Research Assignment Paper: What is Social Policy?

Social policy
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Social policy
Many countries across the globe have social policies and social policy programs that seek to protect the poor and jobless from abject poverty. Depending on the jurisdiction, these programs are governed by the national government, provincial/state government, or both. Social welfare policies form the framework which allows every citizen of a given country to live within their basic rights with access to the basic social amenities such as healthcare, food, and housing (Spicker, 2013). This paper provides a detailed discussion of social policy. The discussion is made in the context of Canada.
The phrase social policy is utilized in referring to the policies that a government uses for welfare and social protection, to how welfare is developed within a given society, as well as to the academic study of social policy as a subject. Social policy, in the first sense, is especially focused on the welfare state and social services. In the second, broader sense, social policy signifies various issues that extend far beyond the government actions – the means through which welfare is advanced, as well as the social and fiscal conditions shaping the development of welfare (Spicker, 2013).
According to Hicks (2011), social policy is a vocational and interdisciplinary subject. Social policy combines economics, politics and sociology in studying the way that governments and the society in general address issues of individual wellbeing, social welfare, as well as social justice. Social policy, as Westhues (2012) pointed out, entails studying the welfare state and social services. Generally, social policy focuses on the notion of social welfare and how it correlates to society and politics. In more specific terms, social policy also considers the following: the delivery of welfare; administration and policy of social services, for example policies for income maintenance, social work, housing, education, and health; as well as issues and needs that affect the users of services, including old age and poverty. Other than being multi-disciplinary, social policy is also interdisciplinary. Put simply, social policy mixes approaches from various social sciences (Westhues, 2012). The terms social security policy, social policy, as well as human resources development policy in Canada have often been utilized interchangeably and loosely. Social policy in Canada is described in broad terms to comprise income support for instance employment and labour programming, unemployment insurance and tax credits, social services, social housing and health, as well as benefits for seniors (Hicks, 2011).
Social policies are also understood as public services governing the wellbeing of the inhabitants in the country, and are largely focused on 5 social maladies of unemployment, lack of education, insufficient housing, poor health as well as poverty. When social policies are implemented, governments – both at the provincial and federal level – endeavour to improve their citizens’ quality of life and correct maladies within the society (Beland et al., 2014). The purpose of social policy is basically to improve the welfare of the people and satisfy the human needs for health, education, economic security and housing. Significant social policy areas include unemployment insurance, welfare and well-being, family policy, education policy, labour issues, social care, living conditions, social security, child protection, urban development and justice. Other social policy areas are social housing, crime and criminal justice, health care, pensions, animal rights, and social exclusion (Ben-Bassat & Dahan, 2016). Many governments in olden times took it upon themselves to instigate and implement social policy action plans. Governmental agencies were mandated to address societal ills and identify appropriate solutions. In recent times however, governments have altered their approaches to join forces with other quasi-governmental and non-governmental agencies such as non-profit organizations, business organizations and even with other governments for the purpose of effecting positive change.
In Canada, social policy programs comprise every government program that is designed to provide the Canadian people with assistance outside of what the market in general offers. The social safety net in Canada covers an extensive spectrum of programs. Given that Canada as a country is essentially a federation, most programs are actually run by the Canadian provinces. The country has many government transfer payments to citizens, which exceeded $200 billion in the year 2014 (Ben-Bassat & Dahan, 2016). In Canada and the United States, social policy discussions also pertain to governmental policy on a number of social issues for instance tackling the legal ...