Definition 1

Social policy is a set of measures that are aimed at achieving the well-being of society, improving the livelihoods of Russian citizens, as well as ensuring social stability in society.

Social policy can be implemented in the following areas: ensuring social protection And social guarantees citizens, promoting full employment of citizens, partnership at the social level, protecting national health and income differentiation. Today, the state is developing an effective social policy that is aimed at protecting socially vulnerable groups of the population and citizens in general.

Review of the main models of social policy

The history of the last century has openly demonstrated that state ideas regarding the social mechanism can be fundamentally different. In developed countries with market economy formed in the post-war years various models and implementation mechanisms social policy.

The conservative model of social policy (institutional, continental European) has a main central direction - special attention focuses on insurance and the market. This model is based on the principle of those achievements where labor activity determines future social security, but in this case the state does not implement social services. With a conservative model of social policy, difficulties may arise for those groups of the population that do not have insurance and are not employed professional activity, since the level of tax distribution in this case is very small. Citizens are forced to rely only on public assistance and regional charitable institutions. At the same time, the employee’s insurance contributions and budget contributions for social events are equal. The main instruments of redistribution are private and public social insurance fund organizations. The conservative model of social policy is actively used in Germany, Austria, France and Belgium.

The social democratic model is also called Nordic or Scandinavian. Its main principle of social protection and provision is universality. In accordance with its policy, all citizens have the right to social security and insurance, which are implemented through the state budget. State taxes sold through retail services are indirect in nature; only income is subject to direct tax. The social democratic model is based on the following principles:

• regardless of productivity and age category, all citizens have the same value;
• social support and assistance is provided on a voluntary basis;
• social protection should cover all spheres of life and be continuous;
• social security should equalize the social conditions of all categories of the population.

This model is actively used in the politics of countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

The liberal model of social policy considers the market as the main tool for organizing interaction between people. This model provides for social protection of a residual type, when people can exist in society without social security. In this case, the state bears limited responsibility for the social security of the population. Because of this nature of funding, implementation of the liberal model depends on large levels of informal and voluntary assistance. This model is used in England, Great Britain, USA and Ireland.

The Catholic model is based on the principle of auxiliary, according to which the nearest authority is obliged to solve all problems. In this case, the closest authority is a person. And if he cannot help himself on his own, then he turns to his relatives and family. If these authorities cannot help, then the next stage will be the community, including civil organizations and church. If this does not help, then the person can turn to insurance services. The final authority in the Catholic model is the public sector.

Note 1

It can be summarized that the Scandinavian and social democratic models are improved versions of the liberal model, but the Catholic one is worst option conservative model of social policy.

In accordance with the principles of the organization, the Commission of the European Community identifies two main models of social policy: “Beveridge” and “Bismarckian”.

The idea of ​​the “Beveridge” model is that any citizen has a legal right to minimal protection of his health or due to a reduction in income. In those states that have chosen this model of social policy, health insurance systems operate, and pension structures provide minimum social benefits to all older citizens, regardless of their past history. labor activity. These social security systems are financed through the tax structure from the state budget. In this model, the principle of national solidarity prevails.

The “Bismarck” model establishes a connection between professional activity and the level of social protection. The rights of citizens to social benefits are determined by those contributions that have been paid throughout life, i.e. Social benefits are transformed into insurance premiums. In this case, social protection does not depend on the state budget.

Figure 1. Models of social policy. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

Classification of social policy models

Depending on the type of basic process, social policy is divided into the following models:

1. Social assistance. This model of social policy consists of charitable support for low-income families, as well as disabled and vulnerable citizens. In recent decades in Russian Federation It was precisely this approach that was implemented, which led to a decrease in the effectiveness of social security and the fading of state social functions.
2. Social care. This model is to compensate for negative social factors, which were formed due to uneven socio-economic development. The main goal of this model is to minimize differentiation on a declared basis in the standard of living of citizens.
3. Social insurance. The model consists of financing social services and payments through insurance contributions from employers and employees of the enterprise. The main idea of ​​this model is the formation of a middle class and increasing the responsibility of citizens for their lives and future.
4. Social development. This model of social policy is to improve the main criteria of quality of life - health, employment, education, housing, as well as the state of the environment. natural environment. The main direction of social security in this case is the organization of various actions that provide initial opportunities for self-support.

Social policy, depending on the subject of responsibility, is divided into the following models:

1. Liberal model. Its main principle is that the personal responsibility of each citizen for his life, as well as the role of social assistance, is minimized. The financial basis in this case is private insurance and savings.
2. Corporate model. The main idea is that the organization where the citizen works is responsible for the fate of its personnel. The corporation encourages employees to make a labor contribution to the activities of the enterprise and offers various insurance guarantees in the form of partial payment for medical, recreational services and pensions.
3. Social model. This model of social policy is redistributive, in which the rich pay for the poor, the healthy for the sick, and the young for the old. The main institution that implements this distribution is the state.
4. Paternalistic model. The financial basis of this model is state budget funds; it implements the principles of equality and accessibility in the consumption of social and material goods, thereby ensuring a high level of social equalization.

Social policy, depending on the degree of participation, can be divided into the following models:

• charitable model – funds for charitable assistance are generated from donations to charitable and government foundations;
• administrative model - state intervention in the market and redistribution of income are carried out, which are under state control;
• stimulating model – in solution social problems the state takes indirect participation (this model can be implemented in situations with a high level of economic development, as well as a developed market economy and civil society infrastructure).

Liberal (American-British) model

This model is characterized by minimal state participation in the social sphere. That is why it is otherwise called liberal. Financial basis for implementation social programs primarily comprise private savings and private insurance rather than government funds. The state assumes responsibility only for maintaining the minimum income of all citizens and for the well-being of the least weak and disadvantaged sections of the population. However, it maximally stimulates the creation and development in society various forms non-state social insurance and social support, as well as various means and ways for citizens to receive and increase their income. Similar model social state typical for the USA, Great Britain and Ireland.

The social protection model used by the UK and Ireland is radically different from the German one. It is based on the report of the English economist W. Beveridge, presented to the government in 1942. Beveridge proposed organizing a social protection system, firstly, on the principle of universality, i.e. extend it to all citizens in need of financial assistance, and, secondly, on the principle of uniformity and unification of social services, which is expressed in a uniform amount of benefits, as well as the conditions for their issuance. Beveridge considered the condition “equal benefits for equal contributions” to be socially fair, and therefore in most cases the principle of equality of pensions and benefits was observed, regardless of the amount of lost income. This model was based on the idea that every person, regardless of his membership in the active population, has an inalienable right to a minimum of social care. Such social protection systems are financed both from insurance contributions and from general taxation. Thus, family benefits and healthcare are financed from the state budget, and other social benefits are financed from insurance contributions of employees and employers.

It should be noted that there are some differences within the Anglo-Saxon model. Thus, in the UK, free medical services are provided to all citizens regardless of their income level, and in Ireland - only to low-paid ones. Two features of the British social protection system are noteworthy. Firstly, the absence within its framework of social, institutionalized institutions involved in insuring specific types of social risks (old age, illness, unemployment, industrial accidents, etc.). All social insurance programs form unified system. Secondly, a major role in ensuring social protection belongs to government agencies, and also - due to historical development - their close connection with private insurance programs. There is a single fund, which is formed from contributions from employees, employers and subsidies. At the expense of this fund, a pension and health insurance, sickness benefits and disability pensions.

Feature of the British state system social protection is that it does not provide for separate insurance contributions intended to support specific insurance programs (pension, health insurance, disability pensions, etc.). All costs of financing these programs are covered by a single social contribution, the proceeds of which are directed to the needs of a specific branch of social insurance.

American model social policy is based on individualistic principles in the absence of strong social legislation and the relatively weak role of the trade union movement in the socio-political life of the country.

Start of development modern system social security in the USA was initiated by the adoption by President F. Roosevelt of the fundamental law on social insurance. The impetus for its appearance was the dramatic situation during the Great Depression, when millions of people lost their jobs and did not receive unemployment benefits. The 1935 law established two types of social insurance: old-age pension and unemployment benefit. Over time, the law acquired additions and amendments, and levels were formed at which certain types of insurance were valid.

Social Security is recognized in the USA top priority society. Here it is believed that responsibility for social security should be shared between private companies and the state. Private companies should take care of their employees, and the government should support those in need in general. The state is responsible for providing a minimum level of assistance and making it widely available. Business provides social services (pensions, benefits) in a higher volume and of better quality.

There is no single national centralized social security system in the United States. It is formed from various kinds of programs regulated either federal legislation, either by state legislation or jointly by federal and state authorities. Individual programs are also accepted by local authorities. State social security in the United States includes two areas - social insurance and social assistance. Social insurance provides old-age pensions, unemployment benefits, medical care for the elderly and other articles. This area takes the lion's share of the state's social expenditures. Social Security programs cover the bulk of Americans.

The second area of ​​state social security is social assistance. These are payments to those who are exempt from taxes due to poverty (“stepchildren of the budget”). Social welfare programs include financial assistance for single mothers, medical assistance for the poor, food stamps, housing benefits, free heating, air conditioning, breakfast for children in schools, etc. There are 180 such programs in total.

The active social policy of the American state provided high qualifications labor force. 90% of Americans employed in the economy have secondary and higher (including incomplete) education. In the 1990s. The Clinton administration declared increasing educational attainment a permanent function throughout a person's life. This is necessary in the context of continuous technological revolution. It is no coincidence that the United States remains a leader in the most promising technologies. In turn, economic growth expanded opportunities for social protection of citizens. More than 80 million Americans regularly receive benefits from government social insurance and welfare programs.

State social assistance, financed from the budget rather than from pre-paid insurance contributions, began to develop in the United States in parallel with insurance and has now reached its peak. There is one criterion for receiving social assistance - low income, poverty, but the criteria vary from state to state.

The main recipient of social assistance is the family. The main criterion for receiving material support is poverty, i.e. income below the officially established living wage per family member. The main type of assistance to low-income families in the United States is child support. A feature of US social policy is the predominance of “natural” types of assistance to those in need over monetary ones. This could be, for example, food stamps, which only cover the purchase food products(except for animal feed, alcohol, tobacco and imported products). Insurance is strictly personalized.

3.1 Liberal model

A social state of a liberal type is a state that guarantees the preservation of minimum incomes and a sufficiently high quality of pension and medical services, education, and housing and communal services for the population. But not for every citizen. A liberal state is a state of social services, social insurance and social support. Such a state takes care only of socially vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society. The main emphasis is not on issues of gratuitous social guarantees, but on the protection of individual economic, personal freedom and human dignity. Supporters of the liberal model of the welfare state proceed from the fact that liberal social policy and a high level of legality in society guarantee sustainable development society. Timely resolution of emerging conflicts guarantees the sustainable development of relations of solidarity, partnership and social tranquility. A high standard of living for people is ensured through labor income and property income.

The state assumes the responsibility only to compensate the citizen for the lack of social benefits if market structures cannot do this, public associations and family. Thus, the regulatory role of the state is reduced to a minimum. Its activities in matters of social policy include establishing the amount and payment of benefits. In such countries there are many charitable organizations, private and religious funds to help those in need, church communities. There are various federal programs to help former prisoners, national minorities, etc. There is a developed social insurance system, including health insurance by private companies and the state, pension insurance, accident insurance for employees, etc., which removes a significant cost burden from the state budget. But this type of service is not available to all citizens due to its high cost.

The liberal model does not imply the achievement of social equality, but, nevertheless, there is support for low-income segments of the population. The social security system does not undermine the work motivation of citizens, i.e. a person must first of all improve his well-being through his personal work. The redistribution of benefits is based on the principle of recognition of the citizen’s right to minimally decent living conditions. There is a lower limit to welfare, and it outlines the extent of the rights guaranteed for everyone.

Examples of countries with a liberal model are Australia, Canada, and the USA.

Developed in Great Britain and spread in countries that were part of British Empire. Great Britain consists of administrative-territorial units in which elected bodies of local government are formed - Councils...

Foreign models of local government

local self-government Anglo-Saxon imperious Formed in France, called continental as opposed to the “island” British model. France is characterized by a high degree of centralization of local government...

Foreign models of local government

In Germany, the basic unit of local government is the community. Communities can make up a city, rural settlement, several settlements...

The Anglo-Saxon model is common in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other countries with an Anglo-Saxon legal system, where local representative bodies formally act autonomously within the limits of their powers...

Foreign experience organizations of local self-government in the Russian Federation

Distributed in continental Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Belgium) and in most countries Latin America, Middle East, French-speaking Africa. Is a hierarchical structure...

International legal order and international legality

Of particular interest are the widespread views in American literature on the legal order of liberal-minded developers of utopian projects for a supranational world order of the future...

A social state of a liberal type is a state that guarantees the preservation of minimum incomes and a sufficiently high quality of pension and medical care, education, housing and communal services providing the population...

Models of the welfare state

Models of the welfare state

Taxes and taxation

One of the representatives of this model is Great Britain. Her tax system developed in the last century, significant changes were made to it during the reform process of 1973. In particular...

Taxes and taxation

A prominent representative of this model is France. The French tax system can be divided into three large blocks: - indirect taxes included in the price of goods...

Taxes and taxation

Let us consider the features of this model using the example of Bolivia. In the period from 1985 to 2003. The Bolivian tax system has undergone quite a lot of changes and, in the end, as of the beginning of 2005, it developed as follows...

Taxes and taxation

The representative of this model is Russia. The modern Russian tax system took shape at the turn of 1991-1992, during a period of political confrontation, radical economic transformations and the transition to market relations...

“The basis of this concept is the assertion that universal prosperity has already been achieved in the industrialized countries of the West...

Basic models of the welfare state

A corporate-type social state is a state that takes responsibility for the well-being of its citizens, but at the same time most social responsibilities delegates to the private sector...

One of the models of the welfare state is the liberal model, which is based on the principle that personal responsibility of each member of society for his own destiny and the fate of his family. The role of the state in this model is insignificant. Funding for social programs comes primarily from private savings and private insurance. At the same time, the state’s task is to stimulate the growth of citizens’ personal incomes.

The liberal model is based on dominance of market mechanisms. Social assistance is provided based on the minimum social needs of the poor and low-income segments of the population who are unable to independently obtain their means of subsistence. Financial assistance is provided only on the basis of a means test. Thus, the state bears, although limited, but nevertheless, universal responsibility for the social security of all citizens who are incapable of effective independent economic existence

In relation to people with disabilities, they are mainly developing anti-discrimination measures aimed at creating disabled people equal conditions and rights with other citizens.

You should also not create additional job requirements that deliberately disadvantage people with disabilities, unless this is a necessary component of the job duties (for example, having driver's license or the ability to quickly move around the city using public transport).

In general, such measures such as anti-discrimination legislation for persons with disabilities have proven to be effective. But it is necessary to take into account that these measures can only operate in a developed legal and judicial system

In the field industrial relations maximum conditions have been created for the development of entrepreneurial activity. Enterprise owners are not limited in any way in making independent decisions regarding the development and restructuring of production, including the dismissal of workers who turned out to be unnecessary. The lot of trade unions is to defend the interests of workers with the longest experience in the event of the threat of mass layoffs, which, however, they do not always succeed.

This model is quite effective in conditions of economic stability or growth, but during a recession and a forced reduction in production, accompanied by the inevitable cuts in social programs, many are in a vulnerable position social groups, especially women, youth, and elderly people.

Like the other two models (corporate and social democratic), the liberal one is nowhere to be found in pure form. In the United States, there are many benefits paid in addition to Social Security. There are at least 100 financial assistance programs (many of them short-term; after the expiration of the term, they are replaced by others), varying in scale, selection criteria, funding sources and goals. Moreover, numerous programs operate separately, without forming a balanced and organized system, as a result of which they do not cover quite large groups people in need of material assistance, including the unemployed who want to work, for whom a very modest amount of benefits and compensation has been established. At the same time, such programs are to some extent encourage social dependency among people from the Afro-Asian and Latin American populations: Entire groups formed that hardly worked a day for society for two or three generations. Another significant flaw of these programs is the negative impact on family relationships: they often provoke divorces, separation of parents, since receiving financial assistance depends on marital status.

The liberal model has a number of negative features.

Firstly, it promotes division of society into poor and rich: those who are forced to be content with the minimum level of government social services and those who can afford to purchase services high quality on the market.

Secondly, such a model excludes a large part of the population from the system of providing state social services, which makes it unpopular and unstable in the long term (poor quality services are provided for poor and politically marginalized groups of the population). TO strengths This model includes a policy of differentiation of services depending on income, less sensitivity to demographic changes, and the ability to maintain a fairly low level of taxation.

At the same time, throughout recent years There is an obvious trend towards “cutting” the volume of social benefits provided by the state to the population. And this policy finds significant support from the population. It can be concluded that the liberal model of social protection is strengthening its foundations and becoming even more liberal. Some researchers draw attention to the fact that policies within the liberal model, aimed at actual exclusion from society and cutting resources for the livelihoods of the poor, have a negative expression in increase in the number of crimes in the USA committed by citizens from the poor, because those around them can do whatever they want. and no obligations to you, including moral and ethical ones.

Theoretical task

Basic models of the welfare state, their differences

A social state is a special type of highly developed state, which ensures a high level of social security for all citizens through the active activities of the state to regulate the social, economic and other spheres of society, to establish social justice and solidarity.

The features of the welfare state are that, by regulating economic and other spheres public life, the emphasis is on the implementation of social policy. There are several models of the welfare state.

1) “Liberal” (European; Anglo-Saxon; East Asian).

The liberal model presupposes the principle of personal responsibility of each member of society for his own destiny and the destiny of his family. Role government agencies in the direct implementation of social policy is minimized, the main subjects of social policy are citizens, families and various non-governmental organizations - social insurance funds and third sector associations.

The financial basis for the implementation of social programs is private savings and private insurance, and not funds from the state budget. Therefore, when implementing this model of social policy, the principle of equivalence and remuneration is implemented, which assumes, for example, a direct relationship between the size of insurance premiums and the volume and cost of social services received in the social insurance system, and not the principle of solidarity, which assumes the redistribution of income from one person to another .

Under a liberal model of social policy, the state assumes responsibility for maintaining only the minimum income of citizens and for the well-being of the weakest and most disadvantaged sections of the population. But on the other hand, it maximally stimulates the creation and development in society of various forms of non-state social policy, for example, non-state social insurance and social support, as well as in various ways citizens increase their income.

The main advantage of the liberal model is its focus on revealing the abilities of members of society (primarily for productive and creative work) in the interests of an increase in the level of their consumption not limited by the state and partial redistribution of resources in the interests of social support for citizens in need. Citizens who constantly participate with their contributions in compulsory social insurance systems (primarily pensions), the level of income when insured events occur (for example, reaching retirement age) decreases slightly. The consequence of the economic and social self-realization of citizens is the independence of most of them from the state, which is a factor in the development of civil society.

The disadvantages of this model are manifested in significant differences between the consumption levels of economically strong and economically weak citizens; the amounts of social payments made from the state budget, on the one hand, and social insurance systems, on the other hand. These differences are for various categories people also take place in case of receiving social benefits from the same funding sources.

An important point The liberal model of social policy is to consolidate in the individual and public consciousness a sense of high personal responsibility for one’s social well-being and an attitude towards the state not as the only source of social benefits, but as a guarantor of one’s rights and freedoms.

2) “Egalitarian” (Scandinavian, Soviet).

Adoption of laws on minimum wage within the framework of a corporate society and a social state wages, on social insurance of workers in case of unemployment, on social security disabled and poorest sections of society predetermined a departure from market justice and a market model of income distribution to an egalitarian model of their distribution. As is known, the most extreme form of equalizing justice, interpreted as the establishment of complete equality, leads to a decrease in labor and entrepreneurial activity and, as a consequence, to social dependency.

This is explained by the fact that the main place in the implementation of the equalizing (static) model of income distribution is given to the system of progressive taxation, which, in combination with the organization of a transfer payment program, is a tool for equalizing the level of income of the population.

These social policy models are grouped into three types of social policy:

- “institutional” (Anglo-Saxon and East Asian model),

- “software” (European model);

- “structural” (Scandinavian, Soviet model).

In Europe, two types of countries have emerged, fundamentally different in the ratio of the share of participation of the state, employee and employer in the financing of social programs.

The first type includes countries with a socially oriented market economy, where budget allocations and insurance contributions of the employee and employer for social activities are approximately equal and the main channels of redistribution are public private (i.e., under state control) social insurance funds. Such countries include Germany and other states.

The second type includes countries of so-called market socialism, in which a significant part of spending on social needs is borne by the state, and the main channel of redistribution is the budget (for example, Sweden).