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Shabana, Neelam, Gursharon, Blandine and Sinead are our incredibly enthusiastic group of interns who are with us for two days a week over the summer. They are helping us to establish a policy reference group made up of member organisations who will work with us as a team to respond to and develop policy. They are also busy getting to know the world of youth volunteering and it’s really refreshing having the views of people. The views expressed here don't necessarily reflect those of Youth Action Network.
Now that the Big Society has been officially launched by the PM I can imagine one question on everyone’s lips, ‘what the hell does it mean for me?’
The Big Society project will allow voluntary organisations, philanthropists and mutuals to take on tasks currently performed by the Central Government. This is a huge step back to the 19th Century Poor Law where the role of charities was central to the relief of poverty whilst the state shared little responsibility in delivering welfare provision to its citizens. Let‘s remember that COS (the Charity Organisation Society) was first to develop a new form of occupation –the social caseworker- that came to be gradually known as ‘social work’.
Apart from the fact that the Big Society takes little account of the real underlying problems of our society – materialism and greediness enveloped in capitalism; globalisation of production and the stubbornness to live in disharmony with nature which leads to depletion of natural resources, the Big Society has a strong smell of Thatcherism.
Does the Big Society come as a surprise? No! the Conservative Party has always shown its strong attachment to a small state. Mrs Thatcher was determined to roll back the limits of the state just as M. Cameron is doing just that by advocating the enlargement of the limits of society - different narrative for the same political ideology!!!
One of the things mentioned in the PM’s speech was the opportunity for people to set up ‘great new schools’. This sounds as if the Big Society programme will let down those at the bottom line of society whilst empowering the well-off. A simple illustration of that is the case of thousands of people who have to do two or more jobs to survive, when are they going to have time to be school governors or get involve in voluntary activities? People who can afford to do this are owners of businesses or those who have the luxury to enjoy some spare time.
I’m afraid but opportunities created by the Big Society will be more likely to enlarge the gap between rich and poor, generate more social problems, a greater sense of despair and lessen the level of happiness.
Who will be held accountable for this, the individual or the state? Obviously, with more responsibility in the hands of civil society I guess the government (central or local) will easily find a way out and decline any form of responsibility associated to social failure. Not surprisingly, the Big Society project appears rather as a Con-Dem hidden agenda whereby the burden of the cuts will be heavily supported by citizens.
Blandine K.
(Blandine is currently volunteering as a Policy Intern for Youth Action Network and is a studying Social Policy at Birmingham University.)
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