course material

1. SOW3203 Introduction To Social Work
Answers:
1. Why is it important that social policies evolve to fit new realities?
In order to address the rising society's challenges and execute programmes and initiatives,
social policy was always a vital policy mechanism (Hudson et al., 2019). It arose from prior
national policies that indicated inadequate capabilities in ensuring acceptable living
conditions for all inhabitants. The ideals and structure of social confidentiality, for example,
sprang from the Great Depression of the 1930s and 1940s (Pickard, 2018). They arose from
an increasing awareness that traditional techniques of delivering insurance contributions
and public support, due to their restricted scope and insufficient profundity and unable to
manage the expanding magnitude of political and social challenges. In the 1930s and 1940s,
the significance of explaining the underlying financial and cultural issues instead of simply
the results prompted the creation of a social welfare system. Consequently, the relevance of
social policy as an inherent part of sophisticated countries' chronological growth has
already been overlooked, and it has received significantly less attention in worldwide
contributors' progress policies for developing nations. On the contrary, numerous social
policy initiatives that were once a cornerstone of industrialised nations' prosperity and
community solidarity, such as public healthcare, were pushed aside under the guise that
programs really are a privilege of larger economies or a by-product of economic
development (Almgren, 2017). Alternatively, a therapeutic kind of social policy has
frequently been recommended as a countermeasure to the negative social consequences of
economic plans focused on stabilisation and modification, or business prosperity (Wang &
Wang, 2020).
2. Social welfare programs fill other needs in addition to helping people. Discuss these other
uses.
The notion of social welfare is comprehensive and encompasses numerous programmes
meant to assist persons in need of essential commodities that they are incapable to acquire
on their own (Muir, 2017). There are numerous programs from the regional, provincial, and
federal governments. There are other volunteer-run groups, some of which are charitable
organisations. There are also charity foundations created by spiritual organisations, such as

2. cathedrals. Social welfare programs are created in order to provide assistance to the
induvial and the community as a whole in terms of healthcare, compensation, childcare
needs. People and their family members profit from the welfare system, but it also adds to
the well-being of social surroundings such as universities and workplaces. Residential,
pharmaceutical, nutritional, developmental, and vocational support are provided through
social welfare programmes to persons. The dedication to promoting a sustainable,
convenient, and efficient community offers social services direction and significance, as well
as an opportunity to engage in individuals. The “distribution” and “redistribution policies”
are the two forms of social assistance programs. Each program has its approach for
supporting social welfare programmes and distributing those monies to the beneficiaries
who will benefit the most (Kakwani et al., 2021). “Policy of Distribution” is generalized
revenues are gathered from a wide spectrum of individuals and enterprises to use the
distribution strategy. This revenue is being used to contribute to the organization solutions
that enable a relatively limited group of individuals effectively. Teaching and learning is one
aspect of distribution ideology, which means that the individuals paid taxes to subsidise
academic achievement than actually receive an education. While a large number of
taxpayers finance these subsidies, just a small number of people are eligible for such. “Policy
of Redistribution” is a redistributive taxation policy that differs from the distribution
agenda in that taxes are paid by smaller volumes, richer and more powerful individuals and
corporations and also used to support initiatives that assist a broader spectrum of
individuals. Some of the examples of redistributive policy are “Supplementary Nutritional
Aid Program (SNAP)” and “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)”.
3. Will poverty be better or worse in the future? Explain.
Many government institutes such as World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank and
several social welfare foundations are collectively working together to eradicate poverty as
a whole (Page & Pande, 2018). As the population grows the poverty also grows. The
agencies are implementing several policies to give support to the individual who could take
care of them themselves or are unable to work which mostly include the geriatric
population and the disabled populations. It can be noted that the poverty statistics fell by
many folds and support is also provided. Hence, it can be predicted that the condition of
poverty will be better than what is today.
4. Explore the interactive poverty map at Poverty USA
What are the poorest areas in your state?
One of the poorer areas in New York City in the Bronx as the state is known to have half the
lowest income among the nearby countries as it has the lowest income.
What patterns do you see? Why do you think they exist?

3. The crime rate is significantly higher in America (Desmond, 2016). The Bronx is one among
them. The country has increased crime rates and a huge population, as well as the state,
have the lowest income rates among the other countries of New York.
Reference
Almgren, G. (2017). Health care politics, policy, and services: a social justice analysis.
Springer publishing company.
Desmond, M. (2016). How Our Housing System Perpetuates Poverty - Spotlight on Poverty
and Opportunity. Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. Retrieved 22 January 2022, from
https://spotlightonpoverty.org/spotlight-exclusives/how-housing-perpetuates-poverty/.
Hudson, B., Hunter, D., & Peckham, S. (2019). Policy failure and the policy-implementation
gap: can policy support programs help?. Policy design and practice, 2(1), 1-14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2018.1540378
Kakwani, N., Wang, X., Xu, J., & Yue, X. (2021). Assessing the social welfare effects of
government transfer programs: Some international comparisons. Review of Income and
Wealth. https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12500
Muir, T. (2017). Measuring social protection for long-term care.
https://doi.org/10.1787/18152015
Page, L., & Pande, R. (2018). Ending global poverty: Why money isn't enough. Journal of
Economic Perspectives, 32(4), 173-200. DOI: 10.1257/jep.32.4.173
Pickard, V. (2018). Media activism from above and below: Lessons from the 1940s
American reform movement. In Media, Ideology and Hegemony (pp. 229-247). Brill.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004364417_015
Wang, Q., & Wang, X. (2020). Moving to Economic Growth without water demand growth--a
decomposition analysis of decoupling from economic growth and water use in 31 provinces
of China. Science of The Total Environment, 726, 138362.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138362