Sociological Perspective On Human Behavior

This essay will examine how the development of the Welfare State and the NHS changed the lives of the people of Britain since its introduction in 1948. To enable me to do so, I will analyse and evaluate the key relevant aspects that happened during that period.

Although the welfare state had been evolving before the Beveridge committee report, but it was the Beveridge committee report that gave birth to the welfare state legislations after the second world war; these legislations includes The Education Act (1944), The Family Allowance Act (1945), The National Health Service Act (1946), The National Assistance Act 1948, The Children's Act 1948, and The Housing Act (1949). The

This essay will examine how the development of the Welfare State and the NHS changed the lives of the people of Britain since its introduction in 1948. To enable me to do so, I will analyse and evaluate the key relevant aspects that happened during that period.

The National Health Service was founded on the 5th July 1948. Winston Churchill was the prime minister at the time .The government decided to commission a report, addressing the ways in which Britain should be rebuilt after the Second World War had ended. The Beveridge report of 1942 (written by William Beveridge) identified five main points that needed to be addressed. These were Want (addressed poverty) disease (the lack of healthcare) ignorance (no education) squalor (represented the lack of housing) and idleness (unemployment). A Lot of politicians were confident that Winston Churchill would lead the conservatives to success in the general election. However this was not the case, clement Attlee of the labour party introduced all the

This perspective originated with Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist, social psychologist, and philosopher, and the one who formally established and is considered the father of sociology, as the social sciences was not considered an independent field of study separate from philosophy at the time of his writings. Durkheim was interested in how social order and society as a whole remains stable, and used a scientific approach to study society. As Kenneth Allan quotes from Émile Durkheim (2005), “…if, in addition, society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men’s wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt or the slightest puff will suffice to scatter” (p. 136). Using this view of society as a creation of a collective group of individuals that work toward a common objective, functionalism looks at the institutions of society and how they contribute to the society’s stability. These institutions include the government, family, education, medicine, the justice system, the military, mass media, and other similar formal organizations. Each of these institutions are organized to fulfill the different needs of society and are all interdependent. Functionalism focuses on the order and social stability of a society, and credits disorganization and a lack of adaptation to new and changing times as the causes of social

In conclusion the Welfare State was created on the principle that the state accepted a responsibility to protect and promote the welfare of all citizens. It must be noted that the system was designed to provide a national minimum, not reduce inequalities. I have looked in detail at all aspects to combat the “five giants “and the popular support when the Beveridge report was introduced. I have also looked at flaws in the system, however the cornerstone of the Beveridgian welfare system, was left almost untouched until the 1980’s.

He called it ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services.’ He stated that it would be most beneficial if the government took into consideration the citizens and gave them more protection. In 1948, the Labour Party government created three acts; the National Insurance Act, National Assistance Act, and National Health Service Act, which were all adapted from Sir William Beveridge’s report in 1942. Britain, Canada and the United States changed the roles of the authority in their country to be more involved and developed programs between the different countries corresponded to programs such as trade, international cooperation, and foreign aid. This became a trend and many other western democracies implemented these programs to their countries; they called them ‘social safety net programs’ and included programs such as employment insurance, assistance for people who are elderly, child care, and universal health care. Britain and Canadian governments developed and expanded the programs and built on legislation and initiatives that were put into place before World War II. The post World War II economic policies were a shift left. Sir William Beveridge declared in his speech that he wanted the government to advance itself and become more involved in the citizens lives and

Want - Beveridge noticed that people did not have ‘enough’. They didn’t have enough money to live on and provide food, clothing and couldn’t afford medication for themselves or their families. These people wanted to be able to have the basics to survive, but they either didn’t work or were too sick to work. We now have a system that gives people a chance to claim income support and national insurance to cover these issues.

This essay will commence by explaining who William Beveridge was and what problems he seen within the welfare state. Following on from this, it will then compare the welfare state of the 21st century to that seen by William Beveridge in his famous “report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services” which was published on the 1st December 1942, discussing problems and similarities. The “five giant evils” Beveridge claimed to exist will be indentified and analyzed in depth and how Clement Attlee's 1945 Labour government pledged to eliminate these evils. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman conservative

So, one may argue the creation of the welfare state is the turning point 1830-1948. The term ‘welfare state’ represented a new concept of how the state should relate to the people and was developed by the 1945 Labour government. It was heavily influenced by a report in 1942 -‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ – published by William Beveridge. The report was a response to the existing problems of poverty as he set out to attack the ‘five giants’: want, squalor, disease, ignorance and idleness. The report produced a comprehensive manifesto of social reform, proposing that the social security system cover the whole population with benefits available to support people facing any crisis disrupting their normal income: unemployment, sickness, disability, death of the

One of the main motivating factors behind this desire towards a welfare state was the universal hatred of the so called "Poor laws." These were a series of laws governing aid (feeding, education, and health) to the poorest of society. The first passed in 1598 and not until 1948 did the last one of them get eliminated. The basic idea behind these laws

This essay will discuss the key points of the ‘Beveridge report’ (1942), and evaluate the significance of the report on the welfare state. In November 1942, William Beveridge presented a report called, ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ to parliament. This was a summary of principles to improve upon the existing welfare benefits system, to benefit working people and the population. The document proposed a new system to be operated by one governing agency, called Social Security. This would be put in place by the state after World War 2 had ended. Overall Beveridge created the most revolutionary document in our history. Beveridge has played a significant role in evolving the Welfare State over the decades. (Robinson, 2003).

Explanation of common sense and sociological approaches to the study of Human Societies, with examples.

Functionalism is a consensus perspective that sees society as based on shared values into which members are socialized. It sees society as like an organism, each part performing functions to maintain the system as a whole. For example, religion, the education system and the family perform socialization functions. The functionalist theory though developed from the ideas of theorists such as Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim, can trace its origins as far back as the founding father of sociology, Auguste

In response to the Beveridge report, Keynesian economics were adapted by the Labour Government to use taxation to fund a welfare state. The key objective being to control inequality and oppression of poverty, through widely available services such as healthcare, education, workers’ rights and welfare support. The Attlee Government (1945 – 1951) nationalised major industries of coal steel and electricity, hoping to regulate the economy (Heywood 2012:109), providing basics services without exploitation through commodification, as a means of ensuring provision of fundamental needs to all of