The growing child poverty rates in the UK and their impact on the population have been a subject of public concern over the last several decades. Child poverty is associated with a range of health-damaging impacts, negative educational outcomes, and adverse long-term social and psychological effects (Wickham et al., 2016). Social work plays a crucial role in reducing poverty rates and improving children’s welfare. Analyzed from the perspective of the Marxist theory, child poverty can be seen as an inevitable consequence of capitalism that can be addressed only by changing the social structure.
The Marxist theory argues that society is divided into those who own the means of producing wealth and those who are exploited by them. Poverty is regarded as an inevitable consequence of capitalism that benefits the ruling class, ensuring that there is always a workforce willing to accept low wages (Ferguson et al., 2018). With the family performing ideological functions within this hierarchy, child poverty is seen as a natural condition that reinforces class inequality. Viewed from the Marxist perspective, the current child poverty crisis in the UK can be regarded as proof of the failure of the capitalist system.
In addressing the problem according to the Marxist theory, primary attention should be focused on changing the social structure. The existing social services are believed to be an instrument of the state, which exists mainly to maintain the status quo (Corrigan and Leonard, 1978). Social workers help people to adjust to their difficulties, shifting attention from structural problems to individual difficulties, and mitigating revolutionary threats arising out of discontent (Webb, 2019). Social workers do not understand the complex processes that generate and maintain poverty, are unable to influence state politics, and, therefore, cannot address the problem on the structural level (Webb, 2019). Social workers who want to intervene to bring about change tend to find their initiatives constrained by the organizations that are founded on the capitalist ideology.
The strengths of the Marxist views on poverty are in the structural approach to the problem. Taking into consideration the scale of the problem, it is clear that a fundamental solution is required. The changes in the existing economic and social systems should be made to reduce poverty rates and the negative impact of poverty on children. A child welfare system should be reformed to provide better services aimed at improving children’s material circumstances, providing better education, and reducing child abuse rates (Morris et al., 2018). The weakness of the Marxist theory with regard to poverty is its critical position on social work. Criticizing the lack of capabilities to make changes to the social structure and influence government policies, Marxists devalues the individual efforts of social workers to improve the situation and the general purpose of social services.
Overall, the Marxist theory offers a radical solution to the problem of child poverty. Regarding it as an inevitable consequence of the capitalist system, it claims that the only possible solution is the replacement of the capitalist system with a socialist one. Social services are believed to be the instrument of the state unable to make the required structural changes and influence the government’s policy. Individual efforts of social workers are considered to be of low importance on the global scale and are only able to reduce stress and discontent.
Reference List
Corrigan, P. and Leonard, P. (1978) Social work practice under capitalism: a Marxist approach. New York: Springer.
Ferguson, I., Ioakimidis, V. and Lavalette, M. (2018) Global social work in a political context: radical perspectives. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Morris, K. et al. (2018) ‘Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions’. Child & Family Social Work, 23, pp. 1–9.
Webb, S. (2019) The Routledge handbook of critical social work. Abington-on-Thames, UK: Routledge.
Wickham, S. et al. (2016) ‘Poverty and child health in the UK: using evidence for action’, Archives of Disease in Childhood, 101, pp. 759–766.