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two
It may be safely supposed that the parallels which can be drawn between the situations are very limited and unlikely to go beyond the basic methodological approach to the subject, i.e. asking the right questions in the right order. The differences between the two types of society in the over-all functions of social security, its short-term and long-term objectives and in the strategies of sccial security policy seem to be such that going any further would probably be misleading and, in the long run, damaging for the development of social security systems in low-income countries.
Let us examine the situation more closely, first at the level of concepts and then in relation to social reality as found in the Asian region.
1.
The social functions and general objectives of social security in developing countries
It will be recalled that we have defined the function
of a social security
system compensation for loss of income in certain contingencies and reintegration into normal way of life in society. The main action of the system is based on the central pillar of this concept, income compensation, which affects the majority cf the population drawing a regular income. This is certainly not the case in a developing country where 90 to 95 per cent of the population may still live in a subsistence economy on the margin of monetary flows.
in an industrialised country as being the prevention of social risks,
Given the dynamics of society in a developing country, it would, of course, seem logical that the essential function of social security should be the protection of persons most affected by the process of development, i.e. of the emerging wage- earning class in the urban sector, with social security acting as a stabilising factor in rapidly changing social conditions. It may be noted that this vas essentially the function of early predecessors of social security institutions in Western Europe when, in the course of progressive industrialisation, it became imperative to replace the protective functions, first, of the feudal society, then of the commune and of the occupational group and, finally, even those of the family; the stabilising function of social security measures was also one of the main political motives behind the introduction of early social insurance schemes. In the context of developing societies of today, this concept of social security thus carries a highly developmental function of considerable importance.
It seems evident that the relative importance of the income Compensation function of social security will not be the same in а developing as in an industrialised country; in addition to the above-mentioned factor of societal dynamics, this will be the result of the difference in numbers of the economically active population covered1 and in the volume of income transfers effected. On the other hand, the preventive function may have a relatively higher impact on a developing country to the extent that it may be built into the social and economic structures still in the process of creation. Lastly, the social service approach will certainly gain more importance in a developing country, in view of the particular need for adaptation of people to a new social environment. The notion of "reintegrating victims of social accidents into normal life" will have a different significance since the term "social accidents" is likely to be understood more widely and the conditions of "normal life" are still to be established; this function, therefore, must be interpreted in the sense of restoring to such persons, Or groups of population, their capacity to participate in the process of creating new conditions of living and gradually improving them. Social security could thus become an institution which not only protects given sectors of the population but also teaches them how to live better.2
Some figures will be found in the "Supplement" dealing with the scope of social security schemes in "The Cost of Social Security" (ILO, Geneva, 1972).
2 Examples of this trend towards expanding the concept of social security beyond the purely protective function can be seen, for instance, in Mexico and cther countries of Latin America, or in many of the French-speaking countries in Africa in relation to activities of social security institutions carried out under their programme known as "health and welfare activities". Cf. "The Role of Social Services in Social Security: Trends and Perspectives" (Proceedings of an ISSA Round Table Meeting held in Moscow in May 1973, to be published in "Studies and Research",
Social No. 6. This volume also contains a paper on "The Role of Social Services in Security in Certain Countries of Asia and Oceania", by S.K. Wadhawan.)
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