Urbanization, caring for elderly people and the changing African family

The challenge to social policy

Bibliographic Data

ID9971373
AuthorsNairn Araba Apt (University of Westminster, corresponding author), Margaret Gricco (University of Ghana)
Year1994
Volume47
Issue3-4
Pages111-122
Publication date1994-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Social Security Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-871X • E-ISSN: 1468-246X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-246x.1994.tb00414.x
OpenAlexW2119025543
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited5

An inquiry into the role of social welfare in the development process in Africa must start by determining the position of the family in the face of all the social changes that are taking place. The role of the traditional African family may be broadly subdivided into its social role, its economic role and its role as an agent for the transmission and renewal of sociocultural values. Intraditional African societies, there is a complex interaction between the members of the family and the community. Social organization centres on the kinship group and the age group. The economic, political and sociocultural values of present‐day Africa, with its sprawling urban centres and industrial zones, differ increasingly from its traditional values. In Africa, the concept of development has been greatly influenced by the colonial experience and Western modernization theory which posited that economic development and growth, mainly through industrialization, would automatically raise the living standards and meet the social needs of the population. Social welfare was viewed as a non‐productive activity and therefore accorded a low priority in national development planning and resource allocation. In such a context, the scope of social policy is limited and cannot deal with the critical problems of mass poverty and deprivation afflicting the majority of African peoples, especially in rural areas. The family is disintegrating and social change has brought in its wake a host of new social problems which remedial social welfare services are not adequate to meet. Using Ghana as an example, this paper will critically examine these key issues and make recommendations for effective social policies and programmes that must be incorporated centrally into national development plans

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Industrialisation · Kinship · Modernization theory · Political science · Population · Poverty · Social change · Social policy · Social Welfare · Sociology · Urbanization · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving

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