Politics and Transformation

1
Politics and Transformation

• Welfare State Restructuring in Canada

2
Introduction

• General Characteristics of Welfare States
• Locating the Canadian Welfare State in
  Comparative Context

3
Welfare State

• Characteristics of government policy designed to
  protect against particular risks shared by broad
  segments of society
• Protection against loss of earnings due to
  unemployment, sickness, disability,
• or old age
• Guaranteed access to healthcare, social services-
  childcare, eldercare, etc. (Pierson, 2001, p.420).

4
Gøsta Esping-Andersons3 Worlds of Welfare
Capitalism

• LIBERAL- Canada, the United States, Australia
• CORPORATIST OR CONSERVATIVE (CHRISTIAN
  DEMOCRATIC)-
• Austria, France, Germany, Italy
• SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC-
• Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Norway,
  and Sweden

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The Implementation and Restructuring of Income
Security Programs in the Canadian Context

• The 1840s - early 1990s
• The 1900s -Great Depression Years
• of the 1930s
• The 1940s - 1970s
• The creation of universal benefits and
  services.

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Family-Wage or Breadwinner Model

• The assumption that men would be the primary
  sources of income and that women in the home
  would continue to be in charge of household tasks
  such as raising children, cooking, cleaning, etc.

7
Social Reproduction

• Refers to the social processes labour that go
  into the daily generational maintenance of the
  working population.
• Social Reproduction is intimately tied to the
  gender division of labour.

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• Public/ private separation
• The Double Day of work for women

9
State-Family-Market Nexus

• 3 components were central to the welfare state
• THE STATES ROLES combined with
• VERY GENDERED FAMILY NORMS which
• SUPPORTED THE FUNCTIONINGS OF THE MARKET

10
Dual Welfare Model Thesis

• Mens income maintenance determined through
  claims as earners
• Womens claims made on the basis of domestic work
  rely more heavily on public assistance means
  and income-tested programs

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Gender refers to,

• the social processes through which cultural
  meanings come to be associated with sexual
  difference and the ways in which sexual
  difference forms the basis for social exclusions
  and constitutes inequalities in power, authority,
  rights, and privileges (Fudge and Vosko, 2003,
  p.185).

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Racialization

• The particular structural position that people
  of colour particularly new immigrants to Canada
  occupy in society the labour market which
  makes them more vulnerable to adverse effects or
  marginalization

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How are Women More Affected by Welfare Policy
Restructuring?

• Women comprise over ½ of all people living below
  the poverty line. They have a higher incidence of
  low income than men, especially among single
  mothers, elderly, unattached women.
• Compared to men, women receive a larger part of
  their total income from income security programs.
  Women are more dependent on social welfare
  spending public programs are those most
  affected by restructuring.

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• Privatization welfare cuts means that social
  services are shifted from the paid work of women
  in the public sector to the unpaid work of women
  in the domestic sphere.
• Shifts in the labour market produce few good jobs
  for men, women, and new immigrants to Canada

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• Women are disproportionately assigned to
  low-wage, contingent work have a greater burden
  of unpaid care domestic work
• There have been serious reductions in childcare,
  education, and retraining programs policy
  shifts work against the possibility of women
  obtaining autonomy or independence from
  exploitative situations

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3 Components of Welfare Policy Their Gendered
Impacts

• Shifts in Income Security Related to Unemployment
  Insurance
• Shifting Employment Norms
• Changes to Child Benefits
• Childcare Policies
• A Brief History of Migrant Domestic Work in
  Canada as it Relates to Childcare

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The Transformation of the Welfare State

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Post-1979 Shifts

• Targeted Social Assistance
• Challenges to Collective Bargaining
• A Move to Employment Flexibility
• Reduction in the Coverage and Value of
  Welfare State Benefits
• Abandonment of a Full Employment Policy
• Privatization of State Owned Industries

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• Changes since the late 1970s have posed a
  serious challenge to the theory of universality
  or, the principle of collective social
  responsibility.

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The Restructuring of The Welfare State

• Motivation and Justification for Social
  Assistance Restructuring
• Underlying Ideology Neo-Liberalism
• Neo-Liberalism vs. The Welfare State

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Motivation and Justification

• Economic downturn of the 1970s and early 1980s
  as demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the
  Keynesian Welfare State.
• A reassertion of the dominance of capital
  interests and the idea of individual liberty.

22
Stagflation
http//www.uri.edu/artsci/newecn/Classes/Art/INT1/
Mac/1980s/1980sA.html
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Ideological Justification

• Welfare State Restructuring premised on the
  precepts of Neo-Liberalism,
• The process of consolidating Neo-liberalism as a
  hegemonic paradigm has involved both the
  construction of a new governing consensus,
  involving the replacement of notions of social
  solidarity with the ideals of global
  competitiveness and individual responsibility,
  and the creation of conditions that make it
  increasingly difficult to mount an effective
  challenge.
• -- McKeen and Porter

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• Wendy Brown Definition
• Neo-Liberalism
• 1. Depicts free markets, free trade and
  entrepreneurial rationality as achieved and
  normative, as promulgated through law and through
  social and economic policy
• 2. Political and social spheres as appropriately
  dominated by market concernsand
• 3. Produces governance criteria along the same
  lines, that is, criteria of productivity and
  profitability.
• - American Nightmare Neo-Liberalism,
• Neo-Conservatism, and De-Democratization.

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• Neo-Liberalism as different from Classical
  Liberalism in that in presents markets as
  normative and achieved, as opposed to natural.
• Depoliticizing Nature decisions dictated by
  cost-benefit rationale, not popular will.
• All encompassing nature makes it difficult to
  offer meaningful resistance.
• e.g. the behavior of NDP over the past 15 years,
  the advent of the third-way.

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Ideological Comparison

• Neo-Liberalism

• The Welfare State

• Collectivization of Risk/Gain
• Maintenance of Individual purchasing power,
  through government spending, in order to sustain
  economic development and growth.
• Belief in partial market failures/inability of
  markets to assign true costs.
• Increased government expenditure

• Individuation of Risk/Gain
• Commodification of all goods and services in
  order to assign true values and allocate
  appropriate amounts of resources
• Belief in the efficiency of market allocation and
  value assignment.
• Decreased Government expenditure

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Effects of Restructuring

• Increase in poverty, inequality, and hardship,
  particularly among certain groups.
• Individuation of interaction with the
  marketplace.
• Two Tiered social services Restricted
  Eligibility.
• Targeted programs resulting in increased social
  stigma.
• Human Cost.

28
Film Clip

• Street Nurse (2002)

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Positive Effects of Restructuring

• Opening up of new markets.
• Reduction in Barriers to Capital Mobility.
• Increased Development in Under-Developed
  Countries.
• Continued Economic Growth Production
  Maximization.
• Increased Freedom Meritocracy.

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Critique of Restructuring

• Productivity and Profitability criteria result in
  the attempt to commodify the intangible.
• Increased concentration of capital, coupled with
  decreased regulatory ability.
• Continued decline in real wages.
• Further practical barriers to equality.
• De-legitimation of democratic governance.

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Welfare vs. Workfare

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Comparative index of Welfare State vs. Workfare
Welfare Workfare
1.State role is important for social reproduction 2.Most of the programs were Universal 3.Poverty was considered social problem 4.Social assistance eligibility respect democratic Values 5.It was designed to keep unemployment in low level 6.Administrative procedures were more easier and easily accessible 7.For benefits , engaged in work was not a mandatory 8.It was focused on Individual development 9. Reason, everyone enjoyed equal rights. 10. It created tough love for some peoples. 1.Family and individual role is important to maintain social reproduction 2.Most of the programs are targeted 3. Poverty is now individual failures. 4. Social assistance is completely selective under new Service Delivery Model. 5. Unemployment is no more social problem. Market and Individual are responsible for employment. 6. It is lengthy and penalizing. 7. Voluntary work, participate in any training programs is mandatory. 8. It is focused on economic development with compare other countries 9. Women, particularly poor women, minorities and their families are marginalized and in poverty. 10.It encourages people to be active for own good and for society
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Musical Interlude

• Billy Bragg
• Which Side Are You On?
• It Says Here (alternate version)

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Discussion

• False Creek Urgent Care Centre
• Clinic Owner Dr. Mark Godley has argued that,
  The Constitution trumps everything and this is
  about a persons personal rights to be able to
  gain access to timely health care and this is
  about providing people with choice

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• This Statement outlines an individuated view of
  the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Is this an accurate interpretation of the
  Charter?
• If so, are there alternate legitimate
  interpretations?
• If not, what is a legitimate interpretation of
  the Charter with regard to healthcare? Is there
  one?
• Arguably, this statement is indicative of the
  trend toward marketization of (formerly) social
  services?
• Is healthcare something that should be subject to
  marketization? Why/Why Not?
• Are there any services which constitute a basic
  need and should be administered by the state?