a black woman is poor and uneducated then problems can increase even more. This is how gender and racial orientation has become an important hurdle in societies for the development of poor. Health and financial problems are not the only things that are pushing people into slums of misfortune but gender and race have also become a reason for increased levels of poverty. The history of social policy dates back to the time of Muslim ruler Umar who in 6th century established pensions, child support, and stipends for non Muslims (Heyneman, 2004). In United Kingdom the concept of social policy came in the 16th century with the famous Poor Laws which were first passed in 1598 (Spicker, 2011). This law became the basis of the social policy of UK and it continued to exist till 1948. The Poor Laws included a consistent poor rate will be provided, creation of ‘overseers’ of relief, and provision for setting the poor on work (Laybourn, 2011). This can be seen as a first attempt to bring relief to the suffering people of the society. Because these laws were set in 16th century they are not extremely equipped to handle multiple disadvantages but still they are an important part of history as they tell us when social policy was enrooted in Britain. Initially the social policy of Britain was aimed at providing employment opportunity to poor and giving a fix wage to poor workers. But all this was not enough to help the poor get out of their misery. They laws did not take into account the injustices that women went through in those times. The issue of race is also not included in the social policy of Britain up until the previous century. Therefore it is obvious that public policy regarding human welfare was extremely restricted before the 20th century as gender and racial issues were not handled by social policy of that time. The issue of slavery is another important aspect of social policy and ‘multiple disadvantage’. Colonisation also played a role in increasing slave trade and discrimination for the inferior classes. It can be safely stated that colonisation caused a massive increase in slave trade in Britain (Fanon, 1963). The expansion of the empire in foreign lands brought a mindset to United Kingdom that they were superior to their subjects. This mindset became a big hurdle for growth of racial minorities in the country. Slavery also made people believe that human beings are not equal in all respects. This aggravated discrimination in the country and it was not until the later part of 20th century that discrimination was banned (BBC, 2005). It is clear that racial issues exist in British society and therefore no social laws that take care of racial discrimination can help improve the conditions of racial minorities in the country. These are the groups that face the most issues and they are victims of multiple disadvantages because of their poor conditions and discrimination. Social policy should be aimed at tackling the issues of racism and only then plight of these people can be eradicated. It is also important to understand that racial discrimination issues increase the problems of minorities in the country therefore help should be forwarded specially to eradicate discrimination. ‘Multiple disadvantage’ cannot be solved very easily and a lot of commitment and effort is required by the government. Social policy should be shaped in order to make sure that vulnerable groups are taken care of specially. Black community therefore should be helped specially in education and health sector alongside with employment. By only solving one problem of poor blacks like housing or education won’t make a difference. Help should be extended in all forms so that poor can also step up and make important contribution towards the society. The condition of poor can only be improved if vulnerable groups are identified and helped specifically. Social policy should be tailor made to solve the problem of ‘multiple disadvantage’. The development of social policy in UK can be seen as an attempt to further improve the situation of vulnerable groups. In the middle of 20th century Beveridge Report proposed a family allowance system, a national health services, and full employment (Spicker, 2011). This was followed by education and children acts (Spicker). UK also became a welfare state with its focus on social security, health, housing, and education. This was also followed by abolishment of public discrimination on a legal level. Racial discrimination was made illegal by law and this was also an important step in the social policy of UK. Although racial discrimination has not ended in the country by any stretch of imagination but still it has decreased significantly. The change in the social policy of UK over time from Poor Laws to the establishment of welfare state shows us the development of social policy as a result of multiple disadvantage. Policy makers understood with time that it was important to help the poor and needy in a way that is holistic so that problems of poor can be solved in the real sense. Family allowance for example is a solution for multiple disadvantages for a family and public education can bring education to the people. Although much more is required to tackle the issues of poverty and distress, still social policy that in implemented today is far preferable than the social policy of the previous centuries. Social policies should be directed in a way so that help is provided to people who need it the most. In UK for example 2 percent of families experience 5 or more disadvantages (Berthoud, 2003). In such a case social policy has to be apt so that families as a whole can come out from the trap of disadvantages. Help should specially be given to children first so that these disadvantages can be controlled before they are passed on the newer generations. It is also important to handle issues like education before income because good education will in turn lead to good income. The impact of ‘multiple disadvantage’ on social policy has been tremendous as it can be seen that social policy has developed greatly from 16th to 21st century. Benefits like health, education, social security, and equality exist in the society because policy makers have understood that plight of the people cannot be improved by solving a few problems of people. Below we will discuss the future of social policy with respect to multiple disadvantages. Future of Social Policies and ‘Multiple Disadvantage’ In coming years policy makers will find even tougher to solve the problems of the vulnerable groups of the society. This is because of the trying economic situation of the world. Unemployment is increasing all over the world and inflation is also on an upward spiral. In such a situation vulnerable groups are increasing everyday and more and more people require government’s assistance. Families are also starting to suffer as their disadvantages increases. This will make the life of policy makers tough in years to come. Social policy makers will have to find economical ways to help the needy members of the society by making sure that all their disadvantages are being dealt with. Newer policies with regards to education and health will be required because more and more people will be unable to use their health insurances. The rising costs of education are also inevitable because governments are facing budget constraint. Families that have ‘multiple disadvantage’ in this situation will suffer the most because they will not have employment, education, health, and housing. Social policy must be designed so that people are made able to earn their living on their own without the help of anyone. The future social policy will not attempt to feed the poor and the needy rather it will aim at enabling the poor themselves to acquire health and education. In the times when governments are facing debt issues and budget constraints it is not possible for them to finance health and education benefits for the people. The aim of the policy will be towards making able enough to afford everything themselves. This is why employment opportunities will be created and they will not necessarily be conventional jobs. Governments need to focus on home industries and similar employment opportunities for the people so that they can earn a living themselves. This will be the future social policy of governments because they will not have enough money to finance insurance and education for everyone. The social policy required is future should be equipped to take care of the problem of discrimination. No monetary help can make this particular problem go away and therefore it is important for policy makers to make stern laws in order to discourage discrimination at all levels. Only then people at the downward end of life will be able to find a way back up. Conclusion Development of social policy has been influenced greatly by the concept of multiple disadvantage. It is important for policy makers to understand the plight of the people who face more than one disadvantage in their life. From Poor Laws to present social policy of United Kingdom clearly depicts how development of social policy has been influenced by multiple disadvantage. Initially policies were centred on a few basics problems but later on they were developed and included more things to deal with other problems of people. The future of social policy will be quite different as social policy will aim at enabling people themselves to incur expenses relating to health and education. This will decrease the burden from governments and will change the shape of social policy. Bibliography Berthoud, R. 2003, Multiple Disadvantage in Employment, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, viewed on 21 January, 2012 from < http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/multiple-disadvantage-employment> Heyneman, S. 2004, Islam and Social Policy, New Jersey, Vanderbilt University Press Fanon, Frantz. 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, New York, Grove Atlantic Laybourn, K. 1995, The evolution of British social policy and the welfare state, Keele University Press Spicker, Paul. 2011. An Introduction to Social Policy, The Robert Gordon University, viewed on 21 January, 2012 from Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services Provision. 2011, Overcoming indigenous disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011, Productivity Commission, Canberra 1965: New UK race law 'not tough enough'. 2005, BBC Home, viewed on 21 January, 2012 from < http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_4457000/4457112.stm> Read More