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Societys Restraint To Social Reform Essay Research

Societys Restraint To Social Reform Essay, Research Paper


Of the many chatted words in the social reform vocabulary of Canadians today,


the term workfare seems to stimulate much debate and emotion. Along with the


notions of self-sufficiency, employability enhancement, and work


disincentives, it is the concept of workfare that causes the most tension


between it’s government and business supporters and it’s anti-poverty and


social justice critics. In actuality, workfare is a contraction of the


concept of “working for welfare” which basically refers to the requirement


that recipients perform unpaid work as a condition of receiving social


assistance.


Recent debates on the subject of welfare are far from unique. They are all


simply contemporary attempts to decide if we live in a just society or not.


This debate has been a major concern throughout history. Similarly, the


provision of financial assistance to the able-bodied working-age poor has


always been controversial.


On one side are those who articulate the feelings and views of the poor,


namely, the Permissive Position, who see them as victims of our society and


deserving of community support. The problems of the poor range from personal


(abandonment or death of the family income earner) to the social (racial


prejudice in the job market) and economic (collapse in the market demand for


their often limited skills due to an economic recession or shift in


technology). The Permissive View reveals that all participants in society are


deserving of the unconditional legal right to social security without any


relation to the individual’s behaviour. It is believed that any society which


can afford to supply the basic needs of life to every individual of that


society but does not, can be accused of imposing life-long deprivation or


death to those needy individuals. The reason for the needy individual being


in that situation, whether they are willing to work, or their actions while


receiving support have almost no weight in their ability to acquire this


welfare support. This view is presently not withheld in society, for if it


was, the stereotype of the ‘Typical Welfare Recipient’ would be unheard of.


On the other side, the Individualists believe that generous aid to the poor


is a poisoned chalice that encourages the poor to pursue a life of poverty


opposing their own long-term interests as well of those of society in general.


Here, high values are placed on personal choice. Each participant in society


is a responsible individual who is able to make his own decisions in order to


manipulate the progression of his own life. In conjunction with this opinion,


if you are given the freedom to make these decisions, then surely you must


accept the consequences of those decisions. An individual must also work part


of his time for others (by means of government taxing on earned income).


Those in society who support potential welfare recipients do not give out of


charity, but contrastingly are forced to do it when told by the Government.


Each person in society contains ownership of their own body and labour.


Therefore anything earned by this body and labour in our Free Market System is


deserved entirely by that individual. Any means of deducting from these


earnings to support others is equivalent to criminal activity. Potential


welfare recipients should only be supported by voluntary funding. For this


side, welfare ultimately endangers society by weakening two of it’s moral


foundations: that able-bodied adults should be engaged in some combination of


working, learning and child rearing; and secondly, that both parents should


assume all applicable responsibilities of raising their children.(5)


In combination of the two previous views, the Puritan View basically involves


the idea that within a society which has the ability to sufficiently support


all of it’s individuals, all participants in the society should have the legal


right to Government supplied welfare benefits. However, the individual’s


initiative to work is held strongly to this right. Potential welfare


recipients are classified as a responsibility of the Government. The


resources required to support the needy are taken by means of taxation from


the earnings of the working public. This generates an obligation to work.


Hence, if an individual does not make the sacrifice of his time and energy to


contribute their earnings to this fund, they are not entitled to acquire any


part of it when in need unless a justifiable reason such as disability is


present for the individual’s inability to work. The right to acquire welfare


funds is highly conditional on how an individual accounts for his failure in


working toward his life’s progression by his own efforts. Two strong beliefs


of the Puritan Position are; Firstly, those on welfare should definitely not


receive a higher income than the working poor, and secondly, incentives for


welfare recipients to work must be evident.


The distinction between the “deserving” and “non-deserving” poor is as


evident now as it was in the Poor Laws of the 16th and 17th centuries.(1) The


former were the elderly, the disabled, the sick, single mothers and dependent


children, all of whom were unable to meet their needs by participating in the


labour force and, therefore, were considered worthy of receiving assistance.


The latter were able-bodied adults who were often forced to do some kind of


work as a condition of obtaining relief as a means of subsistence. Those who


refused this work requirement were presumably not really in need. Throughout


our own history of public assistance, the non-deserving poor always got


harsher treatment and fewer benefits than their deserving counterparts.


Due to it’s mandatory nature, historically, workfare has been viewed as a


forceful measure. Tw

o other program strategies are now in use as well.


Namely, a service strategy, and a financial strategy.(8) The former includes


support services for the work participant, such as counselling, child care,


and training. The latter includes a higher rate of benefits for those who


participate in work programs than someone would receive from social assistance


alone.


To actually show that workfare does not work, we must observe the United


States, which has had federally mandated workfare programs for welfare


recipients since 1967. Although the research on American workfare programs is


inconclusive to some extent, many findings suggest that workfare is


ineffective in reducing welfare costs and moving people from the welfare rolls


into adequate employment. It was found that low-cost programs with few support


services and a focus on immediate job placements had extremely limited


effects. These did not produce sizable savings or reduce poverty or reduce


large numbers of people from welfare.(9) Furthermore, While expensive


programs with extensive supports and services were more likely to place people


in employment, there was a definite point of diminishing returns where the


expenses outweighed the benefits.(10)


Even the limited success by some American workfare programs is highly


questionable. Largely missing from the research is the discussion of


workfare’s major limitation: The lack of available adequate jobs. In the wide


scheme of things, it doesn’t matter whether the program is mandatory with no


frills or voluntary and comprehensive if there are no jobs to fill. This is


the “Achilles Heel” of all workfare programs. Even if some individuals manage


to find jobs and get off welfare, if the unemployment rate for the area does


not change, it is obvious that there has already been a displacement of some


people in the workforce. What actually occurs is a shuffling of some people


into the workforce and some out, with no net increase in the number of jobs.


Workfare only increases the competition for jobs, it doesn’t create them


(except for those who manage and deliver the programs, generally not welfare


recipients). In addition, the few jobs that workfare participants do get tend


to be either temporary, so the person returns to welfare, or low-paying with


minimal benefits, so that people are not moved out of poverty, but merely from


the category of “non-working poor” to “working poor”.(11)


Another issue largely ignored in Canada as well are health and safety


conditions affecting workfare participants. For example, in New Brunswick an


unusually high accident rate has been reported among welfare recipients who


took part in provincial work programs.


Given the overall failure of workfare programs to reduce welfare


expenditures, reduce poverty, and move people into adequate and permanent


jobs, workfare should not even be discussed as a viable social reform option


today. Politicians and the business establishment only call for workfare


because it helps to protect their privileged positions in our society.


Workfare serves to preserve the status quo by:


i.creating the illusion that politicians are actually doing something


meaningful about the deficit and welfare.


ii.increasing the reserve pool of available labour which can be called upon


at any time to carry out society’s dangerous and menial jobs.


iii.increasing the competition for scarce jobs, which tends to keep wages


down and profits up.


iv.reinforcing the attitude that people on welfare are largely responsible


for our economic and social ills, that they are lazy, deviants who will not


work unless forced to do so.


Workfare creates the assumption that unemployment is caused by personal


choice or lack of work ethic. However, due to the fact that we have well over


one million people in Canada actively looking for work, this is a ridiculous


assumption. Fifteen thousand people lined up one day in Oshawa in January to


apply for one of a few hundred possible jobs at General Motors.


The problem is not one of a lost worth ethic or personal pathology. The


problem is a lack of jobs, and workfare undoubtedly does nothing to compensate


or eliminate this problem.


NOTES:


1.deSchweinitz, Karl. ENGLAND’S ROAD TO SOCIAL SECURITY (New York: A.S.


Barnes & Co., 1943)


2.Irving, Allan. “From no poor law to the social assistance review: a


history of social assistance in Ontario, 1791-1987″ (Toronto: Social


Assistance Review Committee, Research Document 44,1987)


3.Hum, Derek. FEDERALISM AND THE POOR: A REVIEW OF THE CANADA ASSISTANCE


PLAN (Toronto: Ontario Economic Council, 1983)


4.Lightman, Ernie S. “Work Incentives Across Canada”, JOURNAL OF CANADIAN


STUDIES, 26 (1), 1991


5.Evans, Patricia. “From workfare to the social contract: implications for


Canada of recent U.S. welfare reforms”, CANADIAN PUBLIC POLICY, xix,1 (1993):


54-67. Also: Hardina, Donna. ” Targeting Women For Participation in Work


Programs: Lessons From the U.S.”, CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIAL POLICY, 33


(1994): 1-20


6.Hess, M. “Traditional Workfare: pros and cons” (Toronto: Ontario Social


Assistance Review Committee, Research Document 21, April 1987)


7.Johnson, Hubert. “Welfare work Will Go Ahead Despite Snubs,” CALGARY


HERALD, 6 January 1983


8.Lightman, 1991. Also: Rein, Martin. INCENTIVES AND PLANNING IN SOCIAL


POLICY (Chicago: Adeline, 1983)


9.Evans,1993


10.Evans,1993


11.Hardina,1994


12.Handler, J. and Hasenfeld, Y. MORAL CONSTRUCTION OF POVERTY: WELFARE


REFORM IN AMERICA (Newbury Park, California: Russell Sage Foundation, 1991)


13. Govier, Trudy. THE RIGHT TO EAT AND THE DUTY TO WORK. Philosophy of


the Social Sciences, vol. 5 (1975). (Wilfred Laurier University Press,1975)

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