Social welfare

The paper defines the term 'social welfare' and the distinction between selective/residual systems and universal systems. What is Social Welfare? The Concise Oxford Dictionary states the term 'welfare' stems from the root meaning of the word 'having a good trip or journey'. This conveys the idea of travelling smoothly on the road of life. Welfare is regarded in terms of people's well being. Welfare is often associated with needs, but it goes beyond what …

…and there are often boundary problems caused by trying to include some people while excluding others. A parallel distinction is made between Institutional and Residual concepts of welfare. A Residual system provides that state social welfare institutions come into play only when all other avenues of assistance have been exhausted. An Institutional system, on the other hand, sees the state welfare service as a normal first line function of a modern industrialised and civilised society.