This book traces the historical development of social policy analysis, emphasizing the factors that promoted its development, the need for social policy analysis, and the fields of application for social policy analysis.

Over recent years, the inability of social security protection to reach workers without a formal employment contract has become an inconvenient reality in both the global north and south. This book explores how provisions for income security can be revised to effectively meet the needs of the labour force in varying economies. In developing economies, informal employment has traditionally accounted for a high proportion of overall employment and this trend looks set to continue. In the global north, the increasing use of flex-contracts and 'dependent self-employment' has led to a rise in the number of workers with limited income protection. An additional challenge for countries in both hemispheres is the rise of the 'gig' economy. This book is the first to open up a dialogue about social security coverage in the developed and developing world. Authors from both sides of the divide have contributed chapters and present a variety of insights, experiments and practices with the aim of identifying better ways to combat the growing social security challenge. Academic researchers with an interest in labour law and social policy will find this book to be an engaging source of innovative research. Practicing lawyers and policy makers will also benefit from the insights and examples provided from a number of different jurisdictions. ntributors include: C. Barnard, A. Blackham, E. Fourie, A. Govindjee, T. Gyulavari, D. Hofmeyr, L. Jianfei, A. Johansson Westregard, L. Lamarche, J. Li, J. Masabo, M. Olivier, P.A. Ortiz, A. Paz-Fuchs, M. Westerveld, M. Wynn

Why is the welfare system failing to work for so many people? This book examines the problems with the current welfare system and proposes reforms to create a smarter, smaller system that helps people improve their lives through rewarding work. Unlike other books on welfare, this one draws on the stories of more than 100 welfare recipients who are trapped in a system that keeps them underemployed and unemployed. The authors present case studies that show that being a part of a welfare program can actively result in the recipient having to limit their job efforts for fear of losing government assistance. The book examines all major U.S. welfare systems, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, SNAP, Medicaid, and others. The authors begin by exploring the nation's basic poverty issues and examining the relationship between work and happiness. Next, they zero in on specific welfare programs, reporting both on their dollar costs and on the ways that they fail enrollees. The book then concludes with strategies for addressing the shortcomings of the current U.S. welfare system. This book is appropriate for readers interested in public policy, government programs, welfare, and cultural shifts in America. It adds a new perspective to the existing body of welfare scholarship by systematically assessing the impact of welfare on the receivers themselves. Presents a unique analysis of America's welfare programs and uses real-life examples to show how the current system forces enrollees to stay underemployed or unemployed Offers a well-researched perspective on the relationship between work and happiness and why work is necessary for a happy life Presents a new angle on welfare's shortcomings by focusing on the opinions of more than 100 welfare beneficiaries Provides a variety of recommendations for welfare reform, such as creating wage subsidies for low-income workers, increasing apprenticeships, privatizing welfare, and fixing the Earned Income Tax Credit, among others

As a result of the impact of neo-liberal economics and the financial crisis on policy development and implementation, economic and social divides are widening and deepening globally. As the causes and consequences of austerity continue to emerge across Europe and internationally, so the key policy impact messages must continue to be told. Under the themes of Justice, Participation and Social Exclusion, contributors to this volume draw on recent examples to explore and discuss the impact of those targeted or excluded by public and social policies in European countries, developed, implemented and evaluated at a time of austerity. Contexts, consequences and controversies current in the global North are uncovered highlighting the ethical implications for policy research and the role of the academic.
To bear witness and tell the 'truth' is a standpoint usually associated with religious philosophies. In these turbulent years in Western democracies perhaps one critical role for the academic, recast for post-modern times, is to bear witness to the lives of the powerless and tell their 'truths'. Citizen involvement in policy development can be potent and not merely tokenistic if knowledge becomes a means by which policies can be challenged by those subject to them.

Through the ethnography of a Catholic community in Northeast Brazil, Maya Mayblin offers a vivid and provocative rethink of gendered portrayals of Catholic life. For the residents of Santa Lucia, life is conceptualized as a series of moral tradeoffs between the sinful and productive world against an idealized state of innocence, conceived with reference to local Catholic teachings. As marriage marks the beginning of a productive life in the world, it also marks a phase in which moral personhood comes most actively-and poignantly-to the fore. This book offers lucid observations on how men and women as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, negotiate this challenge. As well as making an important contribution to the ethnographic literature on morality, Christianity, and Latin America, the book offers a compelling alternative to received portrayals of gender polarity as symbolically all-encompassing, throughout the Catholic world.

The Handbook is an attempt to bridge the gap between the highly technical and the everyday, practical resource tools for those just introduced to the field of aging. Its objective is not to provide a definitive examination of American aging programs, but to look closely at a number of programs that are having a significant impact on the lives of older adults in America today.

A pioneering contribution to the literature, this book studies welfare dependence among families eligible for assistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the most controversial income-maintenance program in the nation. In contrast to most works in this area, which rely solely on household data, Vicky Albert uses aggregate data and time-series forecasting techniques to analyze the movement of low-income families to and from welfare. Through Albert's longitudinal perspective and close analysis of such factors as changing welfare policies, labor-market conditions, and demographics, a broad picture of the dynamics of welfare receipt emerges. Particular attention is given to the effects of recent welfare policy shifts brought about by the Reagan administration. Albert's study performs three major functions: descriptive, modeling, and forecasting. She thoroughly analyzes the welfare system and its policies, examines trends in AFDC need and benefit standards, and compares California's AFDC program with those of other states. Albert then develops an analytic structure for investigating determinants of change in California's welfare caseload. Finally, the model is used to predict consequences for the welfare caseload under alternative assumptions about external developments. Numerous tables and figures amplify points made in the discussion. An excellent supplemental text for courses in social welfare, public policy, and welfare ecomomics, this book adds an important new dimension to the continiuing debate on the relative merits of the AFDC program. It should be read by anyone involved in policy-making for administration of the welfare system.

The United States' health care system stands out for its strict division of policies dealing with public health and individual medicine. Seeking to explain how this division came to be, what alternative paths might have been taken, and how this shapes the contemporary landscape, Daniel Sledge offers nothing less than a reinterpretation of the making of modern American health policy in Health Divided. The vision of those who built the institutions that became the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was, we see here, far more expansive and innovative than has previously been realized-and it came surprisingly close to succeeding. Exploring the history behind its failure, and tracing the inextricable links between public health and national health policy, this book provides a valuable new perspective on the origins of America's disjointed health care system.

This timely book examines parental rights to 'welfare state support' and parental responsibilities for child welfare in relation to recent social policy agendas pursued by the UK's Labour government, in the context of: child well-being research, state welfare analysis, sociological research about parental perspectives, and the multiple contexts of parenting and childhood. It calls for notions of parental rights and responsibilities which are more responsive to the diversity of parental perspectives and parenting contexts. The book examines the complex and changing relationship between the state and families. It presents new research and evidence on the perspectives of families, policy makers, and practitioners, offering a clear conceptual framework and analytical strategy to examine the four concepts central to family policy and everyday family lives.

Caring for people with disabilities often becomes an all-encompassing responsibility for one or more family members. To manage the multifaceted demands, caregivers must possess strong multitasking skills, including the ability to assist with daily life tasks; provide emotional support; help with financial affairs; mediate and advocate with health care providers. Maintaining balance within their own lives can become incredibly challenging for caregivers. More often than not, providing care for family members or loved ones occurs at the expense of the caregivers' well-being. And for caregivers who themselves have disabilities, it further complicates matters.

"Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability" addresses concerns that have been long familiar to the caregiver population and examines the current state of family care for individuals with disabilities. With a lifespan perspective, this concise reference reviews the literature on specific problems of caregivers and explores which care strategies are effective, promising, or lacking in available resources and support interventions. Contributors also explore the more fluid and subjective aspects of caregiving, such as feelings, spirituality, and family roles. Suggestions for future policy improvements, particularly within the public health sector, are discussed as well.

Topics covered include:

Family dynamics and caregiving for people with disabilities.
Parent caregiving of children with disabilities.
Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and caregiving.
Educational, training, and support programs for caregivers.
Emerging technologies to aid caregivers.
Developing partnerships between caregivers and health care providers.

"Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability" is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, policy makers, and graduate students across such disciplines as clinical psychology, nursing, social work, public health, medicine, and social and education policy."

Modern welfare states are confronted with a wide variety of social and economic developments, including individualization, secularization, globalization and changing preferences and ideologies of citizens. Using in-depth analysis gathered over 15 years, this book closely analyzes the consequences of these significant changes for social policies, offering theoretical and practical insights about their responsiveness. It includes a comparative analysis of recent developments in social assistance, sheltered work and labour market policies in the Netherlands, showing how policy makers are continually trying to incorporate societal transformations into social policies while being obstructed by the path-dependent development of welfare state institutions. The insights from the case studies are related to developments in other European countries in the areas of social assistance, sheltered work and labour market policies, and show how policy makers and politicians deal with multiple challenges, interests and perspectives on social policies. This book is essential reading for academics and students interested in the institutional development of social policies.

In recent years, there has been a virtual explosion of interest in service-learning. Impact studies have demonstrated a wide range of interpersonal outcomes including a sense of efficacy, connection to community, appreciation for diverse populations, and interest in course work to name a few. Yet critics have recently argued that the developmental outcomes of service-learning do not sufficiently examine cognitive development. Further, it is not clear whether interpersonal outcomes interact with the intellectual outcomes attributed to the courses affiliated with the service. This groundbreaking book examines whether exposure to and immersion in a service-learning program is in any way related to cognitive development. The researcher identified traditionally-aged college students who were selected by service-learning faculty as demonstrating an exemplary commitment to, and engagement in, service-learning. This study utilized The Service Learning Model, developed by Delve, Mintz, and Stewart (1990), to examine, describe, and assess depth of engagement in service at two points in time. William Perry s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development (1970) was used to examine possible cognitive development. Results reveal a new pathway of deepening engagement in service. The growing body of research on college student participation in service-learning has documented the generally small, positive effects of service-learning on student development. A casual observer may attribute this effort to be successful, however, a closer examination of service-learning begs the question: Is a small, positive effect the type of learning we expect and are we accomplishing the learning objectives of the academy, not to mention, meeting community needs? The focus on what students are learning, rather than on how they learn best, leaves us with an unsettling uncertainty regarding the outcomes of service-learning. In order to focus on how students may learn best, this book focuses on an examination of individuals, as compared with groups, and of individuals that exhibit some of the outcomes that service-learning claims to promote. This book examines whether any students report that service-learning enriches their course of study resulting in the development of critical thinking skills (among other cognitive skills), in addition to interpersonal skills. This book shows that direct service experience involving an emotional or psychological (affective) connection with a community member or members receiving services prompts an assessment of the participants place in society. In responding to these emotions, students participated in service more frequently and with deeper engagement. Exposure to and immersion in direct service experiences, along with subsequent reflection prior to involvement in a service-learning program, are the mediating factors for the preparation of exemplars to initiate the interest necessary to develop cognitive skills. This book shows that interpersonal, affective development is the precursor for participants readiness for cognitive development in a service-learning program. A developmental scheme of engagement, student development interactions, recommendations for faculty for optimal development in service-learning, and recommendations for future practice are presented in this book that will be a valuable addition for all collections in education.

This book offers an account of the social production of (ill) health. The author theorizes how health and ill-health can be produced via the interaction of individual-level discourses of contingent work and broader socio-political contexts. One of the most important changes affecting work and workers in (non)industrialized countries over the last two decades is the spread of contingent forms of work. Contingent employment is a mode of work organization characterized by transitory employment relationships, such as short- or fixed-term contracts, part-time, casual/on-call, self-employment, seasonal, and temporary help agency work. It emerged as a significant form of employment in the context of the global capitalism-- globalization of trade, investment, production, intensified economic competition, and associated corporate responses such as organizational restructuring, downsizing, and outsourcing. In Canada, contingent work accounts for 13% of total employment, up from 9.7% in 1998. In the United States, upwards of 30% of workers are engaged in some form of contingent work. Similar labor market shifts are apparent in European countries.The increasing prevalence of contingent work has prompted concerns about its health implications for people who do these types of work. Nonetheless, the relationship between contingent work and health is poorly understood because existing research findings are inconsistent or inconclusive. The research reported in this book casts light on these discrepant health-related findings by examining contingent work from the perspective of workers, through an exploration of how they experience and understand this form of work and how these experiences and understandings might affect health. The study revealed a strong discursive aspect to workers' experience, and these discourses are the focus of this book. A theoretical premise of this study is that experience is inseparable from discourse. In other words, the language in which workers articulate their experience both constitutes and reflects that experience--how they experience their work is embodied in their discursive practices for talking about it. Thus, their experience can be understood, at least in part, through an analysis of the discourses of which they avail themselves. Informed by a constructionist theoretical perspective, the book describes and discusses the different kinds of discourses workers use to portray their experience of contingent work and how these discourses are related to evaluations of contingent work as inferior or stigmatized work and to broader socio-political and economic contexts. Another assumption of this study is that discourses are inseparable from the broader socio-political contexts in which they are constructed; indeed they exist in a recursive relationship with these social contexts. The findings reveal how individual-level discourses about contingent work shape, and are shaped by, neoliberal rationalities. That is, how individuals talk about and experience their work is formed in important ways by broader societal conceptions of work and citizenship. In turn, their individual discourses constitute and reinforce these existing societal notions. With arguments premised on the theoretical assumption that discourse is a form of social action, the book argues that the discourses of contingent work constitute a form of management of stigmatised work and that they cast workers as different kinds of citizens. It concludes with a discussion of the health implications of these neoliberal-inspired discourses. This book will be an important addition to collections in public health and public policy.

This key text from the best-selling "Understanding Welfare" series provides an unique understanding of the main theoretical perspectives and concepts used in social policy in a student-friendly format. A central theme is that theory helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. Written by a leading author in UK social policy, the book uses diverse examples from contemporary social policy to help theoretical arguments come alive and uses summaries and additional resources to help students and their teachers in their learning. It will be essential reading for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates and postgraduates in social policy, social theory and related subjects, as well as their teachers.

This book explores recent social policy reforms and innovations in Chile. Focusing on four major reform episodes - health, pensions, childcare, and maternity leave - Silke Staab unveils the complex interplay of factors that have shaped the successes and failures of actors pursuing positive gender change in social policy. She shows that even in highly constrained settings positive gender change is possible, but that its scope and quality are bound to vary in response to sector-specific institutional constraints and opportunities.

Total Quality Management and Project Management have a symbiotic relationship in their planning, design, analysis, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as other related processes. This book accentuates the relationship between Total Quality Management and Project Management and other contemporary management concepts. These contemporary concepts include Six Sigma Methodology, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Capacity Building, Business Re-engineering, Knowledge Management, Configuration Management, SWOT Analysis, and Total Quality Leadership, as well as fundamental business management concepts such as leadership dynamics, quality assurance, quality control, and continuous quality improvement. The book evaluates and analyzes the relationship between Total Quality Management and Human Resource Management, Public Relations Management, Marketing Management, Risk Management, Project Proposal Writing, and Resource Coordination and Management. Total Quality Management gives an exploratory overview of the contributions of certain national and international organizations that operate in Africa towards an effective and efficient delivery of products and services, especially on the implementation of capacity building programs in Africa, such as The World Bank, AfDB, CDC, PAID, ACBF, UNDP, AAPAM, CAFRAD, NEPAD, and others.

Poverty is not a neutral phenomenon, nor are social inclusion programmes neutrally conceived, designed and implemented.Their ultimate nature is built upon ideas, values, actors, politics and economic constraints.This topical book is one of the first to examine the social and political construction of anti-poverty programmes in Central Eastern Europe and their transformation from communist rule to the current economic crisis. It covers the approach towards the 'parasite' poor through to Guaranteed Minimum Income Schemes and illustrates how the distinction between different categories of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor has evolved over the years as the result of changing paradigms, combined with the pressure exerted by domestic and international actors, the European Union and the World Bank among others. This text breaks new ground for social policy students and scholars interested in understanding how differently post-communist welfare states have represented, legitimised and dealt with poverty, need and social justice in accordance with divergent normative frameworks constructed at national level.

This book presents an exploration of the idea of the common or social good, extended so that alternatives with different populations can be ranked. The approach is, in the main, welfarist, basing rankings on the well-being, broadly conceived, of those who are alive (or ever lived). The axiomatic method is employed, and topics investigated include: the measurement of individual well-being, social attitudes toward inequality of well-being, the main classes of population principles, principles that provide incomplete rankings, principles that rank uncertain alternatives, best choices from feasible sets, and applications. The chapters are divided, with mathematical arguments confined to the second part. The first part is intended to make the arguments accessible to a more general readership. Although the book can be read as a defense of the critical-level generalized-utilitarian class of principles, comprehensive examinations of other classes are included.

The field of social policy has a rich history but policies on the ground are undergoing intensive change. Governments around the world are responding to political, economic and financial pressures, many of them linked to the global economic crisis. National agendas typically have social policy at or close to the centre. This latest edition of Social Policy Review presents an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. It brings together research by an exciting range of internationally renowned authors and examines important debates in British and international social policy. This edition includes a special focus in the third part on work, employment and insecurity. Social Policy Review is essential reading for social policy academics and students and for anyone who is interested in the social and economic implications of government policy.

In the US and UK there has been a transformation in child care, family leave, social assistance and tax credits over the last twenty years. This book explores the factors behind these changes. With detailed case studies, it shows that ideas and the power to wield them are crucial factors in the transformation of family policy.

This book explores the dimensions and characteristics of social vulnerability in Western Europe. It provides a broad empirical foundation for recent theories on the emergence of new social risks in post-industrial societies, revealing to what extent social risks are compromising the 'normal' functioning of the European population.