What’s the point of welfare?

Welfare and well-being – inextricably linked

Elke Heins, University of Edinburgh, and Chris Deeming, University of Bristol, [email protected] @socpolEdinburgh

Introduction – Well-being and the project in addition to well-being initiatives in measurement of social progress Scotland, and more recently, Northern Ireland.3

Although never being intended to measure any- Internationally, there is growing momentum thing else than economic performance, meas- to go ‘beyond GDP’. Today, well-being is com- ures of economic growth such as Gross Domestic monly defined and measured as a multidimen- Product (GDP) have become proxy indicators for sional concept of which economic or material social progress and national well-being grounded well-being is just one dimension, usually sup- on the assumption that a growing economy will plemented by dimensions and indicators that inevitably lead to societal advancement. How- capture sustainability aspects as well as quality ever, there have long been doubts about the of life. The new measurement tools furthermore suitability of measuring a complex concept such comprise both objective (e.g. average life expec- as well-being with one economic indicator and tancy) and subjective dimensions (e.g. self-rated subordinating ‘the social’ under ‘the economic’. health). For example, the European Commission The many problems with this include, for exam- launched an initiative to this effect and now ple, that economic growth is partly based on the measures ‘Quality of Life’ according to nine depletion of natural resources and contributes dimensions.4 The OECD has similarly developed to environmental pollution thus undermining a new index to measure well-being holistically.5 the sustainability of social and economic pro- These new attempts to measure how countries gress or that, as a measure of aggregate wealth, (or other geographical units) are performing on GDP does not tell us anything about the distri- key well-being indicators is relevant because bution of this wealth within society, or indeed what gets measured influences what policy the social inequalities and lived experiences of makers do. If we too single-mindedly only focus most people. These are very relevant criticisms on one indicator when comparing nations and since unequal distributions of material resources assessing governments, we may overlook other are found to be connected to important social important aspects of life and give the wrong outcomes such as poor health or high crime advice to those in charge. rates, while hurting the economy and growth rates in turn.1 Welfare and social well-being are inextricably linked Concerns about the suitability of GDP and sim- ilar measures of economic growth as indicators Developments in this field matter from a wel- of positive societal development have become fare and social policy perspective because key mainstream more recently, not least in the con- well-being outcomes and welfare policies are text of the 2008 crisis. Internationally, these closely linked. The media in the UK often portrays concerns found their culmination in high profile social security benefits and welfare state inter- reports such as the Report by the Commission ventions more generally in a bad light (for exam- on the Measurement of Economic Performance ple, when talking about a ‘dependency culture’). and Social Progress.2 Subsequently, many coun- However, evidence emerging from cross-na- tries are now taking a more holistic approach to tional research shows that more encompass- understanding well-being and measuring social ing welfare states, aiming for more social and progress – including the UK where the ONS has gender equality, almost always perform better launched its Measuring National Well-being across a range of well-being measures; including

In Defence of Welfare 2 13 What’s the point of welfare? objective measures such as physical and mental Addressing the social determinants of health, educational attainment, social mobility subjective well-being and social connectivity, crime and imprisonment rates (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010), but also the Successive studies point to the important role self-reported measures of health, happiness and that social policy plays in promoting positive life-satisfaction (Deeming and Hayes, 2012). In well-being, but analysis of the large-scale sur- summary, a well-funded and functioning welfare vey data also reveals that well-being is une- state, based on solidaristic principles, can play a venly distributed within the British population. critical role in securing societal well-being as a Inequality continues to be a problem in society whole, from which everyone benefits. and this presents a clear challenge to policy- makers who need to do more to ensure more Of the many functions of the ‘welfare state’, people can lead happy and fulfilling lives. We two are particularly prominent: the ‘Robin now know that well-being is socially determined Hood’ function which operates to redistribute in important ways (Deeming, 2013). Education resources within society (i.e., between mem- helps to promote well-being, and is well-recog- bers) in order to promote social well-being (Hills, nised as a cultivating force within society. Work 2014); and the ‘piggy bank’ function, which is is increasingly seen as the best form of welfare in concerned with the redistribution of resources the twenty-first century, and minimum income in order to promote individual well-being over policies and wages help to promote economic the lifecycle (i.e., ‘from cradle to grave’). These security and well-being (Davis et al., 2014). functions of the welfare state are the principal A decent job and access to affordable housing mechanisms by which the advanced economies matter for the achievement of many important help their citizens collectively to guard against well-being outcomes. Women are more anxious adverse social risks, such as unemployment and and stressed than men. Women spend longer poverty, but also social investment in the early hours in unpaid domestic work, and often com- years, in education and training for work (i.e., bine employment and care roles. Ensuring single active labour market policy) that not only helps parent families are able to both support them- to secure greater levels of equality in society selves and to care for their dependants without but also fosters human capital for future gener- material disadvantage continues to be a major ations (Deeming and Smyth, 2014; Kvist, 2014). challenge. Structural components of ethnic dis- The welfare state not only impacts directly on advantage persist, despite various employment citizen’s well-being through the provision of initiatives and legislation. The well-being of personal services and family benefits, but also unemployed people from ‘black and minority more indirectly through improving the health, ethnic’ (BME) groups is a concern in the UK. The wealth and social well-being of a whole nation. interplay of factors at stake here is likely to be The welfare state through its comprehensive complex, but will include known factors such as health, education, pensions, and care services overt and ‘hidden’ discrimination, expectations, plays a key role in securing economic growth. stereotypes, alienation, family and economic It provides the infrastructure to support and structures. People living in poor health – which develop ‘human capital’ in the form of a healthy often means coping with a longstanding illness workforce equipped with the necessary skills – are amongst the most vulnerable members demanded in the modern knowledge economy, of British society, reporting the lowest levels of and all of society benefits by enabling people well-being. People in poor health need access to of working age to fully participate in the labour good health and social care. There may be some market through the provision of care services for limits on the reliability of responses to standard children and older people. well-being questions at the individual level, with responses varying according to mood or the con- text of the survey. Nevertheless, we may expect such idiosyncrasies to average out in research with representative population samples. Further

14 In Defence of Welfare 2 What’s the point of welfare?

links between well-being and policy interven- References tions will become clear as this field develops. Davis, A., Hirsch, D. and Padley, M. (2014) A Conclusion – Happiness as a policy and minimum income standard for the UK in 2014, objective of good government York: JRF, a summary is available at: http:// www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/Minimum- Arguments about the size and role of the state income-standards-Summary.pdf. have long been a source of political tension, Deeming, C. and Hayes, D. (2012) Worlds at least in party political terms. Liberal mar- of welfare capitalism and well-being: a ket societies like the UK grapple to find the multilevel analysis, Journal of Social Policy acceptable balance between ‘excessive’ and 41, 4, 811-29. ‘insufficient’ government involvement in peo- Deeming, C. (2013) Addressing the social ple’s everyday lives. On the one hand, the clas- determinants of subjective well-being: the sic argument usually advanced by those on the latest challenge for social policy, Journal of right of the political spectrum, who have long Social Policy, 42, 3, 541-65. argued for small government, is – in simplified Deeming, C. and Smyth, P. (2015) Social terms – that too much state intervention may investment after neoliberalism: policy impose on individual freedoms, undermine peo- paradigms and political platforms, Journal of ple’s resilience and self-reliance − all of which Social Policy, 42, 3, 297-318. might have a negative effect on population Hills, J. (2014) Good times, bad times: the well-being. People may dislike having to pay welfare myth of them and us, Bristol: Policy higher taxes for more expansive social provi- Press. sion, and higher tax ‘burdens’ may mean there is Kvist, J. (2014) A framework for social less individual freedom to choose. On the other investment strategies: Integrating hand, people may feel dissatisfied if everyday generational, life course and gender life risks such as unemployment and sickness perspectives in the EU social investment become understood as issues of personal fail- strategy, Comparative European Politics, 14, ure and responsibility rather than social prob- 1472-4790. lems to be addressed through collective action. Wilkinson, R. and Pickett, K. (2010) The spirit Although we are currently living through an era level: why equality is better for everyone, in which many welfare services are being cut, London: Penguin. international research findings clearly show that welfare policies and well-being outcomes are Notes inextricably linked. Research continues to offer a broad justification for the principles of social 1 Inequality hurts economic growth, finds OECD welfare in a more substantive form, at least as research http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/ a means for promoting well-being and happi- inequality-hurts-economic-growth.htm ness in the population. Government clearly does have a responsibility to help create the underly- 2 Report by the Commission on the Measurement ing conditions in which all citizens can strive to of Economic Performance and Social Progress: enhance the quality of their lives and the fabric www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr. of society around them. 3 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Performance/ scotPerforms

4 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/beyond_gdp/ index_en.html

5 http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

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