Study On The Government's Responsibility Of Social Assistance

Social assistance is a kind of welfare system, which, in accordance with the legal procedures and standards, provides people with the basic living necessities materially and mentally. According to the Law, this system is oriented to the citizens who cannot meet their basic living standards for certain reasons. Besides paying attention to the citizens'basic living standards, the government also considers the conditions for their future development. There are different viewpoints on whether the government should take the legal responsibility in helping the Social Vulnerable Group. The Responsibility of Individuals Theory assumes that individual ability deficiencies and laziness cause the vulnerable state, and proposes that individuals should take the responsibility and deal with the vulnerable state by themselves. The Responsibility of Government Theory assumes that the errors of policies or strategies to be the main reason, or assumes that the appearance of Social Vulnerable Group is the by-product of the change of social structure and transition of economic system, and the expense of social reform and development. Judging from the angles of protection of human rights, the nature of Social Assistance System, the existence of government, and the realization of social harmony, etc., it is the government's necessary and most important legal responsibility in modern social assistance. There have been several documental records on the legislation and execution of social assistance in ancient China and foreign countries. However, social assistance in ancient society was originated from the impulsion of the rulers who wanted to show their kind-heartedness, or even from the utilitarian consideration of maintaining the social order. It was because of social morality that the government in ancient society took the responsibility of social assistance; therefore, the concept of social assistance in ancient times is quite different from that in modern society, which considers social assistance to be a legal responsibility of the government. The Western countries have commonly considered social assistance to be a welfare system. Therefore, social assistance has been established as an important welfare policy and institution since the early industrialization age in some Western countries. However, in China, it was only till the Republic of China did the government begin to regulate the practices in helping the poor. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the government issued a series of social assistant system, including poverty alleviation and development system, subsistence security system, and medical assistance system. However, there is still a long and hard way to go for the government, since the government's social assistance concept is backward, its content is ambiguity, its level is quite low and its implementation is ineffective. There are many defects in the government social assistance system, which need to be improved. Therefore, it is the government's unavoidable choice to take more serious social assistance responsibility and put it into practice.