SMS 2

• Welfare State

  A state where benefits are provided to its population such as free education, free health services and social protection
• Facilities provided in a welfare state

  • Free education
  • Free health services
  • Low cost housing
  • Social security
• Tax

  A compulsory monetary contribution to the state to fund various public expenditures
• Purpose of tax

  To accumulate funds for proper functioning of the government machinery
• Funding of a welfare state

  Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• Last of welfare measures taken in the 1960's to 1970's

  • Free education
  • Building of low-cost housing
  • Free health services
  • Vaccination and other health programmes in school
  • More primary schools
  • Introduction of National Pension Scheme
  • Mauritius Family Planning Association and Action Familiale were set up
• Features of a Welfare State

  • Alleviate poverty, hunger and unemployment and thus bringing the gap between the poor and the rich
  • A democratic state that functions through democratic institutions and in a democratic way
  • Values both the liberty of an individual and the interests of the society
  • Gives equal right to everyone irrespective to religion, caste and race, with no discrimination
  • Involves planning where welfare are provided to people through planned programmes
• Recommendations from Meade report to tackle socio-economic problems in 1960's

  • Diversify the economy and reduce the overdependence on sugar industry
  • Industrialise to cope with population pressure
  • Alleviate unemployment
• Measures taken by the government in recent years for a stronger welfare state

  • Improvement in free health care and services e.g new hospitals, new ambulances, vaccines and financial support for overseas surgery
  • Minimum salary of Rs 11,075 for all workers as from January 2022
  • Increased in old age pension
  • Free transport for people above 60 and students
  • Free education from pre-primary up to tertiary level
  • Free textbooks and school materials for needy students
  • Free books from grade 1 to grade 9
  • Free examination fees on first attempt for SC and HSC students
• Impacts of Industrialisation

  • Better standard of living
  • Better educational opportunities
  • Higher life expectancy
  • New social class
  • New ways of communicating
  • Change in family type and structure
• Forces Driving Social Change

  • Collective Behaviour
  • Social Movements
  • Environmental change
  • Technological Innovations
• Collective Behaviour

  • Banning the use of plastic bags
  • Waste sorting
  • Use of solar water heater
• Social Movements

  • Student's movement in 1975
  • Rise in trade unionism
• Environmental change

  • Climate change
  • Global warming
• Technological Innovations

  • New communication
  • Use of advanced methods in surgery
• Consequences of social change

  • Reduce accumulation and pollution by plastics bags
  • Prevent accumulation of wastes by recycling and reuse of wastes
  • Reduce air pollution caused by fossil fuels
  • Free education
  • Improvement in working conditions
  • People are aware of the dangers caused by flash floods
  • People are more conscious about carbon dioxide emission in atmosphere
  • Make information more accessible and travels faster
  • High life expectancy
• Types of family

  • Nuclear Family
  • Single-parent Family
  • Traditional Extended Family
  • Modified Extended Family
  • Reconstituted Family
• Cohabitation


  When a couple live together without getting married
• Reasons for cohabitation

  • Marriage involves commitment and have legal aspects
  • People are concerned about the possibility of marriage collapse and get divorced
  • Some people believe that cohabitation allows them to know whether they are fit for each other
• Functions of the family

  • Emotional Support
  • Reproduction
  • Economic
• Specialized agencies

  Institutions which have been created to take up the one or more roles of the family such as old age homes and nurseries
• Functions taken up by specialized agencies/Institutions nowadays

  • Old people are sent to old age homes nowadays rather than being look after by their children where they also get emotional support from the staffs
  • Babies are kept in nurseries during the day as most women are employed and in the past women stayed home to look after their children
• Gender equality

  • The state where both genders enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections
• Examples of gender equality

  • Same job opportunities
  • Both genders get free education
  • Each gender has the right to vote
• Life expectancy in Mauritius

  75 years
• According to WHO report in 2018, Mauritius is ranked 82 in terms of life expectancy and 2nd in terms of death from diabetes mellitus
• Reasons for increasing life expectancy in Mauritius

  • Improvement in medical field
  • People have enough money to buy food and afford varied diet
  • Good water supply and improved personal hygiene
  • Improvement in prenatal and postnatal care
  • People are more conscious about health and sports activities
• Reasons for lower life expectancy of men in Mauritius compared to other countries

  • Excessive smoking
  • Drugs consumption
  • Excessive alcohol intake
  • Obesity and cardiovascular diseases due to unhealthy diet
• Reasons why children during pre-industrial period were not protected

  • They were working in fields, mines and factories as from 8 years old
  • They provided labour force for the survival of their family
• Laws protecting children in Mauritius

  • Children below 16 years are banned from working
  • Education is compulsory till 16 years
• Importance of education in Mauritius

  • Lack of natural resource thus Mauritius rely greatly on human resources
  • With time and Industrialisation process there was a need for educated and skilled workforce
  • Great importance to educate and trained a skilled and specialised labour force in order to cope with the rapid socio-economic changes in Mauritius
• Socialisation through

  • Primary (family)
  • Secondary (school through formal and informal learning)
  • Peers, Religion, mass media
• What students learn through informal learning in schools

  • Norms
  • Social skills
  • Roles
  • Values
• How industrialisation has changed the living conditions of people

  • Standard of living has improved
  • Salaries of both husband and wife allow the family to enjoy better living conditions
  • People are living in better housing conditions with basic modern facilities
  • Children have the responsibility to help their mother in the kitchen
  • People have enough money to buy clothes in luxurious shops
  • Family sits together at home and enjoying movies
  • Family spends more time together due to development of modern facilities and infrastructure such as Casela Nature park, cinemas and shopping malls
• Comparison of living conditions before and after industrialisation

  • Past: Housing conditions were poor as houses were made up of wood and corrugated iron sheets, Wood stoves were used to cook food in poorly equipped kitchen, Petrol lamps were used for lightning

  Today: Good housing conditions with houses made up of concrete and equipped with basic modern facilities, Gas or electricity are used to cook food in well-equipped kitchen, Electric bulbs provide lightning
• Changes in social class during pre-industrialisation and industrialisation period

  • Pre-industrialisation: Life was very difficult and most people were involved in agriculture, Family was very important as the family was considered as a unit of production

  Industrialisation: Many factories were emerged, hence more workers were needed, Decrease in unemployment and increase in paid jobs leading to better living conditions, better education and higher salaries, Mauritians started to climb up the social ladder as they moved from low income to high income to improve their standards of living
• Types of media

  • Printing
  • Radio and television
  • Internet
• Mass media


  Communicating to a very large number of people at the same time
• Examples of print mass media used for mass communication in Mauritius

  • Newspaper
  • Brochures
  • Magazines
  • Billboards
• Broadcast media to spend leisure time

  • Television
  • Radio