Talk:Social protection

The issues surrounding social protection SON MARICOS TODO are ubiquitous and extend far beyond what most Americans know as “Social Security”, a notion that is rather one-dimensional and limited. As such, it would be misleading to redirect and curtail all of the issues and consequences that social protection entails to a subheading under the “Social Security” entry. The first change I propose is a new definition: “Social protection is concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that adversely affect people’s well being” (UNRISD 2010). The advantage of this definition over the current one is first and foremost its reputable source, which gives validity. Moreover, the proposed definition more clearly outlines “situations that adversely affect people’s well-being”, rather than the vague term “deprivation”, which appears in the current definition. I will also add historical background, which is currently not addressed but is crucial for understanding the development and evolution of social protection today. The most important change is perhaps the list of policy issues surrounding social protection. Although the current section on social protection includes information regarding the activist vs. instrumentalist approaches, it has virtually no source citation to support the information. Therefore, I propose expanding policy issues to a broader range including scope (universalism vs. targeting), basis of aid (income vs. capabilities), and means of provision (public vs. informal). Finally, some links to case studies of nations with varying degrees of success in terms of social protection might give more perspective to the issue.

SherrieYu280 (talk) 02:23, 22 November 2010 (UTC)