Although family unit has long been a representative unit at social service policy, the singleton will be the most popular unit before long. This study starts at the point that our society is not fully ready to cope with this dramatic change, and we ne...
Although family unit has long been a representative unit at social service policy, the singleton will be the most popular unit before long. This study starts at the point that our society is not fully ready to cope with this dramatic change, and we need to hurry to prepare the effective ways to deal with increasing number of singletons. The study first tries to grasp current features of our singletons and then to evaluate current social service policies for them under the criterion of whether current polices are meeting the needs of today’s singletons in our society.
Singletons in Korea are segmented into various types in terms of generations, gender, and economic status. Yet, social services for the singleton are still focused on the specific groups such as the old singleton, and providing only the limited content of support such as care services. According to the directions of changes in the characteristics of singletons, existing ways to deal with singletons are not effective. Social service policy entitlement should be universalized and singletons should be regarded as a product of life-cycle process.
Everyone would be a potential singleton in the process of their own life-cycle.
Also, singletons do not only suffer economic hardships and care deficiency, but also suffer from lack of relationships and emotional isolations. Therefore social service should be expanded into the relational area. Community based social services would be more effective, especially for the singletons, so that collaborative governance should be established among policy agents such as central gov., local gov. and non-public organizations rooted in community.