Social Policy and Personal Lives - Assignment Example

Social Policy and Personal Lives How Social Policy has affected personal lives with reference to the work environment? The ideologies of work and society are at times extremely stressful. We are born into a word where we are taught that in order to survive, we have to earn an income. Granted this is an apparently natural phenomenon and few escape it, but to what extent are we conditioned to accept certain functional imperatives in our lives? At a stage, perhaps prior to World War I and II, women had the primary function of keeping a home and raising children. The emancipation of women then allowed women to work and earn a living independent of men. This, coupled with the increasing cost of living has made it imperative that women also work. Social policy is all around us, in our work institutions, our schools and our medical fields and not one of us is untouched by the necessity for this societal function. As a personal experience, social policy affects us perhaps on a different level to most, but we are certainly not alone. We discuss this with reference to one personal life in particular, a mature woman studying with a family. The idea of total social organization of labour is an intensely important aspect of how society in general is structured. As Emile Durkheim also postulated, society is divided into various spheres as it is easier to govern. Likewise, labour is divided into spheres by institution and relevance (Mooney, 2004: 12). Social institutions are considered of relevance because they help to bridge the gap between the various social spheres. With reference to the personal narrative of the aforementioned mature lady, she has a job, studies and has a family. Her one son suffers from dyspraxia which also adds to the pressure of daily life. Constructed in this manner, her duties are delegated in many different social spheres. The kind of work on does is often associated with identity and with personal meaning (Mooney, 2004: 26). This form of existentialism has been a driving force behind what work men and women choose, particularly since women are assumed to be more likely ‘carers’ the narrative explored relates how the recipient would prefer it if more men were in employed in social services as she obviously sees a need for it. Her husband works and there is difficulty spreading both parents time across the spectrum of duty. The work-life balance is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Welfare work had previously been termed a ‘women’s caring work’ and been delegated to those inclined to want to ‘fill in the gaps’ in society ( Mooney, 2004: 5). It was considered a labour of love rather than a formal job which was skilled and well-paid. In connection with the personal life we are exploring, then yes, there is a great deal of emotional baggage that comes with the job and professionals a trained to deal with problems amongst their subjects while voluntary work is based on the act of caring alone. This training is what the recipient is being paid for and in the case of this particular personal narrative, the individual would like to study in order to deal with a greater spectrum of disorders and problems. So the remuneration is due to skill of the labour and the trustworthiness of what they do, while voluntary work on a general scale is done by those who care but are not trained. Above, mentioned how juggling life, work and family it becomes obvious how mutually constructed one personal life can be. Each aspect intermingles in order to create the person one becomes. Mutual constitutive processes mean that all aspects of society, welfare and work, eve if on reference to another person, affect us all on a very intimate level. A person is therefore the sum of all things and thus so is society the sum of all people. In personal lives, as is the case with this particular example because it her job, social policy is extremely important. This is due, in part to her constant contact with social policy. On a daily basis she is increasingly aware of the needs for these institutions who are willing to take in those who are experiencing a discrepancy in what they are essentially deserving of. That is , they are deserving of a family life, education, healthcare and affection. In most behavioural cases there is a part of ‘normal’ socialization that is missing and they turn to unhealthy practices in order to fill a gap that their socialization has missed out. This is not necessarily only in the poorer sectors but also in the wealthier homes where youth are left to do as they please without necessary guidance. When she considers her situation with working and raising a family, it could be likened to the Marxian theory of proletarianization (Mooney, 2004: 19). Marx had believed that women were subject to below average pay in work environments due to the assumption that me were the primary breadwinner and that women and children were considered dependents of the man (Mooney, 2004: 15). Did this mean that for that reason they were not entitled to the same wages as men? Women are not paid for the work they do outside the formal work environment and are still held responsible for housekeeping and child-rearing. The graph displayed in the readings reveals that as of 1999 the labour force was almost equally divided between men and women (Mooney, 2004: 21). However, the division in labour evidently still reveals that the types are jobs are still dependent on gender because if equality was fully justified, more men would be employed in the social care environment. This is described as segmentation or segregation in the reading and was most visible in the 1990’s where women were still mainly employed in the service industry (Mooney, 2004: 22). This may not be as much to do with not allowing women to work in traditionally male jobs, but may be indicative of a masculine identity issue whereby they still believe that care work is traditionally a woman’s world. How this relates to the personal life in question, how she sees this division of labour is not that she believes men are doing less work than they should, but that possibly women are doing more than they previously have been allowed to. In some cases they may be stretching themselves too thinly, as at times she has felt. As a mature student she is able to appreciate the conjugation of the various roles women play in society and institutionally. In chapter 5 of the reading the balance of family and work-life balance is explored and the outcomes at times are recognized in out consumerist society and the following excerpt perhaps best describes the situation: “UK workers work the longest hours and receive less paid holiday time than their counterparts in the European Union (EU). This affects different groups of workers in different ways. For example, there has been an increase in the number of fathers who complain that they have less and less time to spend with their family and children (National Family and Parenting Institute, 2000), while growing numbers of workers protest that they cannot take their holiday entitlements or find time for leisure and other pursuits.” (Mooney, 2004: 151). Indeed this sometimes does resemble the Marxist ideology that consumerism makes the worker into a machine for which the more work you can get out of it, the higher the earnings will be. This makes the recipient aware that this is not reserved for the Welfare sector alone, but appears to be a generalized problem. In one way, this job was her choice and she is extremely happy with it and aware also that apart from remuneration she is also receiving the joy of seeing broken people receive help. What this person has found about social policy and my understanding of work is that social policy and welfare is a work in progress that probably always will be. The world is constantly changing to accommodate globalization and the various problems that exist in that regard, so social policy ahs to change with it. It has to meet the needs of a myriad of people from different walks of life. In terms of her own son, she is aware of the role social policy plays and will play in his life. Indeed in all children’s lives. It is necessary to understand that our own personal lives are what they are because of work and socially constructed norms, likewise the people in our lives are mutually affected by the way we live ours. Societal problems affect the psychology of an individual and vice versa so the roles of welfare are imperative to the functioning of society on a level that can only truly be appreciate when one sees first-hand the work that is being done in this area. Furthermore, we still live in an engendered society where traditional gender roles play a huge role in choice of work. This is an aspect that is likely to take time to overcome, but once it has been the world will be a better place for it when we see men taking on caring roles to help those who are need of the missing paternal link. Sources: Mooney, Gerry (ed). 2004. “Work: Personal Lives and Social Policy.” The Policy Press. Read More