Application of deserving vs undeserving

Question 1

Name Concepts Originating in the Poor Law?

Answer 1

Deserving Poor
Undeserving Poor
Workhouse Test
Less Eligibility
Outdoor Relief
Indoor Relief

Question 2

What are the differences between Deserving and Undeserving Poor?

Answer 2

Deserving Poor- ‘legitimate’ beggars.
Orphans, sick, old, disabled and ‘mad’

Undeserving Poor- ‘sturdy beggars’
Able-bodied poor (deemed fit to work), single mothers, ex-convicts, vagabonds

Question 3

What are the perceptions of deservingness across Europe?

Answer 3

Study by van Oorschot (2006) examined different perceptions in European countries (23 of them) of the ‘deservingness’ of four cohorts of people; Older people, sick and disabled people, unemployed people and immigrants

Question 4

Oorschot & Roosma (2017) Deservingness Theory

Answer 4

Context Control
Characteristics Attitude
Reciprocity Deservingness
Identity of Group
Individual Need
Characteristics

Question 5

Describe the criteria of welfare deservingness?

Answer 5

1. Control: People who cannot be blamed for their situation.
2. Attitude: People need to be grateful and compliant.
3. Reciprocity: People who contribute, or used to contribute, to society
4. Identity: People who share similarities
5. Level of need: The higher the need, the more deserving

Question 6

Similarities of perceptions of poverty and welfare provision?

Answer 6

SIMILARITIES?
* While the structures surrounding and the nature of provision have changed and evolved over time, there are some elements of less eligibility which persist.
* There are still similarities evident in societal attitudes and perceptions of poverty and welfare provision.
* Deserving and Undeserving
* Social regulation
* Social exclusion

Question 7

(Handler and Hasenfeld, 1991: 11) Quote about Deserving and Underserving

Answer 7

Social welfare policy cannot be fully understood without recognizing that it is fundamentally a set of symbols that try to differentiate between the deserving and undeserving poor” (Handler and Hasenfeld, 1991: 11)

Question 8

What is Social Regulation?

Answer 8

Social regulation concerns how the state controls the population.
Regulating the lives of the population allows the state to practice social control with the aim of maintaining social unity through social order.
In the welfare state, this control is managed by officials of the state

Question 9

SOCIAL REGULATION

Answer 9

Through the requirements imposed for the receipt of social welfare, many of which seek to re-enforce particular views around ‘deserving’ people
Aspects of education, juvenile justice and family support services involve the regulation of families, children and young people
*Impact of the welfare state in diffusing, rather challenging the causes and effects of capitalism

Question 10

What is Biopower?

Answer 10

• Michel Foucault
• State regulation of citizens through numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations’
• Contrasted with sovereign power
• Exercised by deduction (removing or taking something away).
• Example of taxation often used
• Biopower has slowly replaced sovereign power.
• A power that ‘endeavors to administer, optimize, and multiply [life], subjecting it to precise controls and comprehensive regulations’

Question 11

Biopower

Answer 11

The objective of biopower is effectively administering and managing bodies and life
- In order to optimize and control life, mechanisms of power and knowledge have assumed control
- Sovereign power, carries the threat of death or imprisonment, but biopower takes charge of life

Question 12

What is Social Exclusion?

Answer 12

• Social exclusion is a concept used to describe the consequences of poverty and inequality, where people are ‘left out’ and unable to participate fully in society.
• May not have the same access to opportunities or resources, such as; housing, employment, healthcare, voting, et
• The idea is that by providing welfare support, an individual will be free from marginalization.
• However, welfare support systems can lead to injustices by restricting certain behaviors.
• Individuals face social stigma and stereotypes from the dominant group in society, further marginalizing and excluding

Question 13

What is Stigma?

Answer 13

Erving Goffman
Stigma is an attribute that conveys devalued stereotypes.
Co-occurrence of four processes:
1. Labelling differences
2. Stereotyping differences
3. Othering
4. Status loss and discrimination