Individualistic and collectivist cultures in British Social Policy
Social policy is developed to change the world for the better. The ideas for social policy are drawn from across the social sciences to help the world better understand and react to social issues across the world. The social policy addresses how societies and states react to challenges such as social, economic, demographic, globalization, poverty, and migration. Social policy analyses the roles of the governments, families, societies, and international organizations. The services under the social policy include education and schooling, family and child support, poverty reduction, income maintenance, unemployment support, pensions, and social and health care. The aim of social policy is to reduce inequalities in access to basic services and to provide support to social groups which are defined by their race, socio-economic status, migration status, gender, and sexual orientation (Blakemore & Warwick-Booth, 2013).
Individualist and collectivist are the main concepts of British Social policy. The major difference between the two lies in their responsibility. In an individualistic culture, the public is responsible for themselves. Here, people are free to move on and pursue their lives with minimum interference from outside. Individual equality and rights in the law and privacy are important in Individualistic culture. All individuals are sovereign to themselves and they are only held responsible when they interfere with the other’s sovereignty (Finkelstein, 2011).
Collectivist- here, the priority is given to the well-being of the group. The group is responsible for the consequences and actions of every individual connected to them as well as for their welfare and safety (Evans, 2016).
Ideologies are concerned with principles, ideas, and ideals. Welfare ideologies have always been inclusive of a wide range of perspectives as compared to the common left-right disagreement. According to the postmodernist myth, the traditional ideologies have not changed with the changes in economic and social structures. However, this is not true. Ideologies of welfare change and develop all the time. They are associated with politics and gave them an image of permanence. Despite this recognition, the ideologies are needed to be separated as major ideologies and minor ideologies (Alock, 2014).
The policymaking process is usually conceptualized in the form of stages or sequential parts. There are six major stages- the emergence of the problem, setting of agendas, considering the options of the policy, decision-making, the process of implementation, and evaluation. Well-being is defined as feeling good and functioning properly in society. Well-being could be implemented perfectly if all the stages of the policymaking process are followed. There are many issues that are acting as hindrances to well-being. Identifying it and then creating strategies accordingly would reduce the number of hindrances. The implementation of the strategies are largely in the hands of the government, therefore, it is necessary to create a proper strategy to get the support of the government (Balls, 2012).
I have selected the ‘On the Streets an Investigation into rough sleeping’ article for the assignment. The assignment aims to discuss and evaluate the context of the selected article. The report will include a discussion of the findings and the arguments of the article. The report will also mention the theories of social science, ideologies of welfare and values, and policy debates regarding the topic of the article.
Welfare ideologies and their evolution
The shelter policy and strategy aim to provide an organized framework for the national arrangements. The goal of the framework is to help national arrangements to manage the alarming rising need for shelters for the citizens. Shelter policy and strategy aim is to provide support and aid for those devastated and shocked by the housing emergency. Another important aim of the shelter policy and strategy is to ensure the accessibility of rehabilitation to citizens who have been a victim of hazardous events which caused them to be displaced from their homeland. The shelter strategy and policy are financed by legacies and donations. They also get help from multiple charities across the U.K. The strategies have influenced the government and they play a huge role in the implementation and formulation of these strategies. Their ambition is to initiate a movement demanding a generation of social homes (Shelter, 2022). The policy is available through multiple sources- the phone, legal pieces of advice, online, and provides face-to-face services. The main concept is outlined in the ‘Global Shelter Strategy (Mackie et al., 2017).’ Shelter policy tackles homelessness. Homelessness is a condition where a person lacks safe, stable, and adequate housing. Rough sleeping is an action practice by homeless people as they sleep on the streets and any other place they get.
The aim of the article ‘On the Streets, an Investigation into rough sleeping’ is to talk about an investigation carried out on 12 people. The article which was published in December 2018 investigates the reason for people becoming street homeless. The objective of the article was to talk about the experience of homelessness and the impact the experiences had on victims’ lives. The study was conducted on 12 people and analyzed the quantitative data to understand the level of homelessness in England. The research included is about the place where they sleep rough and overtime trends. The article covered a topic that is turning or has become an alarming situation in England. According to the UK parliament, England witnessed 2,688 rough sleepers in the autumn of 2020. The number is 52% higher than the numbers recorded in 2010 (Barton & Wilson, 2021). The shelter is a U.K registered charity, launched on December 1966, aiming at addressing the needs of homeless people and providing them the basic human rights and needs to help them. In addition to this, the organization helps homeless people get physically and emotionally healthy by making rehabilitation sessions accessible to them.
The journey towards street homelessness is filled with multiple unavoidable struggles. The article studies individuals and families who have been a victim of street homelessness. All of them had different reasons for homelessness; however, the common factor across all of them is relationship breakdown and eviction. Street homelessness is a serious social issue and people sleeping on the streets due to not having access to the proper shelter are known as rough sleeping. Rough sleeping is connected with sleeping outside; however, it could also mean sleeping in places that are not suitable for a living (Mendip District Council, 2022). In England, around 5,000 people have rough sleep on a single given night. The rate is constantly increasing which reflects the urgent need to address the situation. The number observed is estimated to be more than 5,000 as many people may have been missed during the study because they avoid sleeping in suburban and concealed locations; instead, they prefer taking shelter in public transport or finding solace in walking the streets all night alone. The statistics presented by CHAIN showed that almost 7,500 people were caught sleeping on concealed streets at least one night during the time period of one year in London (Clarke, 2016). The government of the U.K has found that the number of people rough sleeping has doubled in the last 5 years. Seeing the severity of rough sleeping, many policies have been developed in order to tackle and control the emerging condition (Fitzpatrick et al., 2016). Considering the declining situation of homelessness and rough sleeping in U.K, it becomes evident that the working of policies and organizations like Shelter Policy are extremely important to help people get a safe and stable roof.
The policymaking process in relation to well-being
The article ‘On the Streets an Investigation into rough sleeping’ covered the journeys of people to rough sleeping. The study found that there are several stages these people crossed before succumbing to rough sleeping. According to the article, ten out of twelve people lost their homes because they were asked to leave or were being evacuated. The article argued that eviction is the main reason for rough sleeping as the majority of the people admitted they have fallen into rough sleeping because they were evicted (Fleuty et al., 2021). Other significant reasons are relationship breakdown and the death of close ones. The article argued that there are barriers in the journey of these people to find a new home. These people had asked for help from the council, however, the council did not pay much attention. The article believed that the reason for them to act this way was because they classified these people as ‘intentionally’ homeless. Seven out of twelve people faced this negligence from the council. This behaviour contradicts yet support the definition of the Functionality perspective. The theory sates that society is a complex system who come together to promote stability and solidarity. It says that the all aspects of a society- norms, roles and institutions have a purpose and that participation of all is needed for the survival of society. Here, the lack of cooperation and assistance of others have caused a great harm to homeless people and is a reason for them to indulge in rough sleeping. Shelter strategy and policy found the behavior shown by the council worrying because half of the people had children with them. The council is obliged to support the families through Children’s Services (Social Care, 2012). Discrimination played a role in their lives. Three out of twelve people reported that they experienced discrimination when they were looking for a new home, all of them are women.
In addition to the barriers mentioned, the article argued that substance abuse and mental health issues are also a major push toward rough sleeping. Five out of twelve people admitted their alcohol and drug misuse to be the main source of their street homelessness. Six out of twelve people held their mental health issues responsible for their street homelessness (GOV.UK, 2020). Mental health issues keep humans from acting on important things. One participant reported that he was not able to pay his rent because he was suffering from depression, hence, was evicted. According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in 2017, 80% of people who experienced rough sleeping had mental health issues. There are shreds of evidence that suggest that mental health issues make finding a new home a challenging task. Mental health issues increase the chances of people staying on the street by 50% (GOV.UK, 2020). The conflict theory developed by Karl Marx explains rough sleeping and homelessness with a different and a more realistic perspective. According to the conflict theory, the society is evolving constantly which gives birth to conflicts. The conflict arises within those who are fighting to get maximum amount of resources. The conflicts get ugly when the resources are becoming scarce. Conflict theory came to the conclusion that capitalism is the main source of rough sleeping and homelessness. Conflict theory believes that money can be earned through hard work, motivation and determination only and according to these motions, homeless people are termed as lazy and uneducated people.
Shelter policy and strategy for managing rough sleeping
The common experiences of rough sleeping are found to be having no access to basic services, abusive behavior, loss of possessions, and stigmas associated with street people. The article argued that losing possessions is common among street people. Five out of twelve people reported that they lost their things while rough sleeping. All the participants had to face some other disturbing events from the council and the public because of being homeless. According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, homelessness is identified as more disruptive than any other poor group because the factors associated with homelessness tend to activate dimensions that can cause stigmatization (Americanbar, 2020). The participants admitted that they have faced abuse from the public. They have been threatened with a knife, hit, and urinated on. All these degrading behaviors shown by the public are the result of stigma. Homelessness acts repulsive to jobs. People who are living on the streets are not able to find a job. The reasons are- wearing clothes that are not appropriate for workplaces, lack of address, no phones and computers, and lack of confidence and self-esteem. According to a study, 25% of the US street homelessness population are employed, however, 40-60 percent get unemployed every year due to the reasons mentioned (Steen et al., 2012).
Out of the twelve people who were interviewed for the study, only one is currently rough sleeping and seven out of the remaining eleven are homeless. Some are living in temporary shelters; however, they fear that they will be evicted soon because of inconsistent rent payments. One participant is living in a new house and is happy; however, she believes that she is suffering from the long-term effects of street homelessness on her mental and physical health. The impact of rough sleeping and homelessness is inevitable and severe (Parsell et al., 2020).
Conclusion
The article talked about an investigation done on one of the most emerging social issues- rough sleeping. The article included the reasons why people end up practicing rough sleeping and the experiences and impacts of rough sleeping. The investigation found eviction to be the primary cause of street homelessness. Other barriers are non-cooperation from the council and discrimination. There was proof that pointed to mental health issues and substance misuse as the cause of street homelessness.
The experiences of street homelessness and rough sleeping are different for different people. However, there are common grounds. The most common experience is being the victim of stigma and not getting accessibility to basic public services. Living on the streets has an adverse impact on the mental and physical health of the people. The unpleasant and traumatic experiences make it difficult for them to get a job and keep their relationship healthy and intact.
People who have escaped homelessness life still face the aftermath of their past life such as – a lack of self-esteem and confidence. Some people have found shelter in secure accommodation. Others are living in temporary accommodations. As the cases of rough sleeping are increasing at an alarming rate, interventions from the government and social services are needed. Shelter strategy and policy are working for the safety and rehabilitation of the victims of rough sleeping. Shelter policy believes that all people must have access to a clean, affordable and safe home.
References
Alock, P., 2014. Social policy in Britain. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Americanbar, 2020. Stigma and Lack of Personal Dignity. [Online] Available at: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/homelessness_poverty/blueprints/blueprint-9.pdf [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Balls, S.J., 2012. Politics and policy making in education: Explorations in sociology. Routledge.
Barton, C. & Wilson, W., 2021. Rough sleeping (England). [Online] Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02007/ [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Blakemore, K. & Warwick-Booth, L., 2013. Social Policy: An Introduction: An Introduction. Mcgraw-Hill Education (UK).
Clarke, A., 2016. The prevalence of rough sleeping and sofa surfing amongst young people in the UK. Social Inclusion, 4(4), pp.60-72.
Evans, E.J., 2016. Social policy 1830–1914: Individualism, collectivism and the origins of the welfare state. Routledge.
Finkelstein, M.A., 2011. Correlates of individualism and collectivism: Predicting volunteer activity. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 39(5), pp.597-606.
Fitzpatrick, S. et al., 2016. The homelessness monitor: England 2016. London: Crisis.
Fleuty, K., Cooper, A. & Almond , M., 2021. Armed forces and veteran housing policies: the United Kingdom 2021 vision. Journal of Veterans Studies, 7(1), pp.234-40.
GOV.UK, 2020. Extra help for rough sleepers with drug and alcohol dependency. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-help-for-rough-sleepers-with-drug-and-alcohol-dependency [Accessed 5 April 2022].
GOV.UK, 2020. Health matters: rough sleeping. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-rough-sleeping/health-matters-rough-sleeping#:~:text=Evidence%20suggests%20that%20mental%20ill,not%20have%20mental%20health%20needs). [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Mackie, P., Johnsen, S. & Wood, J., 2017. Ending rough sleeping: what works. An international evidence review.
Mendip District Council, 2022. What is Rough Sleeping? [Online] Available at: https://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/7983/What-is-Rough-Sleeping [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Parsell, C., Clarke, A. & Vorsina, M., 2020. Evidence for an integrated healthcare and psychosocial multidisciplinary model to address rough sleeping. Health & Social Care in the Community, 28(1), pp.34-41.
Shelter, 2022. OUR STRATEGY. [Online] Available at: https://england.shelter.org.uk/what_we_do/our_strategy [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Social Care, 2012. The legal and policy contexts. [Online] Available at: https://www.scie.org.uk/publications/introductionto/childrenssocialcare/legalandpolicycontexts.asp#:~:text=Section%2017%20of%20the%20Act,authority%20to%20meet%20their%20potential [Accessed 5 April 2022].
Steen, A., Mackenzie, D. & McCormack, D., 2012. Homelessness and unemployment: understanding the connection and breaking the cycle. Swinburne Institute for Social Research.
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