The welfare state, whose functions are mainly aimed at ensuring the interests of the widest possible sections of the population, has been the dream of many nations for several centuries. And, of course, the promise of government executives.
Social state: concept and functions
However, the social should not be confused with the socialist. Although the similarity in the semantics of words has its roots in the essence of these concepts, however, they are not completely identical. If the highest goal of socialism is the elimination of capitalist relations in the country (as the main source of exploitation) and the formation of a single class, then any, even school-level essay "Functions of the social state" will indicate that the governments of such countries are striving for a fair redistribution of material benefits between citizens of the country for the sake of achieving a decent standard of living by each of them. Let us consider in more detail what a social state is like.
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Its functions and principles suggest that it should provide a decent overall standard of living for all social categories. The state in the person of the government is responsible for the processes of ensuring a real living wage, which would guarantee a truly decent life. Such goals are achieved through a fair and competent redistribution of public wealth among people, for example, high taxes on wealthy citizens, which provide a
living wage in the country
.
The social state, whose functions are also to ensure the free operation of social elevators, must be guided by the principle of social equality. This should not be taken as universal equalization, just equal conditions for starting opportunities for all. That is, for all categories of the population equal access to health care facilities, promising jobs, education and so on should be ensured. All this should be accessible to every resident of the country, regardless of his material security, origin, race or religion, and so on.
The governments of such countries integrate effective social programs into the system in order to help those of their citizens who cannot independently provide for themselves. These are social insurance programs: a system of benefits, provision of public housing for the poor, medical insurance, and so on.
The main goal of a socially oriented government is to eradicate poverty in the country. In successful countries, its level is not more than 10%.
It is interesting that today almost every government in the world declares itself social. So, the Russian Federation, according to the 7th article of the Constitution, is a social state. At the same time, declarative functions do not always correspond to practice. This should be remembered. And there are not so many countries in the world where they can really boast of substantial effective programs in this area. An example of success can be modern Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands and several other countries.