瑞典社会保障制度改革及其对我国的启示

1950～1960年代,福利国家在西欧和北欧得到了充分地发展。其中,瑞典以其福利最广泛和最优厚而闻名于世,获得了＂福利国家橱窗＂的称号。1970年代后期,以瑞典为代表的福利国家出现了过度福利的问题,相继进入＂福利国家危机时代＂。经过一系列的改革,瑞典取得了积极的成效。我国国情与瑞典不同决定了我们不可能建立一个完全瑞典模式的社会保障体系,但是瑞典的一些经验和做法对于完善我国的社会保障制度有着重要的借鉴意义。     

国外福利依赖研究综述

"福利依赖"的理论研究起源于西方福利发达国家,也是西方国家当前福利改革中的一个研究热点。目前,西方国家在"福利依赖"的理论起源、涵义、表现、产生原因及反福利依赖等方面已取得了大量研究成果。这些研究成果对于中国社会福利和社会政策的发展具有重要的借鉴意义。     

“福利国家”理论和实践及其对我国的启示

福利国家在二战后最终形成和发展起来,它的产生和发展有着坚厚的理论基础和实践传统。其中瑞典、丹麦等北欧国家是福利国家制度的典范,建立起从摇篮到坟墓的无所不包的社会保障体系。然而随着现代化进程的发展,福利国家面临着各种严峻的挑战而不得不进行改革。研究和分析福利国家对当前健全和完善我国社会保障制度,构建社会主义和谐社会具有非常重要的现实意义。     

论福利国家及其危机的实质

福利和福利国家概念在当代社会和政治思潮中居于重要地位.福利源于人的需要,对人的需要满足的要求决定了福利国家及其社会保障体系构建的重要意义.福利国家是在基本需求方面为其成员的幸福承担法定责任的制度表征.福利国家的实质是对人的需要的满足,其理论论争的本质内涵也是围绕需要满足.福利国家危机的表现,是其制度不能满足某些基本需要,福利国家危机的实质问题体现在其对人们需要满足的危机和福利国家自身的合法性危机上.福利国家的国家干预本来是反危机的一种原则,但在实践中却长期取代了自由资本主义固有的合法性基础,最终导致福利国家在政治、经济和文化三大系统内的合理性与合法性危机.     

瑞典的儿童福利制度

在瑞典,国家是儿童福利提供的主体。其儿童福利津贴制度建设始于1947年,起步较早,免费教育是儿童福利服务的一大亮点。而其托幼服务措施则堪称国际楷模,瑞典通过典型的津贴加服务的福利模式,从资金补贴和福利服务供给两个方面满足儿童成长所需。     

建制化与专业化:瑞典社会工作的发展经验及其启示

国家福利制度模式形塑了专业社会工作的角色和功能,乃至社会工作教育和实践.探究福利制度对社会工作的角色地位及其参与社会治理实践的规制方式,关系到社会工作职业化和专业化的道路选择.本文以瑞典福利国家为例,分析瑞典社会工作建制化和专业化的双向路径.研究发现,积极依附国家福利体制的建制化过程造就了高度职业化的瑞典社会工作,福利体制的慷慨程度是影响社会工作职业角色转变的关键.社会工作联盟和知识共享机制是推动瑞典社会工作专业化的两大内生性力量.福利多元主义支配下的瑞典社会工作具有去中心化、私有化的趋势,预示着国家性与社会性两股力量的博弈仍是福利治理领域的重要议题.中国社会工作的制度化建设应在厘清国家基本福利模式对构建社会工作体系影响的基础上,加强福利事业与社会工作立法,并探寻国家与社会力量间合作关系的最佳均衡点.     

瑞典的社会福利制度改革

瑞典是一个典型的"福利国家","瑞典模式"为众人所称道。瑞典模式的特点是把对社会全体公民的基本生活保障作为公民的权利,实行"从摇篮到坟墓"的社会福利制度。这种旨在把贫富"拉平"的福利制度,缩小了人们之间的实际收入差距和生活水平差距,在一定程度上起到了抑制财富不均,维护社会安定的作用。多年来,瑞典的社会福利模式引起了人们的广泛关注。原因在于:瑞典的社会福利模     

论社会责任的弱化

该文是英国社会政策与社会福利哲学奠基人蒂特马斯的一篇经典性文献.该文在英国首创"福利国家"体制历史背景下,紧密围绕福利哲学的公平、平等、自由、选择等核心价值观,尤其是福利政治学的政治权力、国家角色、经济权力、公民权利和国家责任承担等基础议题,以私营保险和附带福利为典型案例,深刻分析自由市场经济的诸多弊端及其对国家政治权力、社会福利政策、公民生活质量和社会质量致命性负面影响.这对于经济市场化程度不断加深,社会问题日趋严峻,一味美化市场经济和私有化浪潮,国家责任弱化和削减公共服务,尤其是国家、市场、社会、个人责任的社会划分成为国家最重要政治和社会政策议题,对于全面建成小康社会和实现中华民族伟大复兴"中国梦",对于习近平总书记战略规划的积极回应和有效满足全体人民对美好生活期望的历史使命来说,具有非常重要历史、现实、理论和政策的参考意义.     

再分配在社会政策中扮演的角色

该文是英国社会福利理论与社会政策奠基人Richard M.Titmuss一篇经典文献.该文首次将现代社会福利体系划分为"社会福利、财政福利和职业福利"三种类型,首次从面向全民的普惠性与局限穷人的选择性社会服务角度,充分论证了社会福利体系与社会政策在现代社会生活中发挥的重要的再分配功能,深刻分析了选择性和局限于穷人福利服务的致命性缺陷,有力地说明了全民性和普惠性社会服务发挥的积极性和建设性再分配的作用,充分肯定"福利国家"和全民性、普惠性社会福利制度的社会基础地位,尤其是富有远见和发人深省地指出社会政策分析对象应由直观可见、直接性和即时性现象,转变为看不见、间接性和长期长远性影响,凸显社会政策总体性、宏观性、战略性、系统性、福利性、建设性、长期性、再分配性和自我实现预言等本质特征,这对实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦和全面建成小康社会的中国来说,具有无比重要现实意义、理论、政策、制度建设和历史借鉴意义.     

抗战末期国民政府领导的大后方儿童福利实验运动——以国民政府社会部北碚儿童福利社区实验为例

北碚儿童福利实验区是我国历史上首个由中央政府主办的普惠性儿童福利实验社区,由社会部直辖历时6年.实验区拥有完善的组织形制与严格的设计考核制度,组建起一支专业化合作团队,为探索儿童福利的社区路径提供制度和人才保障.从儿童福利机构来看,实验区试图在推行普惠性儿童福利服务的同时,又将科学化的保、教、研融合一体,使得中国儿童福利事业既与国际接轨,又极富本土特色.实验区所采取的多元化推广方式与网络化社会联系使其成为展示儿童福利研究成果的"窗口",引起社会各界广泛关注,促进了"儿童福利"一词在中国的流行普及.实验区的实验活动对我国当前儿童福利事业的规划和发展具有重要历史启示.     

Beyond benevolence – solidarity and welfare state transition in Sweden

For many decades the Swedish welfare system has served as an archetype of the modern comprehensive welfare state. When economic recession hit Sweden in the beginning of the 1990s, a period of half a century of continuous expansion and reforms in the welfare sector came to an end. The economic downturn enforced rationing measures in most welfare programs and was accompanied by a move towards privatisation of local welfare services and an endeavour to initiate market incentives in the care-giving systems. The focus was increasingly directed on welfare as a financial burden, and the issue of how diminishing resources should be allocated ranked high on the political agenda. In this article we depart from the concept of solidarity and discuss the development of Swedish welfare and welfare opinion. First, we articulate various representations of the concept of solidarity – societal cohesion, individual support for comprehensive welfare and the amount of universality in the provision of care. Second, we describe some fundamental traits in the route taken by Swedish welfare during the 1990s, focusing especially on care of elderly and the demographic challenge of an ageing population. Third, we summarise the evolution of public opinion regarding welfare provision and discuss the determinants of its variations. The article concludes with a discussion of how the (once salient) features of universalism have been affected by the development during the past decade, and the role of popular support in the route ahead for Swedish welfare.     

建构北京市大福利制度的思考

我国现代福利制度体系建立在狭义的社会福利观上,这种小福利观已经不适应我国社会建设的需要,急需调整。要建构面向全球化、面向现代社会的福利制度,必须打破将社会福利等同于民政福利的观念,建设面向全体公民的大福利体制。     

Welfare consequences of the Swedish disability service system

It has been frequently discussed whether the Swedish disability service system is efficient and whether it meets the demands of equity. The costs of the system for support and service were recently estimated to be USD 11 billion. This article describes the welfare situation for disabled people compared with the general population in Sweden. The Swedish disability service system has managed to provide disabled people with a disposable income over the subsistence minimum in Sweden, but also in the same range as for the general population. In other welfare parameters, disabled people appear to have great welfare losses compared with the general population. Evaluations of handicap technologies (such as service and support) aiming to reduce or compensate for these welfare losses have to meet the requirements of equity and efficiency of the Swedish disability service system.     

Work or welfare – a dilemma in the declining Swedish welfare state

The number of welfare recipients among people of working age increased from 1985 to 1992 in Sweden. Unexpectedly, this increase also took place under the economic boom during the late 1980s, characterized by very low unemployment. This is shown in a study of a 10% representative sample of the Swedish population. Not only has the number of welfare recipients increased, there has been a parallel increase in the relative number of people who are gainfully employed. This trend prevails until 1991, when the employment rates start going down. Until then, the development is characterized by growing polarization (bifurcation) into those who depend on work for their subsistence and those who depend on transfer payments from the welfare system. The development of welfare dependence has been different for men and women. The reasons for this development are discussed. Data about the increasing cost of social security are also presented, showing that the welfare system has not been in any immediate economic crisis from 1985 to 1993.     

Young people leaving care in Sweden

The transition from a placement in care to an independent life can be a problematic phase for young people. In Sweden, special care‐leaving services are almost non‐existent. What then happens to young people when they leave a placement in out‐of‐home care? This paper draws on the results of a study in which 16 young care leavers between the ages of 18 and 22 years were interviewed. Telephone interviews were also performed with the young care leavers' parents, social workers, foster carers and institutional staff. The aim of the study was to investigate how young care leavers perceive the transition from care to an independent life. The Swedish welfare model, the prolonged transition to adulthood and the family‐oriented welfare discourse have been used as analytical perspectives. The results show that young care leavers have a pronounced need for social, emotional, practical and financial support. Whilst such support is occasionally provided by foster carers and residential staff, it is seldom given by social services or biological parents. This group is at risk of facing severe problems in the transitional phase from care to independent life, a fact that is not acknowledged by the Swedish welfare system.     

Vulnerable children's rights to participation,protection, and provision: The process of defining the problem in Swedish child and family welfare

This study addresses the relationship between children's participation and the protection and provision offered to them by social services in Sweden. It applies a theoretical framework for analysing child welfare that is anchored in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. How child participation may affect child protection and provision is examined empirically using case documentation from 2 municipalities. The main finding is that when children are not given voice or opportunity to influence the framing of what “the problem” is, the design of protection and care tends to be poorly matched to the actual problems documented in the child investigation and vice versa; when children can influence framing, this is associated with well‐matched protection and care. This suggests that traditional child welfare ethos, to the effect that protection should be of such overriding concern that children even should be protected from participation, is misguided. The study further illustrates the intrinsic problems with the family orientation of Swedish social services and its reliance on partnership with parents, which makes it difficult to live up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Incorporating child participation into existing service models can transform Swedish social services to an augmented child‐focused system that by ensuring participation also promotes protection and provision.     

Unemployment and conditional welfare: Exclusion and belonging in immigrant women's discourse on being long‐term dependent on social assistance

Long‐term unemployment with dependency on social assistance in Sweden has increased and is particularly high among foreign‐born persons. The present study explored immigrant recipients' experiences of being welfare reliant. Swedish‐Iraqi women's construction of exclusion and belonging in relation to policies and welfare regulations was scrutinised. The women referred to unemployment with frustration, expressing that it renders dependence on social welfare and enforces adherence to the stipulations of the social services. The individual's mobility and agency are restricted and concerted efforts to obtain employment are futile, which increase the sense of exclusion. However, the entitlement to social assistance also engenders feelings of belonging, of being connected to and cared for by the new country. More research is needed to examine the role that social assistance regulations play in forming feelings of belonging and exclusion. It appears essential that political initiatives be taken to reverse the trend of high unemployment among foreign‐born persons.     

Forced to work and liberated from work

The work-welfare nexus is essential in all social policy regimes. The question is in what situations individuals should be entitled to social welfare benefits and in which situations they should be obliged to work. Social welfare law and administrative practices define mechanisms that separate the deserving poor from people able to work. This article analyses the functions and character of these "separation mechanisms" in Sweden during three periods in history: a) in rural society in the late 19th century; b) in industrial society during the successful years of the Swedish model from World War II until the late 1970s; and c) the present, including the period of welfare retrenchment and reconsideration since the early 1980s. The conclusion is that Swedish social policy has always been strongly work-oriented, but the specific form and content of the work ethic has varied under the influence of different ideologies and handled in different social policy institutions. Under specific conditions the work line has been either generous or restrictive and it has been based on structural attempts to improve the opportunities to work as well as on attempts to strongly pressure the individual to work. The work line of today is seen as an interesting attempt to combine an effort to create good work through improved work conditions and an effort to reinforce elements of work enforcement in the social insurance system.