Functions and goals of social welfare

In welfare economics, a social welfare function is a function that ranks

social states (alternative complete descriptions of the society) as less desirable,
more desirable, or indifferent for every possible pair of social states. Inputs of
the function include any variables considered to affect the economic welfare of a
society. In using welfare measures of persons in the society as inputs, the social
welfare function is individualistic in form. One use of a social welfare function
is to representprospective patterns of collective choice as to alternative social
states. The social welfare function provides the government with a simple
guideline for achieving the optimal distribution of income
The social welfare function is analogous to the consumer
theory of indifference-curve–budget constraint tangency for an individual,
except that the social welfare function is a mapping of individual preferences or
judgments of everyone in the society as to collective choices, which apply to all,
whatever individual preferences are for (variable) constraints on factors of
production.
One point of a social welfare function is to determine how close the analogy
is to an ordinal utility function for an individual with at least minimal
restrictions suggested by welfare economics, including constraints on the
number of factors of production.
There are two major distinct but related types of social welfare functions:

 A Bergson–Samuelson social welfare function considers welfare for a given

set of individual preferences or welfare rankings.
 An Arrow social welfare function considers welfare across different possible
sets of individual preferences or welfare rankings and seemingly reasonable
axioms that constrain the function

Goals of Social Welfare

1. Humanitarian and Social Justice Goals - This goal of social welfare is rooted
in the democratic ideal of social justice, and is based on the belief that man has
the potential to realize himself, except that physical, social, economic,
psychological and other factors sometimes hinder or prevent him from realizing
his potentials. This concept submits that it is right and just for man to help man,
hence, social services. This goal involves the identification of the most afflicted,
the most dependent, the most neglected, and those least able to help themselves,
and making them the priority target for the investment of scarce resources.
2. Social Control Goal - This goal is based on the recognition that the needy,
deprived and disadvantaged groups may strike out, individually and/or
collectively, against what they consider to be an alienating or offending society.
Society therefore has to secure itself against the threats to life, property, and
political stability in the community which are usually presented by those who
are deprived of resources and opportunities to achieve a satisfying life. Social
services to dissidents, and to juvenile and adult offenders exemplify the social
control goal of social welfare.

3. Economic Development - This economic development goal places priority on

those programs designed to support increases in the production of goods and
services, and other resources that will contribute to the economic development.
The immediate beneficiaries of such programs may be the able-bodied,
relatively better-off members of the community. Examples of the social services
which pursue economic development goals are:
 Social services which directly contribute to increased productivity
among individuals, groups and communities, such as counseling
services for the youth and for the adjustment of workers to
industrial settings; labor welfare services and facilities; services for
the rehabilitation of handicapped workers; skills training for the
unemployed and the underemployed, integrated social services for
farmers;
 Social services which prevent or relieve the burden of dependence
on adult workers of such dependents as the very young as well as
the very old, the sick, the disabled, etc. which could hamper their
productivity. Examples of these are day care centers, old age
homes, health clinics and rehabilitation centers;
 Social services which prevent or counteract the disruptive effects of
urbanization and industrialization on family and community life,
and help identify and develop local leadership in communities.
Examples of these are family life education services, leadership
training programs, and various types of community services which
enhance or develop self-reliance and therefore promote people's
own capacities for problem solving.