Urbanization, caring for elderly people and the changing African family: The challenge to social policy
作者:
Nairn Araba Apt,
Margaret Gricco,
期刊:
International Social Security Review
(WILEY Available online 1994)
卷期:
Volume 47,
issue 3‐4
页码: 111-122
ISSN:0020-871X
年代: 1994
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-246X.1994.tb00414.x
出版商: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
数据来源: WILEY
摘要:
An inquiry into the role of social welfare in the development process in Africa must start by determining the position of the family in the face of all the social changes that are taking place. The role of the traditional African family may be broadly subdivided into its social role, its economic role and its role as an agent for the transmission and renewal of sociocultural values. Intraditional African societies, there is a complex interaction between the members of the family and the community. Social organization centres on the kinship group and the age group. The economic, political and sociocultural values of present‐day Africa, with its sprawling urban centres and industrial zones, differ increasingly from its traditional values. In Africa, the concept of development has been greatly influenced by the colonial experience and Western modernization theory which posited that economic development and growth, mainly through industrialization, would automatically raise the living standards and meet the social needs of the population. Social welfare was viewed as a non‐productive activity and therefore accorded a low priority in national development planning and resource allocation. In such a context, the scope of social policy is limited and cannot deal with the critical problems of mass poverty and deprivation afflicting the majority of African peoples, especially in rural areas. The family is disintegrating and social change has brought in its wake a host of new social problems which remedial social welfare services are not adequate to meet. Using Ghana as an example, this paper will critically examine these key issues and make recommendations for effective social policies and programmes that must be incorporated centrally into national development pl
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