SOCIAL POLICY COMBAT SOCIAL DIVISIONS

Social policy combat social divisions



Social policy combat social divisions

Introduction

Social policy draws on sociology to explain the social context of welfare provision. If we are trying to improve people's welfare, it is helpful to try to understand something about the way that people are, and how welfare policies relate to their situation. Some writers have gone further, arguing that because welfare takes place in a social context, it can only be understood in that context (Hill, 2005). This has been particularly important for 'critical social policy', which begins from a view of social policy as underpinned by social inequality - particularly the inequalities of class, race and gender. Societies are 'structured' in the sense that people's relationships follow consistent patterns. The Social Development Division works to identify emerging social issues, especially those that directly affect the poor and other vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of people in the region(Dean, 2006). It increases awareness and understanding of how various issues.

Discussion

Race has no fixed meaning. Although some commentators identify race closely with skin color, the experience of racism is not confined to color: the groups in Europe which experience the strongest rejection are probably gypsies and Muslims. Racial discrimination refers to the deliberate use of adverse selection as a means of putting people from particular racial or ethnic groups in an inferior position, but deliberate discrimination is not necessary to explain much racial disadvantage; the effect of denying access to the resources, opportunities and conditions of life available to others is to make the experience of disadvantage worse (Dean, 2006). Although issues of 'race' and racism feature largely in many discussions of the sociology of welfare, it is more difficult to point directly to policies which are directly concerned with race in intention and effects.

Social policies can be seen as collective responses to social problems. A problem is social when it is socially recognized: important issues like grief and emotional distress are not necessarily 'social', and there may be no social policies to deal with them. Conversely, other, seemingly minor, concerns and complaints can be elevated to the status of social problems. Though socially and discursively constructed, 'race' continues to be a key basis of social division and identification within British society. Not only do many disparate ethnic minority groups continue to identify along ethnic and racial lines, but ethnicity and race continue to shape a variety of outcomes, such as employment, educational attainment, and senses of 'belonging' (Dean, 2006). In this sense, 'race' and the recognition of difference, continues to matter. The study of 'race' and ethnicity, and 'difference', more generally, is particularly crucial in contemporary Western societies such as Britain. Not only is Britain increasingly multiethnic and characterized by 'super-diversity', but we are increasingly questioning and studying the very ethnic and racial boundaries which have traditionally been said to demarcate ethnic minority groups from the White mainstream. For instance, rates of intermarriage between White and ethnic minority Britons is very much on the rise, and the ...