Social Work 1

Running Head: Social Work

Social Work and the Post-War Welfare State

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2

Background......................................................................................................................................2

Key Developments...........................................................................................................................4

Assumption of Human Needs..........................................................................................................6

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction

The period from 1945 onwards has seen an unprecedented level of upheavals not only

politically but in the context of severe human rights violations. The face of acute poverty, mass

starvation, poor socio-economic condition and to top it all the extinction of individual races by

others as the race theory has taken the minds of several, such as the Nazi ideology that erupted

due to subjugation of German public not only psychologically but to pay reparations in the

aftermath of WW1 (Şimşek, 2019). All these grave circumstances led to gross human right

violations that highlighted the need of welfare state that European nations in specific are

enjoying these days. This put forth the concept of the welfare state where mass starvation, poor

living conditions, unemployment, and murders are not commonplace (Robinson et al., 2017).

This led to the idea that even in laissez-faire economies of a capitalist system, there remains a

dire need for a social contract between citizens and state (Oude Nijhuis, 2020). In this spirit,

states are obliged to adhere to social work that provides for short term and long-term benefit of

its citizens from poverty, unemployment and protection from diseases and extremist forces.

Background

The current state of social welfare state came into light when the competing philosophies

of the 20th century flighted the two great wars fiercely. These wars happened due to political as

well as economic reasons that came into view afterwards. The people across the World,

specifically in the European continent faced mass extinction, and below-average living

standards, this led to the social contract that governments must comply with (Winter and Cree,

2016). Additionally, the governments took some voluntary measures, such as providing
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extensive growth to small businesses in the name of laissez-fare. On the one hand, this

contributed people with better living standards.

On the other hand, the remaining ideology competing Capitalism was contained,

providing people with social welfare in comparison to starving conditions in Communist states.

The Cold War competition further aggravated the conditions in Communist mainland and

Communist satellite states of Eastern Europe (Tinarwo, 2017). On the contrast, the Capitalist

economies provided masses with opportunities of laissez-faire, i.e. free market that allowed them

to earn tractions of money as they want. Furthermore, the devastating consequences of the war

supplied people with the bargaining agreement to enjoy social rights and welfare systems in the

face of international, national and intergovernmental organisations (Winter and Cree, 2016).

Moreover, the masses in the 20 th century went to war as they were unable to make

consensus among themselves. For instance, the asymmetric conditions of masses among

different countries made them believe that people in neighbouring countries are living better than

them. The social welfare provided people with broader security concept such as the humanistic

and wealth securities. The huge income gap in the face of laissez-faire made states more vigilant

to basic needs (Tinarwo, 2017). Apart from that states were made to comply by the commitments

made between them to propagate trade unions and in this way avoid the wars that are part and

parcel of the ability to bargain between states owing to their masses economic and humanistic

needs. By ensuring basic social welfare structure globally, people were made to believe that there

exist little to no inequalities between citizen and those existents are far beyond to provide them

with food, employment, and right of existence (Şimşek, 2019).

Additionally, the social life of the people underwent a significant transformation when

they were provided with old age funds after their lifetime employment in the industries after
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industrial revolutions. People were allowed to migrate countries where they can open up more

opportunities for them, making their social and economic status grow (Tinarwo, 2017). The

liberal economies allowed traditional protection and the much needed financial protection that

might transform their life according to the needs of their changes ages throughout their life

(Tinarwo, 2017). Thus, the globalisation has provided a much-needed guard against different

security paradigms that people faced previously.

Key Developments

Furthermore, the Keynesian economic model has transformed the financial system of

western democracies to a more sustainable one in response to the Great Depression of 1929. The

masses were guarded to face acute shortages of food supplies and unemployment through short

term infusion of money in the face of recessions. These recessions were ensured so that the

aggregate demand of people's economic and monetary needs be met instead of a downward spiral

as being experienced at the time of the Great Depression (Şimşek, 2019). In this pursuit, the

federal reserves were provided by governments to keep the interest rates to low and make

necessary infusions in the industries in the face of unemployment's making the investments to

dry up and revamping the industrial productions. By providing the injection of money, liberal

governments provided the masses with bare minimum working and living standards against

harsh poverty and unemployment as they developed global financial institutions in the name of

Bretton Woods System (Taylor and Powell, 2017).

Even more critical perspective for Social Welfare of Briton was the Beveridge report by

Sir Williams that proved to be the cornerstone of Britain's Social Welfare Policy in the post-war

period (Taylor and Powell, 2017). The description provided Britons with the much-needed
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protection from five evils that prevailed in the 1930's Briton problems as Want, Ignorance,

Squalor, Disease and Idleness (Obinger et al., 2018). The flat rate of contribution to the people

was given in-state insurance fund as a safety net. The Ministry of Social Security also provided

people with the protection against the closure of factories, injuries, old age and maternity leaves

that might hamper the benefits in comparison to full-time employment. The report was carried

out in the first place against tax credits being employed for pure industrial ventures. This report

provided an explosion of resources to women as the previous years proved to be harsh on them;

they were not married owing to wars. Others were widowed in the face of significant death

waves in the 1940s (Beddoe and Keddell, 2016). The report provided them with safety nets of

earning and temporary protection for housing benefits.

The Beveridge Report also provided people with necessary guard against laissez-faire

economy that might happen to be unjust with people of disabilities and women. The free market

provided Britons with ever-increasing public spending, but that augmented a wide gap between

people in terms of income generation. Thus, the report protected the people of uncertainties and

marginalised groups majorly (Bhambra and Holmwood, 2018). The report happens to provide

social welfare in the face of totalitarian World Wars that disturbed the peace at large besides

provoking resource depletion. In sum, the report was the result of totalitarian war and guarding

general public against these wars and protecting them while maintaining peace all along.

Even great achievement providing Social Welfare to the general public came after the

provision of Curtis Report that came into view after the brutal killing of Denis O'Neill, a welsh

boy in the hands of his foster father. After that, the Child Protection was ensured utilising several

enactments came afterwards. These include the law on Adaptation of Children Act, 1939 and the

Child and Young Persons Act, 1963 (Beddoe and Keddell, 2016). The impetus for reform was
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needed as many children were killed or made orphan during the war period. The reports by

Curtis and Clyde Committees were put forth to remove weaknesses to the administration of

Child Care homes. The report maintained that the Local Committees should ensure the

administration, liaison and supervision of Children by Protection and Foster homes (Beddoe and

Keddell, 2016).

In this pursuit, the various code of ethics was enacted especially for Children such as

Juvenile Protection, and again Community authorities were build up in the U.K. to offer

professional culture to different protection and foster departments and homes (Bhambra and

Holmwood, 2018). This provided much-needed limelight to the community-based service

leading to the making of Social work as a professional matter. The post-war period provided

social work with much needed multifaceted dimensions, such as giving an Administrative and

Case-Based social care for different ages and classes of society (Obinger et al., 2018). This

further led to the Psychodynamic Casework, which maintained that the individuals are put into

severe psychological trauma in the war and post-war period. Thus, their families and they by

themselves are required to undergo psychodynamic therapy proposing. Various reports were

again carried out by governments and agencies to aid administrative and psychodynamic case

studies for social protection as the Barclay Report of 1982 (Fenton, 2020).

Assumption of Human Needs

On the broader perspective, various other underpinnings are necessary to discuss here,

such as the working system in which citizenship rights were treated as the civil rights of people.

The Briton demographic is composed of various factions of people as comprising from different

communities, including that of class, religion, creed, race, and gender and coloured identity.
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These people should be given rights to speech, privacy, safety and peaceful existence within the

country. This made them reliant upon the social rights of their communities of origin whereby

they may happen to guard their natives and representing them in forceful community levels

(Oude Nijhuis, 2020). By adhering to their rights, it became widely crucial that these

communities and people of different origin must respect the conflicting thoughts from other

groups. Thus, the needful application of laws became the topic of much debate in the post-war

period for swift ensuring of rights provision. In short, all these underpinnings provided people

with Civic and Social Protections in opposition to traditional political viewpoints that states have

more power to impose on citizens (Şimşek, 2019).

After the overcoming of various national security paradigms came in the concept of

economic security such as providing the machinery of state with significant needs as food,

shelter, health employment and education. This concept of financial security was embedded deep

into the idea of national security paradigm, as the states might fear foreign intrusion if their

citizens are not provided with these rights of necessary provisions. The social rights were thus

shifted to a much broader concept since even the technologically efficient nations as USSR was

not able to survive economic upheavals on its citizens (Robinson et al., 2017). Resultantly, their

state machinery was put into dismay. These underpinnings gave birth to the much needed

essential provision. As the people were able to count on their survival in the constant flux of

changing human needs, they will be able to overturn economic downturns and maintain their

health and housing as needed (Robinson et al., 2017).

In the face of changing human needs, more specifically about the economic and

humanitarian [perspective, it was thus assumed that the provision of health care and necessary

social safety nets are not a kind of luxuries but are required to provide with. Citizen counted on
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the financial needs for themselves, their children and parents as people sacrificed their liberty

and gave taxes to their government in exchange for these provisions. They were entitled to

receive state funds for healthy functioning of their lives, ensuring medical provision for underage

and elderlies (Oude Nijhuis, 2020). These underpinnings were included in response to economic

difficulties to people faced after the unprecedented challenges they encountered in the war period

and after the war period. Several lives were put into extinction, while others happened to be

distorted afterwards. These lives were needed to be revamped by medical and disease control

delivery otherwise not only that more political upheavals are created in the state, but they were

sanctioned by International and Non-governmental, non-profit organisations (Robinson et al.,

2017).

Thus, these provisions were provided to citizens as their much needed social benefits as

core human values which were underestimated by governments before. These provisions were

produced in the face of huge gaps that were created before the war period and even after that

when laissez-faire economy has put a hold on the growth rates of low-income people.

Citizenship rights were created to fill this unprecedented gap that is curtailing the smooth

functioning of World Order and more specifically, the country's local order. The concept of

hyphenated society in short provided masses with the system of economy and democracy, but

still the needs are remaining for people to support their welfare structure (Taylor and Powell,

2017).

The hyphenated society was thus made necessary to be adhered to by people. This

concept was generated and emphasised by the local and international government to provide

social welfare in any case. A wide range of services such as food, shelter, medical, social linkage

and demonstration was needed to give the citizenry a necessary instrument of life (Tinarwo,
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2017). In this perspective, there is a need to revamp the current structure of laissez-faire

capitalistic order in these guidelines. Otherwise, the widening gap between individuals and large

corporations and investors might disrupt the services to people and pose other threatening wars

in future. The Poor Law of 1834, holds serious scholarship here as the people became reluctant

to perform their duties as citizens and work for their benefits (Winter and Cree, 2016). However,

this law guided the government to take into account community-based protection whereby Social

Care was ensured in social care centres for communities where people were catered to their

needs based on allocated funds to their groups and that too by the guidance of their community's

administrative infrastructure.

Conclusion

The social working and welfare system of Britain is widely developed in the post war

period of 1945, the legal underpinning were enacted case by case while looking into several

administrative and economic needs of individuals and communities. In this perspective, the essay

has looked into theoretical framework of Keynesian economic and how this transformed the

system of social governance in Britain. Additionally, how various kind of rights were developed

in the context of Britain after devastating consequences from past. In this view, the Great

Depression of 1929 posed to be a single great event that ensured economic security to people.
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References

Beddoe, L. and Keddell, E., 2016. Informed outrage: Tackling shame and stigma in poverty

education in social work. Ethics and Social Welfare, 10(2), pp.149-162.

Bhambra, G.K. and Holmwood, J., 2018. Colonialism, postcolonialism and the liberal welfare

state. New Political Economy, 23(5), pp.574-587.

Fenton, J., 2020. Talkin’Bout iGeneration: A New Era of Individualistic Social Work

Practice?. The British Journal of Social Work, 50(4), pp.1238-1257.

Obinger, H., Petersen, K. and Starke, P. eds., 2018. Warfare and Welfare: Military Conflict and

Welfare State Development in Western Countries. Oxford University Press.

Oude Nijhuis, D., 2020. Business, labour and the costs of welfare state development. Journal of

European Social Policy, 30(1), pp.20-33.

Robinson, E., Schofield, C., Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, F. and Thomlinson, N., 2017. Telling stories

about post-war Britain: Popular individualism and the ‘crisis’ of the 1970s. Twentieth

Century British History, 28(2), pp.268-304.

Michael Garrett, P., 2016. ‘Introducing Michael Gove to Loïc Wacquant’: Why Social Work

Needs Critical Sociology. The British Journal of Social Work, 46(4), pp.873-889.

Şimşek, M.İ., 2019. Representations of the Welfare State Policies in Post-war Britain in John

Arden’s Live Like Pigs and The Workhouse Donkey (Master's thesis, Sosyal Bilimler

Enstitüsü).

Taylor, P. and Powell, J.L., 2017. The UK welfare state system. The Routledge International

Handbook to Welfare State Systems. Abingdon. Routledge, pp.191-202.

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Tinarwo, M.T., 2017. Discrimination as experienced by overseas social workers employed

within the British welfare state. International Social Work, 60(3), pp.707-719.

Winter, K. and Cree, V.E., 2016. Social work home visits to children and families in the UK: A

Foucauldian perspective. The British Journal of Social Work, 46(5), pp.1175-1190.