The Various Ideologies of Social Welfare

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Social welfare dates back almost 50 years, but through those years the real question is, what is social welfare? The interesting part of social welfare is that one persons definition or belief may be different from another’s belief. The truth is, not one person is right about the definition or ideology of social welfare. Social welfare programs have grown, shrunk, stabilized, and declined over the years, and today many believe that we are in a period of decline. The text “Ideology and Social Welfare” states that there are four different views to social welfare, all having their unique attributes. Personally, my view is a combination of the reluctant collectivists, the anti-collectivist, and the Fabian socialists view. I strongly believe that government intervention is necessary in order to control and regulate social welfare while keeping ethics in mind, but at the same time, it is not necessary for everyone. People have the ability to change their lives for the better with hard work and dedication. My opinion is just one of the hundreds that exist today, but as proven throughout history, not one person is necessarily right. The three approaches towards social welfare, the reluctant collectivist approach, the Fabian socialist approach, and the anti-collectivist approach, encompass critical points on social welfare and what can be done to avoid inequality.
One approach that is thoroughly examined is the reluctant collectivist approach. This approach focuses on the free market economic structure. In other words, consumers can be involved in transactions freely, but government intervention is needed to regulate and control some aspects of social welfare. For example, income inequality is a huge issue in Canada, and the article “Div...

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Works Cited

"Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising." OECD. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
"How income inequality hurts every Canadian's chance of building a better lifeAdd to ...." The Globe and Mail. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .
Lammam, Charles , and Amela Karabegovic. "The Canadian dream is well within reach." Fraser Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .
Pickett, Kate , and Richard Wilkinson. "Yes, we are all in this together." NewStatesMan. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .

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