Social Policy & Administration最新文献

{"title":"Welfare service reforms: Arab minority welfare bureau managers assess the outcomes","authors":"Ibrahim Mahajne","doi":"10.1111/spol.13025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13025","url":null,"abstract":"Welfare bureaus constitute a safety net for the dispossessed Arab minority in Israel who are partially excluded from the state social services. The welfare bureau reforms discussed in this article are consequently crucial to improve welfare services for the underprivileged minority service users. This article partially fills a lacuna in the relevant literature by adopting a critical approach to assess the reforms' actual contributions to improving the organizations' performances for minority population social services. It did this by investigating Arab social workers' views on the outcomes of different welfare services reforms for them. An exploratory study drew data from two tools: content analysis of official documents and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with 19 Arab welfare bureau managers. The documents indicated that the ‘Change Program’ (1977) produced minimal to no positive outcomes for Arab welfare bureaus. Also, the respondents indicated that the ‘Reform in Local Welfare Services’ (2017) produced insufficient achievements, detailed in five themes. Two Arab representatives were consulted for the proposed ‘Right to Quality Welfare’ program (June 2023), which aims to offer a ‘uniform welfare basket’ to all citizens. The findings indicate that the concept of up‐down comprehensive organizational reforms should be re‐examined, considering instead small but incremental down‐up modifications.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"204 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140202736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Looking beyond the workplace: Trade unions and the politics of poverty in Italy","authors":"Luca Cigna, Bianca Luna Fabris","doi":"10.1111/spol.13020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13020","url":null,"abstract":"There is ample literature to suggest that labour's interests are at odds with the extension of income protection to ‘outsiders’. Until recently, Italian unions were reluctant, if not outright obstructive, towards the introduction of a minimum income scheme (MIS). After the 2008 financial crisis and its dramatic social and economic consequences, however, the three major labour confederations supported the introduction of a national MIS, openly embracing the fight against income insecurity. Why did trade unions overturn their conservative approach and eventually support social assistance safety nets? Drawing upon textual evidence and semi‐structured interviews, the paper suggests that the Italian labour movement, albeit with differences among the confederations, has radically changed its preferences towards social assistance. Unions gradually shifted from a ‘deservingness’ logic (championing ‘hard work’) to one of reservation wage (the ‘we are all in the same boat’ narrative). Weaknesses in labour market peripheries have encouraged the labour movement to defend those at risk of poverty. The Italian case has wider implications for actors' preferences and roles in welfare reform, showing that structural and strategic factors may encourage labour to join coalitions that support welfare ‘de‐dualisation’ pathways.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140202828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovation in practice: A deviant case analysis of a locally developed assessment tool used in a psychiatric and addiction clinic in Sweden","authors":"Sofia Härd","doi":"10.1111/spol.13024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13024","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the use of a locally developed assessment tool designed to generate aggregated data to evaluate the work of a psychiatric and addiction clinic. The use of tools, methods and interventions in the Swedish social services is usually based on recommendations in national guidelines established by the National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW). Thus, a locally produced and systematically used assessment tool provides an interesting deviant case for discussing knowledge production and use from the perspective of evidence‐based practice. The assessment tool was characterised by the specific psychiatric and addiction clinic context, where local needs and prerequisites were prioritised over the recommendations found in NBHW guidelines. The empirics comprise interviews with 12 professionals who used the tool, where experience of using the tool was analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings can be summarised in three main conclusions. First, tinkering of tools and methods is not necessarily associated with limited practice applicability or relevance. Second, professionals are more likely to appreciate a tool if that tool is designed with a treatment and conversation rationality in mind. Third, rather than perceived as more valid than other types of knowledge, NBHW‐recommended tools are associated with a certain shape or style – but a shape or style that is permeated by legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140202792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A history of the intermediate tier in the English NHS: Centre, region, periphery","authors":"Michael Lambert","doi":"10.1111/spol.13019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13019","url":null,"abstract":"Centre‐periphery relations have constituted a paradox for the English National Health Service (NHS) since its creation in 1948. Is it a top‐down national service organised locally, or a bottom‐up arrangement of local health systems managed nationally? North West England provides a regional case study which traces the changing organisational, relational and spatial dimensions of the intermediate tier. These reposition centre‐periphery tensions. In foregrounding, situating and conceptualising region in these terms, I offer new insight into existing narratives and centre‐periphery relations in the NHS.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140168282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Critical juncture and historical legacies: Insights and methods. By Collier, D., & Munck, G. L. (Eds.), London: The Rowman & Little-field Publishing Group, Inc. 2022. pp. 1–473. $92.70 (Hardcover). ISBN: 9781538166147","authors":"Tauchid Komara Yuda","doi":"10.1111/spol.13018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13018","url":null,"abstract":"<h2> CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT</h2>\u0000<p>The authors declare no conflict of interest.</p>","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Health systems in the COVID-19 crises: Comparative patterns of NHS satisfaction and preferences for public health action in Scotland and England","authors":"Christopher Deeming","doi":"10.1111/spol.13015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13015","url":null,"abstract":"It is often claimed Scotland is more social democratic in outlook compared to England, if this is the case then we might expect to find differences in public attitudes towards health and social justice, reflecting the growing health policy divergence between the two nations. Comparative attitudes towards healthcare in Scotland and England are worthy of close scrutiny here, given the different reform trajectories, with the running of the Scottish NHS based on professionalism and the English NHS structure built on market-based principles. The Scottish Government also implemented stricter lockdown restrictions compared to the UK Government in England. However, the extent to which the policy responses to the pandemic reflect different attitudes towards collective public health action in the two countries remains under-researched. In this article, public attitudes towards health in Scotland are compared with those in England. The comparative analysis relies primarily on survey data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) module on health and healthcare. This survey was fielded in Scotland and England in the autumn of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Scotland is more solidaristic or ‘social democratic’ than England on key issues relating to public health action and social justice. The findings reveal some commonalities between the nations, confidence in the NHS during the pandemic, and a willingness to improve the health service via higher taxes for example, but also important differences in attitudes and preferences for state action exist that help set the scene for greater policy divergence in the UK.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140046384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trajectories among recipients of social assistance in Norway: A local approach","authors":"Espen Dahl, Thomas Lorentzen, Åsmund Hermansen, Andreas Roaldsnes","doi":"10.1111/spol.13014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13014","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>1 INTRODUCTION</h2>\u0000<p>A local perspective on individual work and welfare careers has become more urgent in the past decades due to recent political, economic and social developments (Heidenreich &amp; Rice, <span>2016</span>). In general, the Nordic welfare regime is more service oriented than other welfare regimes. To state the obvious, service provision and use take place at the local level. As Andreotti and Mingione (<span>2016</span>) have claimed: “The ‘new active welfare’ lays its foundations at the local level, …”. Recent work and welfare reforms have increasingly emphasized activation and integrated or coordinated provision of a multitude of services. This development also seems like a necessity as new target groups include more disadvantaged individuals farther from the labour market and who have more complex problems and hence need a variety of services.</p>\u0000<p>Kazepov (<span>2010</span>) has asserted that ‘the territorial dimension of social policies has long been a neglected perspective in comparative social analysis’. Recent scientific contributions have met this challenge mostly by mapping variations in local welfare arrangements and by analysing sociopolitical drivers of decentralization of such welfare provisions (Andreotti et al., <span>2012</span>; Heidenreich &amp; Rice, <span>2016</span>; Vampa, <span>2017</span>).</p>\u0000<p>The ambition of this paper is to bridge the gap between the local social policy/regime literature and scholarship on benefit users' dynamics and trajectories. It addresses the actual trajectories or pathways of social assistance recipients in domains like work, welfare and education. The aim is to investigate how these trajectories are related to characteristics of the municipality of residence in Norway. We ask: Net of labour market conditions and individual characteristics, to what extent are resources provided by the local municipality and particularly the local Labour- and Welfare office (NAV office), able to further work oriented trajectories among younger recipients of social assistance?</p>\u0000<p>Young social assistance recipients are selected for scrutiny as they have several and varied disadvantages (van der Wel et al., <span>2006</span>). Hence, many are hard-to-assist and need a variety of resources and services. In the public debate, many are worried that young recipients are entering their adulthood as “dependent” on social assistance. Young people (&lt; 30 years of age) in general and social assistance recipients in particular are among the target groups of The Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).</p>","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139947093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variations in Social Europe? National political parties' positions on EU-level social regulations","authors":"Zhen Jie Im","doi":"10.1111/spol.13012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13012","url":null,"abstract":"How do national political parties vary in their views on Social Europe? I focus on an aspect that has received less attention despite its growing prevalence—EU regulations with ambitions to diminish social inequality to encourage social convergence among Member States. Since the Juncker Commission, the European Commission has become increasingly active in pursuing this aspect of Social Europe. Thus, understanding parties' positions on this aspect of Social Europe has become more important. However, current literature lacks measures of national party stances towards Social Europe, and explanations for these stances. Here, I use data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2006, 2009, 2014 and 2019) to develop an indirect measure of party positions on Social Europe. Leveraging studies in party politics and EU politics, I propose that party families and national economic conditions may affect parties' positions on Social Europe. The analyses suggest substantial variation in parties' positions on Social Europe both within and across party families. The analyses also demonstrate that socialist and green parties support Social Europe most, whereas radical right parties support it least. Lastly, I do not find systematic evidence that national economic conditions influence parties' support for this aspect of Social Europe.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139918599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"European long-term care marketisation: A political economy framework","authors":"Julien Mercille","doi":"10.1111/spol.13013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13013","url":null,"abstract":"The study of European long-term care (LTC) marketisation is dominated by institutional and ideational perspectives. In contrast, political economic theoretical frameworks have received little attention. This is paradoxical, because marketisation is an inherently political economic phenomenon. The financialisation of LTC systems, the growth of private for-profit providers and the rise in cross-national investments are proceeding apace, yet, they have been neglected by conventional approaches. This paper presents a political economy theoretical framework to study LTC marketisation. In contrast to conventional perspectives, it locates the drivers of marketisation within (neoliberal) capitalism; conceives of the state as significantly aligned with the interests of the business sector; interprets ideology as often originating in the material interests of the latter; examines ‘power struggles’ between, in particular, private providers on one hand and the public/non-profit sector and care workers on the other hand. These power struggles take place in LTC financing, privatisation, regulation, financialisation and labour flexibility. In those struggles, private providers assert their power (structural, institutional and instrumental) to shape marketisation; however, they can encounter resistance. The framework also examines the outcomes of marketisation and is illustrated empirically by reference to Irish LTC.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139918562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In search of a job—But which one? How unemployed people revise their occupational expectations","authors":"Didier Demazière","doi":"10.1111/spol.13011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13011","url":null,"abstract":"Conducting a job search implies the identification of a target—an intended job. However, this assumption has been little studied, and just two main conclusions have been drawn, namely: jobseekers have an incentive to adjust their targets to the jobs available, and returning to work tends to lead to occupational downgrading. This article explores how job search experiences shape and alter targets. Biographical interviews were conducted with 57 unemployed people registered with the French public employment service. Ultimately, all of them revise their occupational expectations as, faced with the uncertainties inherent to the job search and experiencing difficulties in reaching their priority targets, they try to adapt and define more realistic goals. Four contrasting processes of expectation revision are used to track these tensions between desirability and realism. In conclusion, we stress the following facts: that unemployed people are flexible and develop rationales in order to adapt to the labour market; that their experience of failure, alongside advice and beliefs arising in the course of the job search feed directly into these revisions, and that these revisions both vary in magnitude and reflect inequalities in the defining process of target jobs.","PeriodicalId":47858,"journal":{"name":"Social Policy & Administration","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139752077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}