DISCUSS THE RELEVANCE OF THE SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA
In most parts of the world, the modern state is more than just an administrative behemoth. It is also a welfare state meant to ensure that, at the very least, the citizens of the state have basic needs. Various countries have effected their human service programs to various degrees. However, almost invariably, these human services in various English speaking countries have all been influenced by the settlement movement that started in the United Kingdom. In Australia, like in other English speaking countries, there is an invariable link between human services and the settlement movement. A historical analysis of the development of the settlement movement and human services in Australia shows that the settlement movement had an immense influence on the development of human services in Australia. This essay will discuss the influence of the settlement movement’s underpinning ideas on Australian Human Services.
Origin and the development of the Settlement Movement in Australia
The settlement movement started in the United Kingdom. It then moved to the US, especially in the city of Chicago, where Ellen Gates Starr, among other individuals, formed the Hull House (Burke 2010). The basis of the settlement movement was ensuring that the poor and the underprivileged in society had essential social assistance from the people who were relatively better economically and socially with religion at the forefront of the movement (Yancey 2003). The settlement movement in the English speaking world started in London in the late 1800s. In the settlement movement, people of various economic and cultural situations lived together in neighborhood houses to share experiences, values, and resources as well as religion as per Scales & Kelly (2011). By sharing their values, resources, and life experiences, there was an expectation that this would not only lead to a mutual understanding but would also lead to more improved conditions for the people who lived in the more impoverished neighborhoods. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Unlike the previous charity and social movements that sought to alleviate the plight of the poor in England, the settlement movement worked with all the people in the context of the peoples’ immediate environment. For instance, it sought to introduce issues such as adult education in a bid to permanently change the status of families that lived in absolute poverty among the immigrants and others who lived the settlement houses as per Kutt, Wollons, Green & Hasci (2013). Community development was also emphasized as a way of changing the circumstances of people in those communities (Haynes & White 1999). This approach developed in England was then exported to Australia as charities provided support for the people who were deprived of society. The first almoners in Australia based their work in the UK system. On this basis, it is apparent that human services were going to draw a significant part of their influence from the settlement houses.
Human Services
Human services refer to services such as education, health, and community services. These are the services needed for the normal functioning of any society in the modern world. Without the provision of human services to the broader society, most of the modern comforts associated with the developed world would evaporate (Productivity Commission Study Report 2016). As a consequence, human services are also imperative for people in society to have minimal access to the prosperity that society experiences. For instance, without universal primary education, a significant number of people would be stuck in an economic rut (Productivity Commission Study Report 2016). The same goes for piped water, without which people would suffer diseases that originate from dirty water (Productivity Commission Study Report 2016). The same goes for issues such as healthcare, wherewith no government-mandated healthcare, some people would suffer the ignominy of the bankruptcy or even death from failure to afford medical services. As a consequence, human services are an essential part of modern existence.
Discussion
The relevance of the settlement movement in the development of human services in Australia apparent in several ways. First, the provision of services to the people who lived in the settlements based on charity informed the Australian state on the level of depravity in some parts of Australia, especially among the aborigines and the poor whites (Smyth 2011). As Australia did not have Poor Laws like England, the Australian government did not seem to be in any particular urgency to assist the poor whom the society had disadvantaged as the Australian governance, social, and economic systems had grown (Smyth 2011). The existence of the people in the settlement houses on a volunteer basis acted as a prong to show the government that it was not only possible to take care of the most vulnerable in the society, but that it was desirable to do so too for the long term stability of the nation (Smyth 2011). As a consequence, it is arguable that the settlement movement served as a direct motivation for the provision of essential human services in Australia.
Secondly, the situations behind the settlement movement, as well as their apparent good results in transforming communities, also assisted in dispelling the myth that poor people were so due to their laziness. This helped in making the government realize that the unfortunate economic situations could be decisively reduced in the communities with government assistance (Smyth 2011). People from higher economic and social class cases living with the poorer ones in the settlement houses established that in the right circumstances, many of the poor people in the more impoverished neighborhoods would thrive in a different environment. As a consequence, the government was able to understand that the human services for the people in the more impoverished neighborhoods. This would not only elevate their standard of living but would also prove a boon for the country by reducing crime and increasing economic activity in the parts of the society where the economic situation had not improved for generations. With human services such as education, there was a possibility of improving the lot of the entire population by making a more substantial part of the populace an economically viable one (Smyth 2011). As a consequence, the settlement movement was the precursor to the modern welfare state, especially in the issue of education as most people realized that everyone is better off in an educated population. Subsequently, the settlement programs proved to be a forerunner for the modern government provided-services.
It is also notable that in terms of social ideas for which the Labour Party governed through, the government felt that human services would assist in the redistribution of the wealth in Australia. The idea of the redistribution the society had been the basis of the charitable spirit. This spirit informed the middle-class people who had lived in the low-class settlement houses in a bid to help the poor (Silver 2010). As a consequence, in Australia as elsewhere, the Labour government used human services as a way of ensuring a more egalitarian circulation of capital among people who would otherwise not have had the chance to get the resources. It was felt, like in the sense of the settlement houses, that it was not socially desirable to have one part of the population living in absolute poverty. In contrast, a minority of the population enjoyed all the benefits of the economic boom that the country experienced.
As a consequence, taxes to fund some of the social services that the Australian public needed (Silver 2010). The taxes were to fund what philanthropy had accomplished at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century in the settlement houses. As the redistribution was influenced by the ideals that influenced the settlement movement, then it is imperative to note that the movement was central to the human services development in Australia.
Moreover, in so far as the government sought to offer a range of services that would ensure a better life for the community, the settlement community was essential in the development of human services in Australia. This is apparent as in the progress of the initial people who would later take the term social workers. The early social workers drew their significant influence from the settlement houses in England and later in Australia. They sought only to alleviate poverty but also to play a central role in the development of the communities they worked in and the people they worked amongst (Mestan 2014). Like the people who left their comfort to go work in the settlement houses, the initial social workers sought to have harmony in the community. People who moved into the settlement houses decided to assist the poor, and this led to an effect of positive social change, just like it is the case in the current social workers. As a consequence, the settlement movement volunteers deeply influenced the current social workers, which shows the immense influence the settlement movement had on the current human services.
It is also notable that with the settlement houses were often the settlement houses were usually at the forefront of the community change, recognizing and responding to the unmet needs of the community. These unmet needs would usually be the ones met by demographic, economic, and social situations that would happen as a result of changing economic and governance state of affairs on the broader society (Smyth 2011). As a consequence, workers in the settlement centers worked for social reform in the communities that they were situated. The same is apparent in the current movement that seeks to establish a more socially equitable society through the provision of services such as education and health to the members of the community who cannot afford them. The primary aim is to make social change, not through economic improvement, but also a social change in the community. For instance, the initial settlement workers sought to provide adult education because they knew the value it would have in transforming the community (Smyth 2011). In the same way, currently, education is used by the federal government not just as an economic investment for the government, but because in the long run, it can transform the community socially. As a consequence, human services have drawn their motives from the settlement movement.
However, in terms of the people who provide the services, one may argue that the settlement movement has not had a significant impact on human services in the country. The first settlement houses were run as private concerns. People who volunteered in them were usually unpaid or received a little stipend. Moreover, they were usually humanitarian concerns. As per Villadsen & Turner (2015), religion and compassion influenced the founders of the houses. The current social services are mostly a result of taxation schemes by the state to fund this service.
Moreover, the state has also professionalized the services to a fair extend, unlike in the initial movement where the volunteers were mostly untrained people who simply sought to do well. However, they subsequently passed their skills to the social workers (Mendes, Binns, Kenny, McGrath & Phillips 2017). Moreover, there is a current push to make human services more corporate in their management in the contemporary era, as per Bandara, Bailey, Mathiesen, McCarthy & Jones (2018). This will make human services lose their initial lure as more concerned with the familiar person than being an efficiency machine. The government has already constituted a body to assist in making the social services more competitive, which would have been unheard of a century ago at its inception (Productivity Commission Study Report 2016). However, despite these instances, human services are, and settlement houses are inextricably joined. As a consequence, in this sense, one can see that there is a linear correlation between the settlement houses and the current human services.
Conclusion
The essay has clearly illustrated that the settlement movement in Australia played an essential part in the development of human services in the country. The settlement movement has played an essential role in the development of human services in Australia. From the start of the human services at the settlement homes, the services provided at the houses were then expanded to the general population. As a consequence, without the settlement homes, their human services would not exist at the scale they do now. The movement started in the UK, and the US as a way of ensuring people with low-income status could benefit from essential social services. The settlement houses offered a range of services to the people who lived in them, including education. The strategy was to mend the living conditions of the residents. With the realization that people who lived outside the settlement homes needed the services, services were expanded to the general populace.
Reference List
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