what is the good society?
TRANSCRIPT
The Good Society
Citizenship and the welfare state
Dr Simon Duffy of the Centre for Welfare Reform for Adur Churches Forum - 23rd November 2015
• The Christian conundrum
• The welfare state solution
• Trouble in the welfare state
• Citizens and the good society
• Finding our way forward
The post-Enlightenment period has been an era of competing
and deathly ideologies.
• Fascism
• Racism
• Communism
• Eugenicism
• Capitalism (?)
• Utilitarianism (?)
• (Neo)liberalism (?)
“Ideology - that is what gives evil doing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
“For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please.”
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963)
The Christian conundrum - we must find our role in
a faithless society.
Deuteronomy 6:20 (NIV)
“Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
For some the welfare state seemed to mean
that the problem of social justice was at an
end. Others seem to believe that the welfare state is a bad thing…
…are they asleep?
The welfare state is our response to the economic and social insecurities of the modern world.
Without the welfare state we create increasing levels of inequality, oppression and fear.
“…only legal and political institutions that are independent of the economic forces and automatism can control and check the inherently monstrous potentialities of this process. Such political controls seem to function best in the so-called welfare states whether they call themselves socialist or capitalist.”
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
“Christ does not call his benefactors loving or charitable. He calls them just. The Gospel makes no distinction between the love of our neighbour and justice. We have invented the distinction between justice and charity. It is easy to understand why. Our notion of justice dispenses him who possesses from the obligation of giving.”
Simone Weil (1909-1943)
“If the present order is taken for granted or assumed to be sacrosanct, charity from the more to the less fortunate would seem virtuous and commendable; to those for whom the order itself is suspect or worse, such charity is blood-money. Why should some be in the position to dispense and others to need that kind of charity?”
William Temple (1881-1944)
But is the welfare state in trouble?
• Growth in debt
• Growth in inequality
• Growth in poverty
• Growth in stigma
• Growth in elitism
In total, across England as a whole, the WCA disability reassessment process during this period was associated with an additional 590 suicides (95% CI 220 to 950), 279,000 additional cases of self-reported mental health problems (95% CI 57,000 to 500,000) and the prescribing of an additional 725,000 antidepressant items (95% CI 406 000 to 1 045 000).
Barr B, et al. J Epidemiol Community Health 2015;0:1–7. doi:10.1136/jech-2015-206209
Christians must oppose this way of thinking absolutely. We are all vulnerable, we are all equal.
We don’t need to go down this path.
We could choose to live in a world where
everybody was valued.
from a church in Bolton
The key to a good society is citizenship.
“A polis is not just a larger scale village. In ‘having reached the limits of self-sufficiency’, it forms a framework for the exercise of all human capacities. And so, ‘while coming into being for the sake of life’, the polis exists ‘for the sake of the good life’ (1252b). It constitutes the telos, the final end, of human of association.”
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
“Above all, I think the idea of citizenship should remain at the centre of modern political debates about social and economic arrangements. The concept of a citizen is that of a person who can hold [their] head high and participate fully and with dignity in the life of [their] society.”
Jeremy Waldron (1953 - )
Citizenship allows us to reconcile equality and
diversity through community.
Together we construct our understanding of
citizenship.
An inclusive approach to citizenship means all can
be equal.
The keys to citizenship
We make citizenship real by1. Finding our sense of purpose
2. Having the freedom to pursue it
3. Having enough money to be free
4. Having a home where we belong
5. Getting help from other people
6. Making life in community
7. Finding love
To restore the welfare state change will need to take place at every level.
• Citizenship control
• Family security
• Community empowerment
• Constitutional change
“There are eight degrees of charity, one higher than the other. The highest degree, exceeded by none, is that of the person who assists a poor Jew by providing him with a gift or loan or by accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him find employment - in a word, by putting him where he can dispense with other people's aid. With reference to such aid, it is said, “You shall strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you” (Lev. 25:35), which means strengthen him in such manner that his falling into want is prevented.”
Maimonides (1135-1204)
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