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An Alternative Welfare Vision
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12264 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1994 |
1,552 Words |
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Peter L. Berger
Peter L. Berger is professor of sociology and director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture at Boston University. Reprinted in part from Gaining Ground: New Approaches to Poverty and Dependency, by Charles Murray, Robert Rayal, Glenn C. Loury, Michael Novak, and Peter L. Berger, foreword by Leslie Lenkowsky; edited by Michael Cromartie; published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C. |
The goal of a humane social policy must be to provide the necessary services, but at the same time to protect and to expand the control that the recipients have over their own lives. As any psychologist can tell us in terms of individual life, there is compassion that stifles and there is compassion that empowers. The same is true of society. If a label is required, I would suggest we call ourselves the party of empowerment . . . . . Let me, therefore, talk very concretely about the new model of the welfare state that some of us have been talking about for some time (and let me say at this point that such a new model is what is clearly indicated by the innovative thinking that has been initiated by Robert Woodson and his associates at the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise). . . . there are a number of quite concrete criteria to apply as we go about constructing this new model. Without claiming these to be exclusive, let me suggest four. One: Government should empower people to take control of their own lines even as it provides services to meet specific needs. Or minimally: Government should not, in providing services, take away such control as people do have over their lives. For example (and it is a very crucial example), if there is one power that virtually all people want, all over the world and in every group, it is the power to control the values instilled in their children. Indeed, this power is a fundamental human right. Now, those who are poor or otherwise handicapped in the exercise of parental responsibility may have to turn to the state for help in meeting the needs of their children-for education, health care, nutrition, and for other services. It is intolerable that all too often the state will provide these services
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