Social law evolved with the advent of the Renaissance, which gave rise to a new and revived idea of law to promote equality of relations between individuals in a society. Before that time, Roman law applied to all communities. When the modern state emerged, they appeared with different types of rights, including social law. Unequal government regulation involves laws and regulations that intentionally or otherwise create conditions that impede, restrict, or deny certain groups equitable access to the same opportunities and resources available to the rest of society. These laws can intentionally (explicitly) or unintentionally (implicitly) create the conditions for social injustice. Areas where government policies often lead to social inequality and injustice include: At the beginning of his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson introduced an ambitious program of social legislation called the Great Society, which turned out to be the largest expansion of the federal government in the United States since the Great Depression. Unlike the New Deal, which was a response to difficult economic times, the Great Society`s programs were adopted at a time of prosperity. During the Johnson years, Congress passed three major civil rights laws. The 1964 law prohibited discrimination in the workplace and segregation of public housing, the 1965 law guaranteed the right of blacks to vote, and a third law of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the housing market.
The period of the greatest activity in the field of social legislation took place during President Franklin D. Roosevelt`s New Deal. The Great Depression, which began with the collapse of the stock market in 1929 and continued until the late 1930s, caused widespread poverty and economic hardship. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and businesses have failed. There were no effective state or federal programs to help the many Americans who needed help. An elderly California physician named Dr. Francis E. Townsend gained great fame by proposing a retirement pension system to be administered by the federal government.
The Roosevelt administration responded to public pressure for such a program, and in 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act, the centerpiece of the U.S. welfare system. Social rights consist of a set of rights guaranteed by ordinary legislation, social rights are fundamental and are affirmed by the national constitution and international human rights treaties. They are inspired by justice and are responsible for regulating people`s behavior within society, thus enabling the resolution of social conflicts that may arise in a particular place. It seeks ways to control and establish equality among individuals in a nation in order to protect social security. For most of the nineteenth century, social problems that were too important to family members or private charities fell under the jurisdiction of the local government, consisting of the city, town or county, rather than the more distant national government. The power of the local government to enact social laws was based on the power of the state to restrict individual freedom and property for the benefit of the common good. Later, as local governments remained involved, states began to assume some of the obligation to care for some of their citizens. Beginning in the late 1820s, a number of states established institutions for the mentally ill.
A series of studies by reformer Dorothea Dix played an important role in drawing the attention of state legislators to the plight of the mentally ill. Later in the nineteenth century, state and local governments created other specialized institutions for dependent people, such as homes for. B the blind or mentally retarded. SOCIAL LEGISLATION. Laws that seek to promote the common good, usually by protecting and supporting the weakest members of society, are considered social legislation. These laws include laws to support the unemployed, the infirm, the disabled and the elderly. The social welfare system consists of hundreds of state and federal programs of two general types. Some programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, and Workers` Compensation, are called Social Security programs because they are designed to protect citizens from hardship due to age, unemployment, or injury.
Because people who receive benefits from these programs have generally contributed to their benefits by paying payroll taxes in the years they have worked, these Social Security programs are generally considered deserved rewards for work. Programs of a second type, often referred to cumulatively as the welfare system, provide government support to those who are already poor. .