The Relevance of Laissez-Faire and Fabian Social Policy Theorizing in Explaining and Addressing Social and Developmental Problems of Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue V, May 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

 The Relevance of Laissez-Faire and Fabian Social Policy Theorizing in Explaining and Addressing Social and c

 Abubakar JIBRIL¹ and Muddassir AHMAD GADO²

^{1, 2} Department of Sociology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract: Social policy entails the provision of social welfare services by the government to the people. Laissez-faire and Fabianism are models of social policy which seek to explain how a policy of a state on the provision of social needs of the population should be. The Laissez-faire model advocates that social policy should exclude government intervention in the economic affairs of the country and emphasized on the private ownership of property and virtue of individualism. The Fabian model was a model which favoured gradual development of socialism by peaceful means rather than revolutionary change. It emphasized on government intervention, abolition of private property and the perfectibility of the welfare state in which the government provides for the basic needs of the population. This paper therefore attempts to focus on these two models of social policy. The paper examined the historical emergence of the models. The paper compared and contrasted the major theoretical postulates of the two models and looked at their possible shortcomings. The Laissez-faire model was found relevant in explaining Nigerian social policy and the Fabian model was found to be the best in addressing Nigerian social problems.

Keywords: Fabianism, Laissez-faire, Policy, Problem and Social

I. INTRODUCTION

Social policy can be seen as policies which government use for welfare and social protection and the ways in which welfare is developed in the society. In other words, social policies are government plicies that are directed towards meeting the social needs of the population such as social security, health, housing, education and law and order (Marshall, 1998). Therefore, social policy is particularly concerned with social services and the welfare state and in broader sense; it stands for a range of issues extending for beyond the action of government, that is, the means by which welfare is promoted, and the social and economic conditions, which shape the development of welfare.

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