Welfare is a way of providing assistance.
Welfare is a way of providing assistance : help, collaboration or support. The concept is usually used, in a general way, with respect to the obligation that governments have to assist their citizens to satisfy basic needs when people cannot do so on their own.
Due to various economic and social issues, it is common for many individuals to be unable to cover their essential expenses (related to housing, health, education, etc.). That is why the State has to assist them. This particularity establishes a relationship of dependency that threatens individual dignity : the subject depends on the State, more precisely on the rulers who administer it, to survive.
Welfare, a harmful mechanism
In this way, welfare acquires a negative charge . People need the assistance of the government , which is inevitably strengthened by it. Welfare, in this framework, consists of providing resources to citizens to satisfy some of their needs, but without favoring their emancipation from state dependence . In other words: rulers may find it convenient to develop aid plans for the poor so that they can pay them with their vote in elections with the intention of continuing to obtain clothing and food. On the other hand, if they generated genuine employment positions and social reintegration platforms that allowed the most disadvantaged individuals to access vocational training and a decent salary, they could satisfy their own needs.
In this quest to guarantee low-income citizens their right to lead a dignified life, with access to the same basic services as the rest of the population, the government usually opens the doors to access to housing to prevent them from being in the streets; to spaces where you can carry out your personal hygiene; to personal hygiene items, such as shampoo and soap; or to community kitchens, for example.
However, returning to the negative effects that welfare can have on the development of the individuals who take advantage of it, some experts assure that the comfort that help provides them and the inevitable dependence that they develop on it does nothing other than collaborate with the increase of poverty at the national level. Faced with the possibility of subsisting without being part of society normally, assuming a work obligation and paying taxes, many people become accustomed to their situation and do not make an effort to get ahead.
Through welfare, an attempt is made to satisfy basic needs.
The view from social work
In the Dictionary of Social Work , Ezequiel Ander-Egg offers a definition of assistance in which he expresses that this form of help does not take into account the causes that generate the deprivation situations that it aims to resolve . This explains very concisely one of the reasons for the aforementioned negative repercussions: if we do not attack the problem at its roots, then it is highly likely that it will not disappear.
People in need are equal to the most favored, they have the same essence, they belong to the same species and that is why it is more constructive to expose them to all those resources with which they have not yet encountered and let them learn to use them to build a life for themselves. better life . This does not mean denying them guidance, health care or decent housing until they can take flight, but rather giving them the tools to feel the genuine desire to support themselves on their own, just as sooner or later we decide to leave our parents to travel our path.
Welfare beyond the State
Beyond the State, non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ) also often develop welfare to improve the quality of life of the most disadvantaged sectors or those affected by some type of catastrophe (for example, helping victims of a flood).
Thus, it is common for them to provide food or provide basic necessities to those who request it.