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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social welfare & social services > Welfare & benefit systems
An ethnography of the development and travel of the New Zealand model of neoliberal welfare reform, this study explores the social life of policy, which is one of process, motion, and change. Different actors, including not only policy elites but also providers and recipients, engage with it in light of their own resources and knowledge. Drawing on two analytic frameworks of the contemporary anthropology of policy-translation and assemblage-Kingfisher situates policy as an artifact and architect of cultural meaning, as well as a site of power struggles. All points of engagement with policy are approached as sites of policy production that serve to transform it as well as reproduce it. As such, A Policy Travelogue provides an antidote to theorizations of policy as a-cultural, rational, and straightforwardly technical.
How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they
become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream?
Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent
underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the
so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"?
Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities
suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth?"
will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and
tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor
neighborhoods.
This book studies the normative and positive ramifications of public pension policies in a growing economy. It analyzes the impact of an unfunded public pension scheme on aggregate productivity growth and efficiency, it considers the political forces behind public pension legislation, and it develops and discusses elements of public pension design and reform. The book emphasizes the endogenous growth paradigm for an understanding of the dynamic impact of intergenerational transfers inherent in an unfunded public pension scheme. It uncovers an allocative role of intergenerational transfers which is exclusively linked to the possibility of endogenously evolving economic growth. The endogenous growth approach also allows to identify unfunded public pensions as a source of a conflict between current and future generations. This conflict shapes private old-age security considerations as well as the process of public pension legislation.
This book examines the processes by which older people make housing decisions and the impact such decisions have on the construction of their lives. Evidence is included from a major three-year research study, where older people told stories of their lives. The authors argue that housing decisions are not necessarily the result of rational, analytical and objective thinking. The contribution of other ways of decision-making is often hidden, as when people think intuitively, act impulsively, or for essentially emotional reasons.
Many people see government involvement in family policy as a response to popular concerns that the American family is in a state of crisis. One of the primary concerns with "fragile" families (one parent a" usually mother) is economic: Poverty rates for single mothers are several times that of two-parent families. Economic deprivation while growing up has been linked to poor physical health, reduced intellectual ability and academic achievement. Some social sciences contend that marriage is the solution to many of the problems associated with single-parent families. Other experts believe that government programs designed to raise marriage rates may cause more problems than they solve ( i.e. domestic violence, divorce, etc.). The proposed volume will explore issues related to fragile families from many different perspectives on the causes and consequences of this issue. This book is divided up into sections covering legal and theoretical perspectives, causes and consequences of offspring wellbeing, and the aspect of fathera (TM)s importance to the "fragile families."
This book attributes American poverty to consequences 19th Century social welfare policies within an economy stretching to meet its 21st Century economic potential, arguing that American poverty persists as economic and political structures have moved into the world of fiscal planning but social welfare remains in its Depression-era structure.
A ground-breaking and sharply insightful book revealing the wide-ranging effects of the global economic crisis, the Arab Spring and the ongoing rebalancing of the world economy on international migration and its configuration. It debunks 'the business as usual' approach to the future challenge of migration and argues for a new approach to the issue.
Building on the impressive first edition, this revised and updated book examines a wide range of highly topical issues. Dr Panic questions whether economic prosperity, social wellbeing and peace are sustainable given existing national attitudes, institutions and policies, and explores the changes needed to prevent another global economic collapse.
In recent years, major social forces such as: ageing populations, social trends, migration patterns, and the globalization of economies, have reshaped social welfare policies and practices across the globe. Multinational corporations, NGOs, and other international organizations have begun to influence social policy at a national and local level. Among the many ramifications of these changes is that globalizing influences may hinder the ability of individual nation-states to effect policies that are beneficial to them on a local level. With contributions from thirteen countries worldwide, this collected work represents the first major comparative analysis on the effect of globalization on the international welfare state. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society is divided into two major sections: the first draws from a number of leading social welfare researchers from diverse countries who point to the nation-state as case studies; highlighting how it goes about establishing and revising social welfare provisions. The second portion of the volume then moves to a more global perspective in its analysis and questioning of the impact of globalization on citizenship, ageing and marketization. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society seeks to encourage debate about the implications of the most pressing social welfare issues in nation-states, and integrate analyses of policy and practice in particular countries struggling to provide social welfare support for their needy populations.
The period since the mid-1990s is distinguished by radical change in the housing sector in Ireland. During this time, house prices rose at an unprecedented rate. Between 1993 and 2003 the average price of a new house in the State increased by 220 percent. Private rents also grew and waiting lists for social housing lengthened. At the same time, new house building increased rapidly to one of the highest rates in the European Union. This development transformed city centres and suburbs, and also provincial towns and the countryside, which saw unprecedented construction of holiday homes and estates for commuters working in urban areas. This book, the first comprehensive review of housing in Ireland for many years, introduces, in an accessible manner, the key housing developments since the foundation of the State and also reports on the findings of the latest research on the transformation of the sector in the past decade. The issues examined here include: -the impact of the house price boom on wealth and affordability -the urban renewal schemes and private rented housing -the management of social housing -the accommodation of Travellers and homeless people -rural housing policy and politics During the past decade, Irelanda (TM)s economic growth has attracted international attention. This book analyses the consequences of that growth on housing and serves as a primer to other countries on the complexities of delivering sustainable housing solutions in the face of economic success. As such, this book will be of interest to students, practitioners andpolicy-makers involved in the housing field worldwide and to anyone who wishes to learn more about the causes and effects of Irelanda (TM)s recent housing boom.
This book discusses the crisis of caregiving as it affects parents seeking to provide good care for their children and people who care for their aged or disabled relatives. Discussed are alternatives to the present welfare system, a description of the current safety net programs, and an analysis of the privatization of social services.
This edited volume presents lessons for development in the 21st century through an analysis of South Korea's development experience. The question of how the collaboration between state and society has contributed to capability enhancement is examined. The papers of the volume aim to understand the complementarity between economic and social policies. Looking beyond the conventional analytical scope of South Korean developmental state, they focus on the institutional mechanisms enabling the state and society to establish complementary policies, the actors involved and the consequences of the choices in the policy areas of aid, industrial, labour market, fiscal and monetary policies, social policy, rural development, environment, and gender to identify relevant lessons for developing countries in the 21st century.This volume considers the institutions and policies of South Korea between 1945 and 2000. Framing social policies as a set of policies to enhance individual and societal capability, this volume shows how a wide range of policies were formulated to complement each other in protective, reproductive, productive and redistributive spheres for economic and social development. In particular, it includes the periods of state-building prior to the rapid industrialisation of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and the responses to Asian Economic Crisis in the 1990s, which identified the institutional foundations and legacies for Korea's successful development.This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, macroeconomics, institutional economics, political economy, migration studies, gender studies and international relations.
This is the first book to bring together international scholars from around the world and from a wide variety of disciplines, to discover what is known about grandfathers and analyse the impact of close involvement with their grandchildren. Within the context of increased divorce rates, single parent families and healthier, more active elders, grandfathers have come out of the shadows and re-invented themselves in a new caring, nurturing role. These original studies demonstrate that grandfather involvement is independently and positively associated with higher levels of child well-being in the UK and South Africa, as well as in Arab and Israeli teenagers, and pre-school children in England. The chapters conclude that societies could benefit from encouraging more grandfathers to become actively involved in their grandchildren's lives and argues the case for grandparent visitation rights in those countries that currently do not have them.
Reform and Responsibility in the Remaking of the Swedish National Pension System is a detailed study through Sweden's national pension system. With Sweden's recently reformed national pension system as the illustrative example, Nyqvist shows how new forms of governance effectively shift responsibility from state level to an individual level. She sheds light on how politicians, technocrats, and bureaucrats work to educate and foster the general public into responsible, hardworking, and financially literate citizens. This ethnographic example of how contemporary power works by way of new forms of governance, Reform and Responsibility in the Remaking of the Swedish National Pension System is an exploration into the art of governing of a large-scale governmental policy process
The greatest myth of modern times is the suggestion that capitalism and corporations do better with less government. The global economic crisis has certainly put paid to this idea. But the massive emergency state bailouts and interventions put in place from 2008 were unique only in their size and scale. Government programmes, designed to meet the needs of business, are not just everyday, they are everywhere and they are essential. Just as social welfare protects citizens from the cradle to the grave, corporate welfare protects and benefits corporations throughout their life course. And yet, in most countries, corporate welfare is hidden and underresearched. Drawing on comparative data from OECD states, this book seeks to shed light on the size, uses and importance of corporate welfareacross variouswelfare regimes.
The welfare state in postwar Western Europe has been extended and intensified in a spectacular manner. Today, "welfare" represents a complex mix of services covering health, education, welfare, the arts, leisure, and social security. Anton C. Zijderveld is of the opinion that Europe's vast, comprehensive welfare state is becoming leaner and meaner, heading down a more sober path toward decentralization and deregulation, which only, but not merely, secures order for its citizens and shields society's vulnerable. As the millennium approaches, Zijderveld believes Europe is experiencing a cultural renaissance and a socioeconomic and political reformation in which the market will flourish and civil society will prosper. "The Waning of the Welfare State "focuses on the transformation of the welfare state in Europe over a four-decade period. Zijderveld employs the democratic triangle theoretical model, in which democracy is viewed as a system in which state, market, and civil society are held in precious balance. If one component supersedes the other two, democracy is endangered. In its 1960s and 1970s heyday, the state took center stage at the expense of the market and civil society; social democracy was the prevailing ideology. In the 1980s the market triumphed, often at the expense of both the state and civil society; this was the decade of liberalism. Today, civil society prevails, albeit at risk of being injurious to state and market. Ideologically, this is the decade of conservatism. Zijderveld sees a future "Americanization" of European social policy producing a fortuitously balanced coalition of social democracy, liberalism, and conservatism; a place where safety and order, prosperity and economic participation, and social participation and meaningful interactions flourish equally. This transformation carries many risks. But it will, in the end, strengthen Europe's political, economic, and sociocultural stamina. If it also draws the Atlantic partners closer together, as Zijderveld believes it does, the chances of another European communist, libertarian, or fascist "Gtterdommerung" will remain remote. Zijderveld presents useful concepts in a highly organized fashion. He has produced a very important book for American readers who will, hopefully, discover, beyond the often vast differences, some basic similarities of structures and developments within the European welfare state.
Provides a comprehensive, up-to-date description and analysis of the housing and neighborhood problems facing residents of the nation's largest city, and the policies that have been developed to solve these problems.
This book provides an up-to-date account of housing policy systems in eight countries - Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. With one chapter devoted to each country, there are, in addition, introductory and concluding chapters, in which the editors identify both the similarities in the problems faced, and in the approaches adopted, by the governments of the Asian countries - setting them apart from the West - as well as the differences that indicate the variety of Asian solutions.
'...a wide-ranging, scholarly and humane book which should be read by anyone seriously interested in this country.' - David Donnison From the devastation of the Korean war, there emerged one of the most dynamic, rapidly growing economies the world has ever seen. Starting from a concern about the housing of people struggling to survive on low incomes in the cities of South Korea, Kim Woo-Jin throws light upon the whole development of Korean society since the civil war. He argues that housing has played a central part in both the development of the economy and its more recent slowdown. In the future, housing policies may play their part in resisting the destructive forces that the probable reunification of North and South will bring and recreate hope for the future.
In late summer 2015, Sweden embarked on one of the largest self-described humanitarian efforts in its history, opening its borders to 163,000 asylum seekers fleeing the war in Syria. Six months later this massive effort was over. On January 4, 2016, Sweden closed its border with Denmark. This closure makes a startling reversal of Sweden's open borders to refugees and contravenes free movement in the Schengen Area, a founding principle of the European Union. What happened? This book sets out to explain this reversal. In her new and compelling book, Vanessa Barker explores the Swedish case study to challenge several key paradigms for understanding penal order in the twenty-first century and makes an important contribution to our understanding of punishment and welfare states. She questions the dominance of neoliberalism and political economy as the main explanation for the penalization of others, migrants and foreign nationals, and develops an alternative theoretical framework based on the internal logic of the welfare state and democratic theory about citizenship, incorporation, and difference, paying particular attention to questions of belonging, worthiness, and ethnic and gender hierarchies. Her book develops the concept of penal nationalism as an important form of penal power in the twenty-first century, providing a bridge between border control and punishment studies.
This important book collects together Peter Nijkamp's work on spatial-economic markets, particularly housing and labour markets, and the increasing impact of information technology on mobility and the location of firms, residents and job seekers.The first part deals with applied modelling and theoretical advances in housing market dynamics and research. The papers address issues such as the implications of household dynamics for relocation decisions, migration movements in Europe, and the driving forces for migration decisions of ethnic groups. The second part focuses on the spatial labour market, dealing with recruitment channel and search channel choices by job seekers and firms, vacancy durations and the opportunities offered by ethnic entrepreneurship for improving the chances of ethnic groups. The third part comprises an analysis of spatial mobility flows and interaction patterns and the final part emphasises the scope and effect of information technology in transport. This includes the effect of real-time information on the behaviour of car drivers, the effect of telematics devices on public transport users, the importance of telematics for the freight transport sector and the adoption mechanisms of ICT users and their related policy implications. This collection will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in the housing and labour markets and the impact on both of developments in IT and transport.
This book analyzes in what way activation policies impact on given patterns of social citizenship that predominate in national contexts. It argues that the liberal paradigm of activation introduced into labour market policies in all Western European states challenges the specific patterns of social citizenship in each country.
This volume provides a Europe-wide comparative analysis of the role of civil society organizations active in the field of unemployment and precarity. It illustrates how crucial civil society organizations are for the inclusion of the young unemployed, mainly in two ways: by delivering services and by advocating policy.
Using an innovative, action research approach, Margaret Vickers
explores the lives of women who work full time while caring for a
child with significant chronic illness or disability. She
demonstrates that such women can be disconnected from those around
them, overwhelmed with responsibility at home and work, and dealing
with ongoing grief and anxieties while largely unsupported. On the
other hand, there are narratives of survival, kindness and
resilience. This qualitative study makes use of data poems,
fictional diary entries, firsthand interviews, research reflections
and constructed vignettes in conveying the life experiences of this
group of women. |
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