Summary
Priding itself in having one of the best welfare states in Europe and being the 4th happiest country in the world, the report would examine the struggles faced by Swedish citizens while maintaining and keeping up with the quality of their welfare state. (Some struggles that could be thought of were contributing to high taxes from income). Different areas of the welfare state would be examined and the report would conclude whether the Swedish welfare state was indeed meeting the needs of its citizens.
Sweden had an economy and welfare state that was admired by many countries. It was also known as the People’s home as the needs were equally distributed among its citizens. The welfare state in Sweden offered one of the most generous payouts in the world. That included 480 days of paid leave, pensions and paid sick leaves.
The success of Sweden’s welfare state could be explained by its economic history. A series of free market reforms helped the country with its economic growth. The policymakers depended on work friendly practices and growth. The Social Democrats tried to bring Sweden’s economy to Socialism. The competitiveness found in Sweden’s economy was reduced by the government’s involvement with the economy, generous welfare benefits and high taxes. With the competitiveness reduced, Sweden became a substandard industrialized country when it came to wealth. The country also became poorer due to paying taxes and its spending policies. At the end of the 19th century, there were many small farmers in the country that had their own property. Even though they were quite poor, they focused on justice and work related norms. These ethics prompted Swedes to work hard to support themselves and their families. Swedes believed tha...
... middle of paper ...
...come groups. This pattern could have signified a public desire for increased tax progression since respondents tend to think that high income earners were taxed too lightly whereas low income earners were taxed more heavily.
Lastly, the main issue that Sweden needs to address would be to create more jobs in the country to support its heavily burdened welfare state. Other than relying on international trade to sustain its economy, the government could encourage entrepreneurship amongst citizens by offering some incentives. This way, the economy could be further stimulated as citizens would rise up to be their own bosses and create their own jobs. With more jobs available in the country, there would be more tax payers to sustain the welfare state. There would also be more business revenues from entrepreneurs which would contribute to the economic prosperity of Sweden
The history of welfare systems dates back to ancient China and Rome, some of the first institutions known to have established some form of a welfare system. In both of these nations, their governments created projects to provide food and aid to poor, unemployed, or unable families and individuals, however these were based on “moral responsibility.” Later in history, in 1500’s England, parliament passed laws that held the monarchy responsible for providing assistance to needy families by providing jobs and financial aid. These became known as “poor laws” (Issitt).
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
When speaking about Welfare we try to avoid it, turning welfare into an unacceptable word. In the Article “One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life On The Dole” by Michael Grunwald, his point is to not just only show but prove to the readers that the word Welfare is not unacceptable or to avoid it but embrace it and take advantage of it. After reading this essay Americans will see the true way of effectively understanding the word welfare, by absorbing his personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald conveys.
In comparing the U.S. to Sweden, it has become very obvious that Sweden has taken its population health much more seriously. Sweden has put in place laws and programs which affect the prenatal and neonatal development of its children. (Bezruchka, 2011) Sweden has realized that good health outcomes begin early, and has in place social programs giving new mothers a mandatory year of paid leave. (Bezruchka, 2011) This paid leave allows the parents, especially the mother, time to be present during the most critical time of development. (Laureate, 2011) Sweden also has state funded day care centers for when the mother does return to work. By investing in the early stages of child development, Sweden is curbing the expenses of later health care costs. The U.S., in comparison, does not have any programs for maternity, paid leave or child day care. There are a few corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Cisco which are at the forefront of providing for their employees. (Alsever, 2013) These represent corporations investing in their employees, and not a government concerned about the health of its people. The programs are not free to the employees. (Alsever, 2013)
Magoon, Kekla. The Welfare Debate. Edina: ABDO Publishing Company, Inc. 2009. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Print.
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
In the United States there are four social classes : the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class. Of these four classes the most inequality exists between the upper class and the lower class. This inequality can be seen in the incomes that the two classes earn. During the period 1979 through the present , the growth in income has disproportionately grown.The bottom sixty percent of the US population actually saw their real income decrease in 1990 dollars. The next 20% saw medium gains. The top twenty percent saw their income increase 18%. The wealthiest one percent saw their incomes rise drastically over 80%. As reported in the 1997 Center on Budget's analysis , the wealthiest one percent of Americans ( 2.6 million people) received as much after-tax income in 1994 as the bottom 35 percent of the population combined (88 million people). But in 1977 the bottom 35 percent had about twice as much after tax income as the top one percent. These statistics further show the disproportional income growth among the social classes. The gr...
[Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/276268.stm (Accessed: 11 April 2005). ‘Welfare state faces overhaul’ (1999) [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/275856.stm (Accessed: 11 April 2005).
Theoretical research provided this paper with insights about how social policy develops, the ways in which the welfare state affects women, and the methods in which we can gain a better understanding of the policy-making process. Theoretical public policy research pays particular attention to modes of social thought articulated by welfare. It describes the contours of the welfare reform debate in terms of the policy proposals and the social effects of welfare policy.
“Socialism.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Jan. 2012. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 Feb. 2012. .
Such as the idea that the system is concerned with preserving status differential like workers and housewives which can lead to benefits that vary. A third welfare system is the Social Democrat or Scandinavian type. The Scandinavian type exists in Northern Europe and provides generous benefits to all citizens. A distinguishing feature of the Scandinavian type is the idea of Universalism and the emphasis on social equality. The system’s policies exist throughout one’s life or “cradle to grave.” A forth welfare system is the Southern European type which is similar to the Corporatist Continental type, but has less size and scope. Finally, there is the Communist East European welfare state which follows the Soviet Union’s model for social security (Kaelble 265). Overall, Europe has five unique types of welfare states. Each system has a different idea on how government should operate and how much government should intervene to help its citizens. The differences in the development of welfare states in Europe, particularly during the Cold War period, have led to deep divisions in Europe. Countries hold a different set of values and principles that must be respected in order to form a strong
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.
Norberg, The National Interest, Summer, 2006, “Swedish models: the welfare state and its competitors.” http://www.johannorberg.net/?page=articles&articleid=151
The word has witnessed tremendous development in the field of social work in the last three decades. As a result, development of social welfare programs throughout the global has been on the rise to address social and human problems. After the Second World War that resulted in the expansion of governments’ efforts to decolonization movements across the globe and which saw new nations emerging in Asia and Africa. This war ended in 1945, and postwar recovery measures were put in place namely; implementation of wartime proposal for state expansion that saw the rise of size and scope of social welfare reforms in Western Europe. In addition, these programs were replicated across the globe by 1970s.However; by early 1980s sustaining these programs became an issue and new ideas like neoliberalism started to emerge. Thus, this paper will examine the social welfare programs and then make some important
In research on welfare regimes, particularly in those related to care, Germany is often cited as a typical representative of a conservative and family-oriented welfare state (Esping-Andersen 1999, Bettio & Plantenga 2004, Burau et al. 2007). The family-orientation of long term care provision remained dominant, the introduction of long-term care insurance (LTCI) embedded the traditional structure in a newly defined interplay of state, market and welfare associations with regard to care provision, funding and organization. The responsibility for providing care to Germany’s elderly population used to mainly fall on the family, based on the principle of subsidiarity. The Norwegian health care system have provided a range of prevention, primary care management of chronic diseases, geriatric care, and more formal long-term care to a prodigious extent to its elderly, and are constantly improving their program. Norway spends more per capita on caring for its elderly than any ...