UNIT 1 SOCIAL POLICY: CONCEPT, CHARACTERISTICS

Social Policy: Concept,

Characteristics,

Objectives, Scope,

Functions, Principles

and Models

UNIT 1 SOCIAL POLICY: CONCEPT,

CHARACTERISTICS, OBJECTIVES,

SCOPE, FUNCTIONS, PRINCIPLES

AND MODELS

Structure

1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Concept of Social Policy

1.3 Characteristics

1.4 Objectives

1.5 Goals

1.6 Principles of Social Policy

1.7 Models of Social Policy

1.8 Scope

1.9 Conclusion

1.10 References

1.0 OBJECTIVES

After studying this Unit, you should be able to:

 Explain the concept and characteristics of social policy;

 Describe the objectives, goals, and principles of social policy;

 State the different models of social policy; and

 Explore the scope of social policy.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Modern government is grounded on the social contract between citizens and the

State wherein the terms and conditions have been mutually decided for the well-

being of the nation. This conscious effort has been done between the two entities,

that is, the State and citizens’ for two reasons: firstly, citizens agree to support

the State either to pay taxes and remittances or adhering to government order or

subscribing to the higher ideals like equality, equity, fraternity etc. Secondly, the

State in reciprocation secures legitimacy to govern the country by protecting

people’s rights and evolving appropriate social policies for the common good.

Modern governments especially in the developing countries have been giving

adequate importance to social policies to overcome social problems, such as,

illiteracy, alcohol and drug abuse, ill-health, elderly abuse, and social injustice to

the deprived communities. According to the Russian Nobel laureate Aleksandr

Social Policy and

Administration:

An Introduction

Solzhenitsyn, “If state and social policy will not be based on morality, then

mankind has no future to speak of….” This statement reinforces that any policy

must be evolved for sustained human development and effective social policies

could lead to two consequences: legitimisation of State and citizen well-being

and development.

With increasing number of social policies, the domain of social policy, as an

academic discipline started widening its boundaries by taking insights from other

social science disciplines like sociology, economics, politics, history, law etc.

In this Unit, we shall discuss about the concept of social policy, characteristics,

goals, scope, functions, principles, and models.

1.2 CONCEPT OF SOCIAL POLICY

The term ‘policy’ indicates the principles that govern action towards an intended

outcome or a change. Policy can be succinctly said, as action-oriented and

change-oriented. As part of political process, social policy can be perceived, as a

vital State instrument. Regarding the usage of the terms ‘social policy’ and

‘social welfare policy’ in academic literature, Aravacik (2018) points out that in

Continental Europe it has been referred to, as “social policy” whereas in the

North American literature it has been referred as “social welfare policy”.

However, social policy, as a field of study emerged and developed from the field

of ‘social administration’. The focus of social administration was to prepare

personnel in social services. According to Spicker (2014), the social services

include the ‘big five’ services vis-à-vis social security, housing, health, social

work, and education along with employment, prisons, legal services, community

safety etc. As a discipline, social policy has become an extensive field

encompassing protection of rights and entitlements of the deprived, and meeting

their social needs, such as, life expectancy, safety and dignity in work spaces,

constitutional safeguards, housing, participation in public spheres etc. Ever since

the evolution of modern governments, there has been a corresponding

development in welfare state and social policy.

British Economist Nicholas Barr observes that the welfare state is an outcome of

diverse forces that has been actively involved in evolving social policy. For

example, lack of equitable treatment for all people during pre-Independence

phase in India enabled the founding fathers of our Constitution to set up a

governance framework that could work for the welfare of all people irrespective

of place of birth, religion, caste, disability, and occupation etc. In a way, any

government service that intends to improve the quality of life of the deprived

communities can be categorised under social policy. To illustrate, a person with

disability may feel unsafe and low in self-esteem if s/he does not experience fair

treatment in public and work spaces. In line with Constitutional values, the

Government of India has enacted the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act,

2016, to ensure all persons with disabilities to be treated equally with dignity and

justice. Indeed, the Preamble to our Indian Constitution has placed the ideal of

‘justice,’ as the foremost ideal of modern government, as its pursuance leads to

Social Policy: Concept,

Characteristics,

Objectives, Scope,

Functions, Principles

and Models

sustenance of state legitimacy and citizen well-being. To put this ideal of ‘justice’

into action, the modern governments have chosen ‘social policy,’ as a vital tool.

One of the seminal essays in the field of social policy was written by Richard

Titmuss in 1955 on ‘Social Division of Welfare’. In this essay, Titmuss

advocated for reviewing the impact of welfare policies in societal context. This

means Titmuss put forth the idea that welfare policies would lead to failure if it

does not take cognisance of social realities. Social realities like inadequate

healthcare, illiteracy, gender and caste discrimination, elderly abuse etc. enables

the government to come up with appropriate policies and schemes for people’s

well-being. For instance, one of the social realities is majority of transgender

persons had been abandoned by their family members and have been leading a

homeless life. Leading a homeless life makes transgender persons feel unsafe and

intimidated. To overcome this, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

in collaboration with the Lakshya Trust (a community-based organisation in

Gujarat) has evolved the Garima Greh Scheme in 2020. This Scheme has been

hailed by the transgender community. From the above example, we can construe

that in social policy, government is not just the only actor, rather, the government

collaborates and works in partnership with a number of other actors like

community-based organisations, judiciary, non-government organisations,

interested individuals, social media etc. Further, we can understand that the focus

of social policy is people’s well-being irrespective of gender, religion, caste,

income, disability etc. People’s well-being can be promoted by the government,

when they tend to identify the core areas of social policy. Spicker (2014)

identifies the core areas of social policy, as follows:

 health policy, social security, education, employment, community care, and

housing;

 uncertain circumstances wherein people’s welfare would be at stake, such as,

disability, disaster, old age, illness, family breakdown;

 anti-social issues like crime and drug addiction;

 socially disadvantaged like transgender persons, poverty-stricken community

etc. and;

 an array of collective social responses like provision of financial aids,

voluntary efforts, government-community partnerships (like Garima Greh

Scheme) to the above social problems.

From the above core areas of social policy, we can understand that the term

‘social policy’ refers to the social action and responses taken by policy makers to

promote people’s welfare. In the process, government collaborates with multiple

actors to identify social realities and take appropriate action.

Social Policy and

Administration:

An Introduction

1.3 CHARACTERISTICS

Characteristics of a social policy are discussed, as below:

 A positive instrument of change

The focus of social policy is to foster change in terms of ‘changing situations,

systems, practices, and behaviour’ (Titmuss, 1974). This means social policy

intends to bring positive change in the lives of the underserved communities

vis-à-vis education, housing, insurance, skill development, employment etc.

For example, in India, with the commitment to finance and mobilise funds for

the economically deprived Scheduled Castes (SC), the National Scheduled

Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSCFDC) was instituted in

1989. Being a government owned company, it facilitates the deprived

communities to access resources without any hassles.

 Invests in inclusiveness

Social policy invests in inclusive development of the deprived and intends to

bridge the gap between the affluent and the deprived (haves and have-nots).

For example, ensuring equal access for persons with disability in public

places is an important investment that makes cities inclusive. Sugamya

Bharat App, a crowd sourcing mobile application was launched in 2021 by

the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (PwD). The

objective is to enable people with disabilities as well as the elderly to

virtually report-accessibility related issues in buildings, transport or in any

infrastructure by uploading pictures on it. Notably, the application intends to

address corona virus-related issues being faced by PwD.

 Focuses on collective intervention

Mkandawire (2001) defines social policy as collective intervention that

directly affects changes in social welfare, social institutions, and social

relations. While constructing social development, government provides

platform for collective participation and intervention of civil society actors’

such as to higher education institutions, community-based organisations,

charitable and philanthropic organisation, non-government organisations,

media, interested participants etc. For example, Sight Savers is a NGO that

works for the welfare of PwD launched an online petition to call the

Government of India to make all public places equally accessible by 2025. In

fact, 3,114 people participated in it.

1.4 OBJECTIVES

According to Titmuss (1974), there are three main objectives of social policy:

 To be Beneficent

Social policies are directed towards human welfare and meet human needs

like education, health, housing, and social security.

Social Policy: Concept,

Characteristics,

Objectives, Scope,

Functions, Principles

and Models

 Economic and non-economic objectives

Social policy includes economic objectives like minimum wages and non-

economic objectives like minimum essential standard of living. While

minimum wages refers to the remuneration paid by the employers to the

physical labour, as mandated by the law, minimum essential standard of

living refers to the fundamental human needs (besides food, clothing, and

shelter) like safety and survival, establishing connection and acceptance, self-

esteem, identity, freedom, justice, and self-fulfilment getting fulfilled. Be it

wages or fundamental human needs, it should be socially acceptable. A

service offered by government or voluntary organisation becomes socially

acceptable when majority people consider the service offered, as reasonable

or satisfactory.

 Transfer of resources from rich to poor

Social policy involves certain measure of progressive redistribution when it

comes to transfer of resources from rich to poor. For example, a successful

transfer of resources from rich to poor happens, if the rich villagers contribute

their money to establish a primary school in a village for the poor children.

1.5 GOALS

According to Aravacik (2018) there are four goals of a social policy vis-à-vis

social justice, social balance, social peace, and social integration.

 Social Justice

All people will be treated fairly whether in terms of opportunities or

participation in governance process. This is to eliminate the inequalities and

deprivations caused by income levels.

 Social Balance

Social balance can be made possible if the differences and disparities can be

eradicated. For example, underserved communities across India should be

treated fairly, as this would promote balance and harmony in the society.

 Social Peace

Policies need to be framed for promotion of social peace. Policies that inhibit

social peace of the society need to be eliminated. To illustrate, the domination

of multi-national markets over local markets is not only unfair but it disturbs

the balance of the society in the long-run. Hence, such things should not be

allowed and should be rectified in favour of the local society.

 Social Integration

This refers to inclusion of vulnerable groups into the social structure. It is to

equip them, as functional members of the society.

Social Policy and

Administration:

An Introduction

1.6 PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL POLICY

Principle of Solidarity

Solidarity emerged during the 19

century labour movement when the workers

mobilised themselves for collective action. Solidarity implies mutual contract

among social groups, such as, family, clubs, federations, etc. with the aim to

build mutual accountability and responsibility. Gradually, the principle of

solidarity started finding its place in legislations and laws.

In social policy context, the principle of solidarity reinstates the need for

providing support based on mutual cooperation, networking, and collective

action. For example, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in

2005 to provide accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare to the rural

population, especially, the vulnerable groups. Characteristic example of

application of the principle of solidarity in NRHM is the Village Health,

Sanitation, and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC). In fact, the Committee serves, as

a platform to take collective actions on village health issues, such as, improving

health awareness and outreach activities. Madon (2020) while studying the status

of NRHM in Karnataka observes that VHSNCs act, as vital social spaces in

creating awareness about chronic diseases and epidemics amongst low-income

communities. Notably, the study found inter-sectoral collaboration between

VHSNC members and different line departments, NGOs, the gram panchayat and

village households.

Principle of Equality

The principle of equality indicates that no member of the society be deprived of

any opportunities or use one’s own powers, as this would lead to a conflict with

social justice (violation of constitutional rights). Based on this principle, the

institutions of society (government or judiciary or civil society) can only

intervene when an individual or group is/are inadequate (incapable) to meet their

own needs. Only under circumstances of incapability the institutional

intervention becomes meaningful.

For example, during 1990s, in Rajasthan, the villagers were legally deprived of

understanding the existing laws related to right to minimum wage. They were not

paid, as per the laws by the authorities. Seeing this social injustice, Mazdoor

Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a NGO, created legal awareness among the

people and mobilised them to demand open access to the records of expenditure

for various programmes at the local level. In fact, the MKSS battled for three

years to enable their demands to be met. As a result, People’s Right to

Information became a social movement by 1996, which demanded that all

government bodies should maintain and preserve records for future reference. To

give a statutory basis to the social movement and with continuous lobbying from

National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), the

Government of India enacted the Right to Information Act in 2005. Thus, the

institutional intervention of MKSS legally empowered the people to stand for

their rights to seek information and become informed citizenry.

Social Policy: Concept,

Characteristics,

Objectives, Scope,

Functions, Principles

and Models

Principle of Subsidiary

According to the principle of subsidiary, the local people are the prime

stakeholders in decision-making. When people are not empowered, the role of

local government and civil society actors have been looked upon, as the one

closest to the society where they will have their effect. For example, it was the

role of MKSS that made the villagers empowered. Similarly, the role of local

government in certain gram panchayats has led to people’s well-being. To

illustrate, in December 2018, Jakatwadi gram panchayat (Satara District) in

Maharashtra made a landmark decision to provide financial assistance of Rs.

20,000 to widows who wish to remarry. After a detailed discussion with the

people of the Panchayat including the village elders for nearly 6-7 months, the

local people unanimously came forward to break the social taboo associated with

women. The panchayat declared that the funds for meeting the expenditure would

be given from gram panchayat’s budget for women and child welfare. It has been

reported that the village has also established a rehabilitation centre for youth

affected by alcoholism. An opinion of a villager would reflect the psyche of the

village: “We are not a wealthy village, but aspire to be a cultured one”

(Deshpande, 2018).This example also reflects the principle of solidarity. Indeed,

social policy is not about being wealthy rather it reinforces people’s well-being,

as its prime mission.

In this regard, the above examples would have given you an understanding about

the various dimensions of well-being.

1.7 MODELS OF SOCIAL POLICY

The models of social policy (Titmuss, 1974) are contrast in nature and facilitate

us to inquire into the facts and choices (of our economic and social life) in a clear

and precise fashion.

The Residual Welfare Model of Social Policy

This model is based on the presumption that individual’s needs could be

adequately attained through two entities vis-à-vis private market and the family.

It is only when both these entities do not work, social welfare institutions may

temporarily intervene. According to this model, welfare provisions should not be

provided for a long term because this theory assumes that people must learn to

survive without the benefits from the social welfare institutions. Its theoretical

basis can be traced in the English Poor Law

The Industrial Achievement-Performance Model of Social Policy

This model is also known as the ‘Handmaiden Model,’ as it assists the economy.

This model positions the significant role of social welfare institution and

presumes that it has to function on the premise of economic and psychological

It was a system of poor relief in England and Wales that prevailed during late-medieval.

Social Policy and

Administration:

An Introduction

theories related to incentives, effort, reward, formation of class, group loyalties,

merit, work performance, and productivity.

The Institutional Redistributive Model of Social Policy

This model perceives social welfare, as an integral institution in the society that

provides services based on the principle of need. Such social welfare institutions

function outside the market. It is partly based on theories of multiple effects of

social change and partly on the principle of equality. According to Titmuss

(1974), this model incorporates systems of redistribution in command over

resources through time.

1.8 SCOPE

The scope of the social policy is being discussed below:

1) Social policy is about welfare: The idea of welfare has been used in

different contexts. Broadly, the term ‘welfare’ denotes well-being as well as

range of services provided by the State. In social policy context, ‘welfare’ has

been frequently relatable to serving the needy and poor (Spicker, 2014).

2) Social policy is about policy: Social policy is more concerned with

understanding the realities. For example, social policy may not be directly

concerned with ‘food’ but it is concerned with ‘regulation and distribution of

food.’ When it comes to ‘regulation and distribution of food’, the focus is on

the underserved communities and their capacity to access food (Spicker,

2014).

3) Social policy is concerned with issues that are social (Spicker, 2014): The

word ‘social’ in social policy implies the need for collective response to

social problems. Social policy is concerned with removing the obstacles of

development at the grassroots level. For example, in 1950s, the Tamil Nadu

government came up with the Mid-day Meal Scheme to ensure universal

access to primary education. Under the Mid-day Meal Scheme, free lunch

was provided to the poor, starving children in government schools so as to

make them access education. Since this Scheme needed a huge budget, a fair

amount of funds were mobilised by the public. In this example, mobilisation

of funds by both government and the public is a collective response to the

problem of low school enrolment.

4) Social policy is an applied subject (Spicker, 2014): It is multi-disciplinary

and contextual in nature. Since social problems are complex, social policy

extends across a broad spectrum of social science disciplines. Social policy

believes that there is no one best way to tackle a social problem and tries to

seek solution from multiple perspectives. It is practice-oriented discipline, in

the sense, it identifies the social problem and thereafter find methods and

approaches to fit the problem.

ACTIVITY

Let us know a model for social policy that can be a framework for social

programmes.

Social Policy: Concept,

Characteristics,

Objectives, Scope,

Functions, Principles

and Models

1.9 CONCLUSION

Social policy is one of the academic disciplines in social sciences, yet, it is

different from other social science disciplines, as it is firmly grounded

empirically. It has certain principles that act, as a guiding force vis-à-vis

solidarity, equality, and subsidiary. For example, the dignity of a person with

disability can be measured in terms of equal treatment in public and work spaces.

In this line of logic, various policies have been evolved to promote social peace

and harmony. Based on the nature of social issues, governments and civil society

actors have been working to overcome inequalities and discriminations.

Especially, local level problems are fixed by the local actors, as they have an

immediate effect over their lives. In sum, social policy aims to identify the

problems confronted by the deprived communities and work towards finding

ways to increase people’s well-being.

1.10 REFERENCES

Alcock, Pete (Ed.) (et.al). (2012). The Student’s Companion to Social Policy.

UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Aravacik, Esra Dundar (2018). Social Policy and the Welfare State, Public

Economics and Finance. Retrieved from: https://www.intechopen.com/

chapters/64579.

Blakemore, Ken and Griggs, Edwin. (2007). Social Policy: An Introduction.

Open University Press: New York.

Deshpande, Alok (2018, December). Breaking Taboos: This Maharashtra Village

shows the Way. Retrieved from: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/

breaking-taboos-this-maharashtra-village-shows-the-way/article25792684.ece.

Madon, Shirin (2020). The potential of India’s Village Health Committees in

Containing the Spread of Diseases. Retrieved from:https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/

internationaldevelopment/2020/05/15/the-potential-of-indias-village-health-

committees-in-containing-the-spread-of-diseases.

Mkandawire, Thandika. (2001). Social Policy in Development Context.

Retrieved from: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/102709/7.pdf.

Ortiz, Isabel. Social Policy. Retrieved from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/

7189078.pdf.

Pathak, Shankar. Social Policy in a Developing Society. Retrieved from:

http://ijsw.tiss.edu/greenstone/collect/ijsw/index/assoc/HASHbe8d/adc5e878.dir/

doc.pdf.

Spicker, Paul. (2014). Social Policy – Theory and Practice. Policy Press: Bristol.

Titmuss, Richard. (1974). What is Social Policy? Pantheon Books, New York,

Retrieved from: http://rszarf.ips.uw.edu.pl/welfare-state/titmuss.pdf.