Comparative social welfare: the existential humanist perspective and challenge

Abstract

Brij Mohan's legacy to comparative social welfare is his centering of the person rather than social welfare institutions and programs. This follows his commitment to the principle that the public social welfare provision should always seek to improve the existential human condition. The existential humanist proposition is that, in a very real sense, public social welfare provision impacts on the way welfare recipients think about themselves and others, behave, and socially interact, and thus impacts on their capacity and motivation to begin or further their search for their authentic selves (for self-actualization). Indeed, the cognitive and behavioral changes induced by public social welfare provision are the causal link between that provision and the observed levels of poverty, deprivation, income inequality, social exclusion, and quality of life. This neglected social welfare perspective creates daunting challenges for comparative social welfare scholars.