Strange as it seems, as some countries get wealthier in terms of GDP and GNP (and all those metrics beloved of economists), poor people – particularly poor people in the Focus Group – tend to get more dependent.
(This might not be the case in all countries but it is the case in some, and it has certainly happened in Ireland in my lifetime).
Sometimes the strategies that are put in place by the Pillars to alleviate very acute social problems (e.g. homelessness) can be causative factors in increasing the incidence of that problem [1].
It is easy to figure out that this is because the root causes of such problems are not dealt with.
It is argued in many texts, research etc. – one of which, a book entitled Spirit Level is referenced in an earlier part of the book – that root causes of almost all social problems stem from inequality, and I agree with such arguments.
An allied cause of social problems is the powerlessness that families in our Focus Group feel (and have always felt).
I believe that the provision of handouts to alleviate poverty often leads to powerless people simply giving up. This is because a handout (the financial equivalent to one-way knowledge flow that we have mentioned already) is a top down solution to the problem – and almost always top-down strategies will try to do everything but challenge vested interests – in other words, they will try and fix problems within the paradigm of what caused them in the first place.
Also, a financial handout keeps a docile workforce in their place as they wait for the next big industry to come along, employing them for a few years, making a lot of profit, and then leaving when the profits dip.
And here I am referring to people who have enough confidence to compete for jobs in the first place!
I believe that if I am growing up in a family in our Focus Group there is a fair possibility that I will be distrustful of the system. Also, my ability to compete for jobs is so low that I don’t believe that I have a chance anyway.
I might come to believe, instead, that ‘I don’t have to look after myself, someone else will do that’.
This is reinforced by many generations of dependence and, in many cases, addiction, which inhibits responsibility anyway. Lack of confidence leads to the belief that being resourceful in respect of competing for employment is okay for others but not for me.
Very often, to solve many problems, you need only solve the one that allows the others to flourish. (For example, if a company wants to solve a multitude of HR problems they would go a long way towards solving them by giving staff a sense of belonging).
Or, in the case of social problems, reduce or eradicate inequality.
But that is a very unlikely prospect – which is why we need to try a different strategy! Some suggestions are posited in the next post.
[1]. There are, of course, some exceptions to this but I am speaking in a general, Governmental sense.