A paradigm can be described as:
A worldview
A philosophical or theoretical framework
A pattern or model
We can apply our paradigm (or worldview, or framework, or pattern) to all other things of the same type. A great example of a paradigm, is renowned philosopher Thomas Kuhn's example of a "scientific paradigm". Kuhn argued that a phenomenon could be considered scientific if it fit into the following criteria: it was observable (we can see it); measurable
(we can measure it); and quantifiable (we can express or determine the quantity). If X did not fit into all of those categories, X was not "scientific". Therefore, a paradigm helps us assess, evaluate, categorize and essentially make sense of something.
Throughout the course we will use ideologies or an ideological paradigm to provide us with an organizing concept that can embody both the common ideas and values about how social welfare is conceptualized and criticism of opposing social welfare approaches.
What is an Ideology?
An ideology enables us to explain and interpret the world. It consists of ideas, beliefs, and fundamental values about human life and culture. We will examine political ideology the set of ideals about how humans, society, institutions, etc. should work. The political ideologies that we will discuss in this course are: neo-conservatism, liberalism, social democracy, Marxism, and Indigenous. Please keep in mind that an ideology is not the same as a political party, although they share similar names (i.e., neo-conservatism and the Conservative party; liberalism and the Liberal party).
We can locate different ideologies on a continuum. Using the terms left,' centre,' and right' is a common way of categorizing political parties and ideologies. We can conceptualize left wing ideologies as favouring radical social change with a view towards creating a more egalitarian society; whereas right wing ideologies tend to favour the traditional social order and are often against social change. Ideologies existing in the centre often favour moderate social change. The four ideologies on this continuum are four of the five ideologies studies in this course.
When we examine these ideologies, we considering them in their "pure", "ideal" or "absolute" forms. You may think that they are so extreme that no one could possibly adopt one particular ideology. And this is in fact the case: most people adopt a mixture or combination of ideologies. However, in any given state there is only one dominant ideology. This dominant ideology represents a privileged position in that it is gets to:
1.Select and define the problem(s) for inquiry (i.e., which social phenomena are to be viewed as "social problems");
2.Guide scientific practice and theory (i.e., how we know a certain problem exists)
3.Determine the preferred solutions (i.e., what kinds of policies/programs are developed and implemented)
As you may have noticed, Indigenous ideology is not located on the ideological continuum. In Unit 7, I discuss the difference between "mainstream" ideology and Indigenous ideology. The Indigenous ideology does not share the propositions of mainstream ideology and, therefore, likely cannot be included in the continuum.
The Eight Elements of Ideology
Our examination of ideologies will be based on a helpful framework, involving eight elements of ideology. We will assume that all of the ideologies have common elements that can be used to assist in identifying the ideologies themselves. The eight elements are: human nature, society, nation-state, social beliefs, economic beliefs, political beliefs, social problems, and social welfare. Our intent in this section is to look at those elements common to the ideologies used in this course in the analysis of social welfare theory and policy. As you have noticed, these components are based on the components that Mullaly discusses in his chapter. We will use the eight elements to examine the various ideologies throughout the remainder of the course.
1. Human Nature
This element is very important, in that theories of human nature, which attempt to describe what makes people do what they do and what is at the core of humanity, are frequently the basis upon which decisions related to social welfare are made. The concept of human nature asks what is the essence of human beings and how does this affect social life. It seeks to identify the chief (natural, inborn) motivator of human behaviour and thinking. The concept of human nature is where most, if not all, ideologies begin in their analysis and image of society and social change, and in their prescriptions for social control (state, law, and order). The latter are frequently created to accommodate the problems of society due to what is believed to be the instinctual or natural proclivities of the human species to behave in particular ways. Depending on how human nature itself is defined, the images of the state and society are adjusted to deal with the problems that these human natures imply. Of importance here are the attempts by some of these models to divide humans into superior or inferior varieties or to explain seeming inconsistencies (conflicting tendencies) within human beings. Most of these models of human nature are absolute; that is, they apply to all humans in all times.
2. Society
Every ideology will have some conception, expressed implicitly or explicitly, of what society is and how people relate to it. Views on society fall into a broad range. At one extreme we can take the view attributed to Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister of Great Britain (1979-1990) who said that there was no such thing as society, only a collection of individuals. The opposite extreme might be one that said that society overwhelms everyone so that people have no identity outside of the society in which they live. We can breakdown our concept of society into two components: the relationship of the individual to society and the nature of society.
a.) The relationship of the individual to society
The relationship of the individual to society says much about how an ideology views the way in which society functions and also how society might change. The concept "society" may either be a reality or a fiction in an ideology. Mrs. Thatcher, based on the comment attributed to her, might see society as just the sum total of independent contracts between individuals. We call this concept of society "atomistic" as there is no set of boundaries around the concept of society nor any particular boundaries between different groups or classes of societies. The individual, therefore, is just an active atom in a cloud called society, which has no shape or organized form. European society for a long time saw society as an organic entity, one in which each person had a position, rank, or class that was divinely determined. A hereditary monarchy is a last vestige of this perspective. Traditional societies were routinely divided by gender, role, or function within society (or a subgroup like a tribe) and most commonly by age (children, adult, elder). In contemporary Canadian society we may relate to each other and to society through our work, our family networks, our church, and, possibly, in many other ways as well. The individual in these examples relates to "society" in different ways. To Mrs. Thatcher an individual simply related to other individuals, presumably through some sort of contract based on economic exchange. On the other hand, in traditional societies where there is great reliance on hunting, gathering, and rudimentary farming, the individual had a role to play that was critical for the survival of him/herself and others.
b.) The nature of society
Having determined how the individual relates to society, it is necessary to describe what form society might take, depending on one's ideological perspective. The structure of society can take many forms. It could be regarded as a fiction, or as composed of biological-like parts functionally related to each other in a disciplined structure with a division of labour and functions. Society might be seen as a constellation of groupings in collision or conflict with each other over opposed interests though sharing the overall goals and structures of society; or perhaps society is made up of socio-economic classes differing from each other in terms of the presence or absence of productive property and the actual goals of society.
3. Nation-State
The nation-state element concerns the nature and role of the state. The state, the instruments of government, or the legalized form of social power and force in society, is viewed in a variety of ways by the different ideologies. It should be seen as more than just parliament or government because the power and force of the state extends beyond the activities of the government in parliament. Thus the various instruments of force (police, army, social workers, truant officers, etc.), the laws of the land, (criminal, juvenile delinquency, family law, property law, etc.), and institutions, (the courts, prisons, welfare agencies and institutions, educational institutions, etc.), as well as government and private media and opinion forming agencies, can be viewed as part of the state. We view this element in terms of both the "nature" and the "role" of the state.
a.) Nature of the state
The main question with respect to the nature of the state is, what function or role does the state play in society? For example, it may be viewed as a neutral referee or umpire with power necessary to enforce law and order in a society in which individuals frequently transgress on the rights of others. It may be seen as the instrument for mediating between different aggregates of interest groups in society who are in conflict with each other over their sectional interests. The state here is viewed also as neutral and beneficent in that it has the best interests of the majority and society as a whole at heart. And, finally, the state may be viewed as an expression of power by a dominant part of society based on class, gender, ethnicity, etc. In this case, those who are not a part of the dominant group in society may feel completely oppressed.
b.) The role of the state
This part of the view of the state relates to the role or function of the state. We can examine the role of the state specifically to social welfare. For instance, how involved ought that state be in providing everyone's needs, however defined. For some, the state has a minimal role to play, basically just seeing to it that the right conditions are in place for everyone to provide for themselves as best they can. However, in most western industrial (or postindustrial) societies, one can argue that the state has at least a minimal role to play particularly for those who would perish without the state's help. We can generally see three different roles of the state in the provision of social welfare in most "advanced" societies. As we discussed in Unit 2, the residual model of social welfare assumes that as society progresses, assistance is required by fewer and fewer people, a residual group, who should rely on family, religious organizations, charities, etc., for any help they may need. Only as a last resort, and as a temporary measure, should government be involved. The institutional model incorporates common notions of the welfare state. In this model, social welfare is a major "institution" of society. The last, the structural model, is represented more in theory than in practice. In this instance, the resources of society are put first and foremost to meeting the needs of all people.
4. Social Beliefs
Social beliefs are the beliefs about what individuals believe society and its many institutions (e.g., government, family, marriage, religion, politics, etc.) should be. Beliefs are whatever an individual is willing to accept as fact, without any direct verification, such as personal experience or evidence. For example, some social beliefs are:
I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman. OR
I believe that marriage is a union between two consenting adults, regardless of sexuality.
I believe that women should have the right to make their own decisions about abortion. OR
I believe that abortion is morally wrong and should only be allowed in cases of rape or incest.
I believe that the government should regulate the ownership of guns. OR
I believe that individuals have the right to bear arms so that they can protect themselves and their property.
Social beliefs also reflect important values regarding such things as the relationships among people, the nature of the society, and the economy. For example, most western industrial democracies have liberty or freedom, equality, and individualism/community as their primary values. Although these sound like terms on which everyone agrees, ideologically speaking there is much disagreement. For example, one value we will consider, that of individualism, determines not only the view of society, the operation of the state, and the nature of the economy, but also the lives of individuals in their most personal relations. A dominant class embracing the collectivistic instrumental value will erect a society based upon collective responsibility, a state that will enforce this value, and an economy that operates on the basis of this value. Thus, tribal societies tend to place a high value on collectivism and solidarity, as their survival depends upon collective survival. Individualism would be rejected as potentially dangerous to the survival of the group. Economic activity in this example might be group-based (the buffalo hunt) or based on a sexual division of labour (men hunt and women gather). The selection of a principal instrumental value may imply the selection of other values. Thus, the selection of the value "individualism" implies the selection of "freedom," without which there could be no individualism. The names for the values are frequently the same even across ideologies though the implicit meanings attached to them can differ. The way in which one ideology defines "freedom" may be exactly opposite to how someone else might define "freedom" from a different ideological perspective. It is therefore necessary to dig below the surface of the standard terms for these instrumental values to uncover their ideological root meanings. They are primary values in that they determine or provide guidelines for social, economic, political, religious, and any other kind of policy, practice, or action that the individual, group, class, or society as a whole takes.
5. Political Beliefs
Political beliefs represent an ideology's view about the social relations around power and authority. In other words, political beliefs tell us important things about how state or policy decisions should be made. For example, should the elite members of a society be the only ones involved in the creation of laws and legislation? Or should every citizen have a voice in the policies that affect her/his life? Should political power in society rest with the only the electorate (i.e., the people we voted in) or should it be equally distributed among a wide number of groups (i.e., pluralism)?
6. Economic Beliefs
This element considers the methods(s) by which economic activity takes place within any given society and, more importantly for social welfare, the mechanism(s) by which the wealth created in society is distributed. The most familiar economic institution for us at the start of the 21st century in Canada is the market society, a specific kind of market society in which the mechanism for exchange is money (or cash). Another kind of market society might be based on a system of barter. The notions of supply and demand are part of the market-society system. The other most common economic institution is what might be termed the "command" economy. The countries of Eastern Europe and what was once the Soviet Union prior to 1989, China (although increasingly less so), and Cuba are command economies in which the decisions to produce goods and the methods by which exchange takes place are based on perceived need by a centralized (and in our two examples, dictatorial) authority. As you will see, not all ideological perspectives to which we apply this model make use of this element. In other words, you may find as you progress through the course that some of the ideologies that we examine are not explicit in their statement of fundamental economic institutions, and may simply assume a market society such as we have in most industrialized countries. We include it in our paradigm because of the importance of this element to an analysis of social welfare.
7. Social Problems
Our social problem element has to do with how social problems are viewed, including beliefs about what causes them. Some ideologies may view social problems to be solely the result of individual or family dysfunction? For example, poverty may be viewed as a problem of lazy or weak individuals or because some parents may not have instilled a strong work ethic in their children. Whereas, other ideologies may view social problems to be the direct result of larger structural forces that are beyond the control of individuals. For example, some may argue that capitalism is inherently exploitative and oppressive, resulting in serious social problems as unemployment, poverty, addiction, and violence.
8. Social Welfare
The element of social welfare is about the views towards helping people who are experiencing trouble (e.g., poverty, unemployment, illness, old age, addiction, etc.). It includes those views about whether or not our society should help those in need or if individuals and families should be responsible for themselves. If it is believed that society should help individuals in need, should it be formally supported by state institutions? Or should social welfare be solely provided by charitable and/or religious institutions? Is social welfare seen as an important, necessary and normal function of the state? Or does it do nothing but drain our precious financial resources and create more social problems by encouraging idleness and dependency? Is social welfare considered as an act of charity or "hand-out" or is it a citizen's right? All of these questions were discussed when we examined the three approaches to social welfare (residual, institutional, and structural).
Overview of the Eight Elements of Ideology
Element Description
Human Nature The concept that there are a set of characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, that all "normal" human beings have in common. For example, are humans innately lazy, immoral, irrational, and sinful. Do we exist only to please ourselves? Or are humans innately good, worthy, and altruistic?
Society Do we believe in the notion of a "society" or are we just a collection of individuals? Are we independent and only needing to rely on ourselves or are we interdependent?
Nation-State What is the nature and role of the state (i.e., government)? Should it exist solely to maintain law and order, or should it exist to meet everyone's needs so that we can reach our full potential?
Social Beliefs These are the beliefs that one has about society, the state, and social institutions, such as marriage and the family.
Political Beliefs Who should make the decisions that affect our lives? Should we as citizens get to make decisions? Should decisions be left to those whom we vote into political office? Or should decisions be made by the ruling elite? Should we all have equal access to policymakers or should we be represented by special interest groups?
Economic Beliefs What are the beliefs about our basic economic institutions? Should the market run itself without any government regulation or interference? Will the free market solve all of our social problems?
Social Problems Why are the "causes" of social problems? Are they because of bad or sick individuals? Or are they result of social disorganization? Or capitalism?
Social Welfare What is role of the state in the provision of social welfare? Should our well-being be met by ourselves through hard work and savings? Should our family assume primary responsibility for our well-being? Or should the government be obligated to providing for all of its' citizens basic necessities such as food, housing, and health care?Will social welfare take on a residual, institutional, or structural approach?
Ideology and Social Work
An examination of ideology enables us to compare and contrast the nature of social problems, social welfare approaches, and social work practices. The concept of ideology is important to the study of social welfare, as it provides us with ways in which we can consider and analyze the various influences on social welfare policy development. This implies that there is a relationship between ideology and political beliefs, as it is largely through political action that democracies implement policies related to society and social change.
Ideology also enables us to examine alternative worldviews and influence on social welfare. For example, why are social welfare programs in Sweden more comprehensive and generous compared to United States, Britain, Australia, or Canada? Perhaps Sweden's adoption of more social democratic principles and Canada's (and countries') adoption of neo-conservatism may have something to do with it?
We now turn to our first ideology neo-conservatism.
An Outline of Neo-Conservatism
Before we examine neo-conservatism, we should look at its historical roots. Conservatism was the dominant ideology in that late 19th century up to the Great Depression (1930s). Conservatism was based on the notion "to conserve", therefore, conservatism (and neo-conservatism) is based on the need to maintain the "status quo". Sudden change is not good. Conservatism is suspicious of state interference and is based on the assumption that small government is best. Conservatism is based on the following economic beliefs: a free market economy (e.g., capitalism) is preferred; property rights are fundamental; and the acceptance of inequalities (e.g., class, education, status, and wealth). In fact, inequality is viewed as the expected and accepted outcome of capitalism.
Neo-conservatism is the modern form of conservatism. In the last two decades there has been a resurgence of conservative ideas and policies in Canada. Neo-conservatives are also known as "anti-collectivists", "rugged individualists" and the "New Right". Political parties that have been aligned with neo-conservative ideology are the Conservative Party in Canada, the Republican Party in USA, and the Conservative Party in Britain.
Neo-conservatism can be analyzed using the framework of the eight elements of ideology (based on the material found in Mullaly (2007) ch.3). You may notice that there is some overlap between the elements, which is okay – some of the elements share similar characteristics (e.g., economic and political beliefs).
Element Neo-Conservativism
Human nature •Human beings are imperfect
◦Unreasonable, irrational, selfish, lazy, and sinful
•People respond to carrot (incentives) and stick (disincentives) approaches (driven by pleasure and pain)
•People are individuals – not members of a collective society
•People must be held responsible for their actions
◦Crime = punishment
•Inequality is natural and inevitable (i.e., social Darwinism)
◦Necessity for social classes
•Existence of a universal moral order supported by organized religion
◦Restoration of "family values"
◦Religious Right – against abortion, sex education, gay rights
Society •Individualism and property rights (e.g., "the right to bear arms") – collectivism is a myth (i.e., no such thing as a "society")
◦"anti-collectivism"
•Competition is vital (people are irrational and imperfect, therefore competition serves as an incentive)
•Individual freedom and liberty is fundamental
•Value hierarchical arrangements (inequality)
◦Don't want inferior people to obtain positions of power
•Welfare state has fractured the traditional family
•Best way to organize society is through the free market place
•Critical of feminist, gay/lesbian, and human rights movement
•Critical of multi-culturalism
•Restoration of the traditional family
◦Nuclear, heterosexual family is the cornerstone of society
Nation-state •Law and order is main function (advocate capital punishment)
◦To protect people and property (and no more or a threat to liberty)
•Enforcement of contracts and protecting property rights
•In exchange for security, individuals need to give up some freedoms
•Creation of right-wing think tanks (e.g., Fraser Institute, C.D. Howe Institute, Canadian Council of Chief Executives) – offers "intellectual legitimacy"
Social Beliefs •Freedom and liberty
◦Not absolute – some coercion/restraints
•Individualism
◦Right to pursue his/her own interests and to bear the consequences of actions
•Inequality
◦Serves as an incentive for people to work
Political beliefs •Governing elite
◦Political decisions should be left to elite, not to the masses (masses are inferior)
•Economic system should guide political decisions
•Paternalism (elites know best)
•Role of government is to protect and enhance the free market
Expectation that people should conform to government decisions (no political dissent is allowed or tolerated)
Economic Beliefs Neo-liberal economic values embraced, and include the following:
Private marketplace is the best (i.e., capitalism)
◦Will restore economic growth by itself
◦Will take care of individual well-being (person just has to get a job)
•Laissez-faire ("leave it alone" economics)
•Monetarist policies embraced
◦Little or no government interference
◦Tax breaks to big business and multi-national corporations
◦Lax labour, wage, and environment protection regulations
•Reduced social spending (when facing deficits)
◦Welfare state is responsible for economic and social crises
◦Balanced budgets should be the main goal
•Reduce or eliminate power of unions
•Deregulated industry and privatization
Social problems •Social problems are caused by individual failure and by the welfare state
◦Welfare state encourages to be lazy and dependent
◦Welfare state causes deviance
•Individuals and families are responsible for their own well-being
Poverty is a necessary incentive (people will strive to obtain an education and job so they won't be members of "the poor")
Social Welfare Social welfare encourages undesirable and deviant behaviour (e.g., delinquency, crime, immorality)
Social welfare programs represent the cause rather than the cure for social problems
Critical of social welfare "bleeding heart social workers", "welfare bums"
Role of government in terms of social welfare should be limited and residual (see Unit 2 for a discussion on the residual approach to social welfare)
Private citizens and the church should meet the needs of poor and needy
Downloading of federal government responsibilities to local governments (devolution)
Retrenchment (cutting back) of social services
Creation of "workfare" (e.g., Alberta Works or Ontario Works programs
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