PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL PROTECTION IN WELFARE POLICY AND EXPERIENCE FROM FINLAND

Abstract

This article aims to give some perspectives on social welfare in a globalizing world. The focus is on the West and East in a narrow sense; West from a European Nordic and East from an East Asian cultural perspective. Undoubtedly, modernization and globalization have brought about economic, technological and social progress and therefore, favorable effects on the development of postmodern society. However, progress is also followed by new risks and uncertainties which are not only found in the daily lives of individuals and families, but also the need to redesign social protection systems. Of course, risks always exist and are as old as industrial society, but in modern times, life is more complex than ever and the increase in complexity has probably been the most rapid in parts of the world where the economic, technological and social changes have escalated. In economically and technologically advanced societies, individuals and families are exposed to multiple risks and this can be disturbing to their social reality. In Finland, where the principles of the Nordic welfare model have been adopted, many people are still without work and financial resources of their own in maintaining an adequate standard of living. Young families with children have been affected the most. A welfare policy question is: ''How can the social protection system succeed in handling all new and changing problems in modern living?'' In order to minimize risks in the future and provide a fair standard of living for individuals and families, social investment in children seems to be an important challenge for social policies and social work. Both in the West and in the East, there is a growing call for a joint responsibility that addresses an appropriate social protection against risks and uncertainties. People in modern times have more diverse and specific welfare needs than previously. The fulfillment of new and changed needs by welfare providers is becoming more difficult due to slowness in paradigm and policy renewals. It is a challenge for researchers to generate new knowledge from the study of different welfare systems. Scenario modeling and fuzzy logic may be good planning tools for future visions. While countries in the West are slow to adjust to new circumstances, their counterparts in the East have a new welfare climate for change, but there also exists unique resistance against policy changes.