This study is centered around examining the impact that the recent welfare reform
has had on front-line workers in the welfare bureaucracy and the clients of the welfare
system. In 1993 the government in British Columbia began implementing sweeping policy
and procedural changes that altered the way in which welfare services were provided and
limited the services available to the poor. The impetus for these changes is situated in the
widespread media coverage of welfare fraud and abuse throughout 1993 and 1994. The
media, by targeting certain sub-groups of the welfare client population, was able to
substantiate their claim that the welfare system was not only being undermined but that
it was also operating on the basis of policies that were flawed and therefore easily abused.
This study begins with a presentation of the policy and procedural changes that have
occurred within the Ministry of Social Services in British Columbia from 1993 to 1996. The
second section of this study examines the media's response to the "welfare fraud crisis" and
the way in which a moral panic was created around the "problem" of welfare fraud. This
analysis draws upon moral panic and social constructionist theory to examine not only the
media's presentation of the "crisis" but also the government's response to the public
concern that had been generated. The final section of this study presents a discussion of
the front-line worker's response to the changes that have taken place within the Ministry of
Social Services over the last four years. The analysis is centered around examining how
these front-line government workers cope with the restrictive and regulatory policies they
are responsible for enforcing. The study concludes with suggestion for further research on
this topic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6545 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mason, Judy Lee |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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