The Welfare System in Contemporary America, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Just like many countries, the American government has been in the forefront in improving the lives of the people which is done through the welfare system. This is to ensure that whether even if an individual has not had an education to give him/her a decent job, he/she can still get the basic needs. This paper discusses the American welfare system giving, among other things, its role to the community as well as its influence in the way of living for the people.

Role of the Welfare System

The welfare system is like one of the basic systems of the society since it provides help to a lot of people who are also the majority. This has been the main force behind the government’s fight against poverty. The system has helped many people ever since the government initiated it especially in taking care of medical expenses for the older members of the society as well as the poor through the Medicare and Medicaid plans. The welfare system supports people who cannot work and these include the disabled members in the society whose conditions do not allow them to work and earn a living. The system is also meant to offer an opportunity for many Americans go to school. The poor get assistance through the welfare system including the orphaned children.

The welfare system also functions to supplement what other organizations can offer especially those concerned with the self-help projects in the communities. Many of these organizations provide essential services which include helping individuals to adjust to working life by teaching them the relevant skills. People are also supposed to find help in getting employment opportunities through the welfare system and this has seen a lot of them benefit. This is especially for the single parents or women who have to take care of their children on their own since they can get an income to cater for their needs. This is one of the ways the system has been used to eradicate poverty in America. The intention of the government here was to have to make people support themselves rather than depending on what the state could offer.

Effect of Social Class Differences on Attitudes and Behavior

Welfare support from the government has increased in the contemporary America and many people are worried of the rising levels in inequality between the rich and the poor. Explaining the growth of the welfare state, Rothbard (2006) says one reason is that poverty has risen in the last century. Many of those who make use of the welfare system are the poor in society and this means that the other people may not care about their needs. This is because they know they would be taken care of by the social workers who are responsible for the welfare programs. People seem to be more dependent on the welfare system now more than before and this may be attributed to the rising costs of living. The system is also served by professionals who have been trained to follow a certain prescribed order of doing things and therefore tend to treat everyone seeking assistance the same way. However, this system lacks in the provision of the guidance and counseling that someone like a friend would provide. That is why some of the community mentoring programs that are being offered by members of the community have been able to change people’s behavior and perceptions.

These are the people who think they cannot do anything useful and therefore resort to relying heavily on the state even when they are in a position to work. Some of them would resort to other habits such as drug dealing instead of going to school or finding employment. Thus, the system has changed the attitudes of people towards things such as work since they do not see the need of going to work when they can survive on welfare. Lewis (2007) asserts that the system has been abused and gives the example of people taking advantage by claiming disabilities but go on using the money for other things. According to this author, many of the Americans cheat the system in many ways and get away with it.

The system has been taken by the poor to mean an easy way of getting money. This is because people are just given assistance as long as they are deemed eligible for it without establishing whether the person can improve his/her life in a different way such as going to school or being given a job. This means that those responsible for the welfare programs have to ensure that people are not only helped financially but in their attitude as well. They need to be aware of the problems associated with depending entirely on the state funding through welfare programs. As much as class difference will always be present in a society due to differences in people’s potential, it is important that the difference be made minimal through some level of equality in wealth distribution.

Through the welfare system, young girls who get themselves pregnant and cannot provide for the kids get financial help. This has seen many of them get on their feet as they try to look for complete their studies and find jobs. However, this has made the system to be considered for people who give birth to many kids and cannot take care of them only to take advantage of the programs. Many people end up messing with their lives just because they know they can get assistance from the state whenever they need it. There is also concern that private welfare groups have diminished from American societies since the government can provide the assistance people need in terms of finances. However, there are still groups and individuals who are philanthropic and help to offer financial assistance to the poor and especially scholarships for higher education learning.

Effect on Personal and Professional Lives

The presence of the welfare system is a good way of preventing poverty levels in the communities from rising as well as people engaging in dysfunctional behavior. To provide welfare funds, the government has to get the money from taxing people and especially those working. The middle class and others such as the business people are always opposed to tax cuts and want them reduced. When this is done, the welfare funds have to be reduced as well since the state has to work on a limited budget. However, many people tend to us this as an excuse not to work and some use the financial aid they get for going to school for other things. Others such as the African Americans are discriminated against when finding jobs and this means they have to rely on government assistance until they are able to fully provide for their needs. Thus, they become dependent longer than is necessary and even if they have had an education, they cannot benefit from what a professional life has to offer.

Social Mobility and Social Stratification

The welfare system in the contemporary America has been accused of racial discrimination which has made the programs to be racially stratified. Many of the African Americans have been left out of welfare programs that are meant to improve their economic stand in the society. This has made things worse for them such that many of them are considered among the low class in their societies. The social stratification means that those in the lower class do not get the best education hence may never be eligible for better jobs in the society. This also means that they can never be able to get the best heath care services. Although the inequality and presence of social classes (in terms of races and ethnic groups) has been in the American societies for a long time, the modern America experiences inequalities that are a result of differences in financial abilities.

Since the introduction of the welfare system, there have been a lot of changes in the communities especially from people who make good use of the welfare assistance for education and improve their lives. This has seen many communities experience social mobility as people advance from one class to another. Usually, upward social mobility will depend on the kind of opportunities available to a class such as the lower classes in the society. With the welfare system making available a lot of opportunities for the people, it improves their chances of moving to the next class. However, welfare funding is never enough to cater for all the needs of the people and therefore mobility for the lower class becomes very difficult. This is because they are dependent and lack major resources required for life standards improvement. Those in the middle class with better jobs have more opportunities of moving up the social ladder than the lower class. Hence, unless the poor are helped to advance in other ways such as getting good education instead of just being dependent, they remain in the same class for a long time.

Conclusion

The welfare system is still essential to the contemporary American society but there is still need to have people working to earn a living especially when they are still young. People should be given more opportunities to better their lives through other ways so the welfare should be left for the disabled and the older members of the society. From this discussion, it can be deduced that the American welfare system plays a vital role not just in fighting poverty but also many other things such as influencing people’s behavior and attitudes.

References

Lewis, D. (2007). The Welfare State: How America is being cheated through the welfare system. The Stute. Retrieved from <http://media.www.thestute.com/media/storage/paper1092/news/2007/10/19/Opinion/The-Welfare.State.How.America.Is.Being.Cheated.Through.The.Welfare.System-3041491.shtml>

Rothbard, M. N. (2006). Origins of the welfare state in America. Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved from < http://mises.org/daily/2225>