Social Responsibility Towards Welfare In Capitalism example essay topic

Abstract A welfare state has existed in this country for over seventy years. This paper examines the moral issues of a welfare state and the social responsibility of individuals towards maintaining the status quo. This paper will also look at moral standings of society as a whole and the responsibility of the individual to contribute resources towards the welfare of others. The case study ^aEURoeThe Shrinking Welfare State: The New Welfare Legislation and Families^aEUR discusses the issue of welfare and low-income families. The case study does an excellent job of investigating economical and social issues, but fails to thoroughly address the morality of a welfare state. Before entering into the morass of moral issues surrounding welfare, dysfunctional familial units, societal ethics and personal responsibility, let us define and examine the term ^aEUR~welfare state, .

A welfare state is ^aEURoea term that emerged in the 1940's to describe situations where the state has a major responsibility for welfare provision via social security systems, offering services and benefits to meet people's basic needs for housing, health, education, and income. ^aEUR The United States has provided a welfare state for its poverty-stricken citizens since 1935. In 1996, welfare legislation was rewritten to reduce, and in some cases to remove, the assistance offered by the government to these individuals. We must first ask ourselves: what responsibility does society have towards its citizens? Each society defines its moral responsibility in a different fashion. For example, socialism and communism emphasize a strong moral responsibility of the government towards its individuals. Within a socialist society, all resources belong to the government, and the responsibility falls upon the government to provide those resources to its citizens.

Communism is based on the assumption that assets are owned as a community, with each individual taking what they need, giving what they can, and providing for each other. Capitalism, the driving societal and economic force in the United States, focuses on individual achievement, a free market, and private ownership of resources. There are many other social structures, but we will narrow the focus of this paper to capitalism. Within a capitalist society, individuals strive to achieve their personal goals. While an individual may subsume himself into a corporation, political entity, community or social bloc, they do so for the purpose of attaining their unique dreams.

The requirement of a government to donate funds, time, effort or resources towards supporting others is in direct contradiction to the basis of a capitalist society. Each person rises or falls on his own, without looking to others to ^aEUR~give him a hand up, or demanding that society reimburse him for his own failings. The social responsibility towards welfare in capitalism is negated by the very factors that combine to make it a capitalist society. Until 1996, the United States attempted to function as both a capitalist and socialist entity, taking resources from those who worked to achieve them and providing them to those who relied on society to support them. This brings us to the question of personal responsibility. As individuals, we must decide if we have the moral obligation to support those who cannot or will not support themselves.

This is an issue that cannot be decided by an outside source, so I will speak only for my own moral standing. There are those individuals who, when given a chance, will struggle out of the pit they have fallen into and strive to achieve. I strongly believe that we, as a society, have a responsibility to give them a hand up and let them become a strong, well-centered, contributing citizen of our country. The welfare state of this country, however, caters to those who have no desire to achieve. They are content to remain in the pit, begging for more handouts, scraps, money and resources to be thrown down to them. I believe that supporting this type of individual does not advance us as a society, and categorically refuse to provide resources that I have earned to support them.

Within the welfare state, there exist families that have leeched off the system for generations. Rather than providing good examples of work ethic, personal responsibility, and individual achievement, thousands of families show future generations that sitting back and letting the world support them is not only possible, but also desirable. Welfare children have been born, grown up, moved into the welfare state, and had children of their own, who are shown by example that working is a waste of time when the government will provide for them. Every individual in this country is provided with the same opportunities.

Each child is given an education and the opportunity to excel. Some strive to succeed despite the obstacles that may be placed in their path. Others sink back into the swamp of irresponsibility and moral laziness that their parents created for them, finding it easier to allow others to do the work for them. A welfare state is not only undesirable, but will harm our society in far more ways than it will help. "welfare state" A Dictionary of Sociology. Ed. Gordon Marshall.

Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 21 AUG 2002 web.