At the threshold of retirement: From all-absorbing relations to self-actualization

To investigate the complexities of the retirement process, the present article draws on a case study of Eva, a Swedish woman who “awakened” from all-absorbing relations. It considers the ways in which retirement can enable liberation from patriarchal kinship structures and embodied values of respectability. The aim is to illuminate how deep, embodied values can become conscious and explicit during precarious life situations and transitional phases. The relation between the Swedish welfare state, an I-we balance, and gender equity values are illuminated. These analytical dimensions support the analysis by providing insights into the ways in which individuals embody and use cultural and social structures when they aim to manage unpredictability and to create change toward self-actualization.     

Consequences of Family Policies on Childbearing Behavior: Effects or Artifacts?

This article argues for a more careful consideration of theoretical and methodological approaches in studies of the effects of public policies, labeled here as family policies, on childbearing behavior. We employ elements of comparative welfare‐state research, of the sociology of “constructed categories,” and of “the new institutionalism” to demonstrate that investigations into policy effects need to contextualize policies and need to reduce their complexity by focusing on “critical junctures,”“space,” and “uptake.” We argue that the effects of family policies can only be assessed properly if we study their impact on individual behavior. Event‐history models applied to individual‐level data are the state‐of‐the‐art of such an approach. We use selected empirical studies from Sweden to demonstrate that the type of approach that we advocate prevents us from drawing misleading conclusions.     

Country-Level Investment in Cultural Opportunity Structures. A Potential Source of Health Differences Between 21 European Countries

Individual’s participation in cultural activities may positively affect health through a pathway mediated by social capital. We examine whether country-level investment in cultural opportunity structures was associated with between-country differences in self-rated health and, if so, whether these associations were mediated by citizens’ confidence in societal institutions, i.e., by institutional trust, regarded as a dimension of social capital. For 24,887 respondents in the European Social Survey, 2006, data on self-rated health, institutional trust (individual-level and country-level), and sociodemographic variables were linked with statistics-based country-level data on 10 indicators of cultural opportunity structures and mediator variables (gross domestic product (GDP), Gini index, and welfare state regime). Over and above the sociodemographics, six cultural indicators contributed to between-country health differences in logistic multilevel regression analysis: the percentage of arts students, the RC index, the percentage of writers and creative artists of total employment, exports of cultural goods, imports of cultural goods, and the number of feature films produced per capita. Controlling, furthermore, for trust, and country-level mediators, only imports of cultural goods contributed to between-country differences in health. No associations with other cultural indicators remained after controlling for GDP or welfare state regime. Institutional trust may partially mediate the significance of cultural investments for self-rated health. However, both cultural investment and trust may be concomitants of general prosperity and welfare policies. Future studies should investigate whether the countries’ welfare policies influence the transformation of cultural investment into institutional trust and which types of indicators best depict associations between investments and health.     

我国家庭政策的发展路径与目标选择

我国家庭政策的发展经历了与欧美国家完全不同的路径。由于社会福利和保障制度背景和发展水平不同,我国家庭政策的发展方向与发达国家存在本质上的差异,与发达国家"去家庭化"的方向相反,我国家庭政策发展的主要方向应该是"家庭化",即基于家庭责任前提构建福利保障体系,通过强化家庭功能实现为公民提供福利和保障的目标。我国的家庭政策具有双重任务:一方面要补充社会福利发展水平低造成的保障程度不足,提升家庭自身福利供给和保障能力;另一方面要针对家庭变化产生的问题,调整社会福利配给和组织方式,扩大以家庭为生计单位的福利保障。我国的发展型家庭政策要以提升家庭发展能力为重点,包括就业支持政策和供养家庭支持政策两大类。     

Basic parameters of the welfare state

The article attempts to show the limitations and dangers of that trend in contemporary research which sees in the interplay between GNP and social security spending as percent of GNP a predominant parameter of the modern welfare state. Through a criticism of this trend and its implications the problematic nature of the correlation between GNP and social security spending is demonstrated. Simultaneously, analysis of several welfare policies showing, among other things, the influence of ideology and strategy on the degree of welfare, calls into question the theses of convergence in welfare policies in rich countries and of ideology's lack of influence.     

Investigating Social Welfare Change in Urban Village Transformation: A Rural Migrant Perspective

An increasing number of large cities have experienced urban village transformation because of the rapid industrialization and urbanization in China. Extant literature largely focuses on urban village transformation and its ensuing developments. This research examined the social welfare change through six welfare categories of indicators, namely, economic condition, dwelling condition, development opportunity, social security, living environment, and psychology. Value change in fuzzy membership was used to reveal the changes in social welfare for rural migrants before and after urban village transformation. Data were collected from questionnaires distributed in four cities of Zhejiang Province in 2014. Fuzzy assessment model was developed to analyze the collected data. Results corroborated that nearly all the values of the welfare categories decreased, except for the value of dwelling condition. The findings confirmed that the rural migrants do not primarily receive the benefits of urban village transformation. In addition, such transformation does not improve urban village harmony. Various measures should be applied to improve rural migrant welfare, including enhancing rural migrant settlement intention, encouraging rural migrants to return to their respective hometowns, and implementing policies for regionally differentiated welfare rights. The findings of this study can provide references for local governments to substantially implement urban village transformation.     

欠发达地区农村居民社会福利认知的影响因素研究——以贵州省为例

对贵州省684名农村成年居民的实证研究结果显示,农村居民在社会问题归因上的社会归因意识较为强烈,在政策优先意识上倾向于经济优先意识,其福利需求意识比较强烈但福利权利意识尚较为淡薄,这表明低水平实践的社会福利在当前欠发达地区的农村社会话语序列中尚未处于重要位置。经济发展水平、社会福利制度背景、文化传统和人口结构特征等不同层次因素对农村居民的社会福利认知均具有显著的影响。     

State-level Welfare Policies and Nonmarital Subsequent Childbearing

Using discrete time event history analyses of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we examine the association between state-level welfare waiver policies implemented before the 1996 welfare reform legislation and the risk of a nonmarital subsequent birth. Our study makes a unique contribution to the existing literature by using a national-level sample of unmarried mothers who ever received welfare. This high-risk sample represents the women of most interest to policymakers, as it is the exact group to whom welfare reform is targeted—welfare mothers at risk of having nonmarital additional births. The state policies we study include: family cap, earnings disregard, work exemptions, work requirements, and sanctions. We conclude that, although reducing the number of nonmarital births is a key goal of welfare reform, state-established welfare waiver policies do not have any influence on women’s childbearing behaviors in this sample, net of women’s individual characteristics and state economic environments. Even the family cap policy, which was designed for the sole purpose of reducing additional births, has no significant association with nonmarital subsequent childbearing. Instead, personal characteristics, not public policies, are stronger determinants of women’s childbearing decisions. Age, race/ethnicity, marital status, number of previous children, education level, and welfare receipt are significantly associated with nonmarital subsequent births. Overall, this paper contributes to an expanding body of research that shows minimal effects of welfare waivers on fertility. Our work suggests that more targeted policies are necessary to be able to influence individual family formation behaviors.     

Back to the Future: a Sensitivity Analysis to Predict Future Fertility Rates Considering the Influence of Family Policies—The Cases of Spain and Norway

This article analyzes the relationship between family policies focused on childcare for children under the age of three and fertility levels. In the current context of very low European fertility, it is important to understand whether public support for families can help increase fertility or if, on the contrary, existing fertility levels are the exact reflection of the reproductive desires of families, regardless of the family-support of the policies that may exist in each country. This analysis was carried out through a stochastic dynamic mathematical model that incorporates both demographic variables and family policy variables. A sensitivity analysis was carried out on Spain and Norway, two countries that have very different models of family policies. This sensitivity analysis allows establishing a relationship between the existing family policies and the total fertility rate and also the expected evolution of fertility rates in the future, if the current family policies remain constant. The results showed that the models which lead to an increase in fertility are those which are most generous and which also incorporate a gender perspective, so they allow the identification of good practices and maximum levels of policy efficiency in regards to different objectives such as increase fertility and advances towards gender equality. By contrast, models with erratic and insufficient support clearly contribute to maintaining fertility at very low levels and perpetuate unequal gender relationships. There is, therefore, space for state agency to develop more effective public policies in both dimensions.

     

Kreative als aktivierte Wirtschaftsbürger. Zur wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Rahmung von künstlerisch-kreativer Arbeit

This text lights up the welfare-state framing of artistic-creative work in the German Welfare regime. The argument is that the welfare state framing of the cultural and creative industries has substantially changed as well normatively as with regard to welfare instruments. With this, it is part of the change of the German Welfare regime which, based upon the Agenda 2010-policy change, has turned from a caring to an activating Welfare regime. While in the 1960s and the 1970s artists have been perceived as a socially vulnerable group who need to be protected from market risks, nowadays this social group is mainly regarded as entrepreneurs. In a nutshell, the new welfare-state arrangement with regard to artistic-creative work addresses the “deficit” entrepreneur. It consists of three core aspects. First, there is a semantic reconstruction of the empiric field. It is modeled as ‘Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft’ and, therefore, it is mainly perceived as an economically productive field. Second, to fulfill the productive hopes and aims, artists and creatives are perceived to be activated sociopolitically and to be disciplined economically in order to change them into economically valuable entrepreneurs. Third, the new welfare arrangement is partly privatised and aims to create market oriented competitiveness among artists and creatives. The text is based upon empiric investigations in the cultural economy and creative economy which the author carries out since 2007.     

Welfare Systems,Support Networks and Subjective Well-Being Among Retired Persons

In this article welfare systems and support networks are empirically analyzed to determine which generate the highest level of subjective well-being among retired persons. Propositions derived from support network theories and national welfare system typologies have been analyzed using causal models that indicate the influence of the various welfare systems and support networks on subjective well-being. The data was taken from the Social Relations and Social Support Systems module of the 2001 International Social Survey Program. The results indicate that liberal welfare systems generate the highest level of subjective well-being. This correlates with a lower degree of confidence in the welfare state, greater interpersonal trust and greater belief in individuals and their capacity to secure their own well-being. In the sphere of material well-being the subjective well-being of individuals is affected by a greater trust in people than in the state.     

The Type of Support that Adult Children Solicit from Their Mothers in European Welfare Systems

The objective of this article is to examine if the kind of relationship and the support which mothers offer adult children living outside the home can be explained by different welfare systems and structural indicators. Propositions derived from intergenerational relationship theories and national welfare typologies have been analysed and indicate that there are structural variables that influence the type of relationship and support offered. The data we have used is from the survey “Social Relations and Support Systems”of the International Survey Programme. We selected those respondents whose mothers were alive and did not reside in the same dwelling, a total of 9,261 interviewees. The results of a factor analysis reduce the relationship between mother and child to two dimensions. Both dimensions are correlated with structural factors and make it possible to situate countries based on different welfare models consistent with the literature.     

Welfare State Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (1970s–2000s): Multidimensional Welfare Index,Its Methodology and Results

There is an ongoing debate between focalization and universalization on welfare policies as the best way to develop the welfare state in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, there is a need to develop a measure that exhibits the multidimensional nature of the welfare state, instead of focusing on the social spending dimension. Segura-Ubiergo (The political economy of the welfare state in Latin America: globalization, democracy and development. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007) constructed a welfare effort index (WEI) to facilitate understand the relative degrees of welfare state development among Latin American countries. The WEI focuses mainly on social spending and ignores the other dimensions of welfare. Based on a comparative analysis of 17 Latin American countries and following the methodology of Segura-Ubiergo, a new index that aims at enriching the WEI was constructed. The new index is multidimensional in that it has eight indicators relating to three dimensions of welfare: social spending, coverage of welfare programs and outcome of welfare institutions. Principal component analysis was used for reducing the indicators into three indexes that represent three proposed dimensions of welfare. The combination of these three indexes gives the multidimensional welfare index. The results of the index account for more than 75 % of the data variance.     

Welfare Regimes for Aging Populations: No Single Path for Reform

We consider recent trends in pension policies in OECD countries in light of demographic aging associated with welfare regime type (Liberal, Social Democratic, Continental, and Southern European). These regime types represent different responsibilities assumed for social security on the part of the market, the state, and the family. While there are significant differences in labor market characteristics, the demographic similarities in aging bring similar pressures for pension reforms across OECD countries. These reforms address fiscal issues in state pensions, typically by increasing the length of the working life, placing more of the pension responsibility on individuals, or converting to defined‐contribution approaches. Our study shows that there is no single path for pension reform. While there are some variations, welfare states tend to follow their traditional paths, which differ across welfare regime types.     

The Role of Family Policy in Explaining the International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being

The article proposes an innovative analyse for cross-national differences in the subjective child well-being introducing new indicators and measures. This dimension addresses the issue of welfare support to parents and child early education. The question of this research is to what extend family policies can explain the variability of subjective child well-being components in different European countries. Based on this question, the two objective of this proposal are: (1) to review the existing literature with respect to conceptualization, measurement, and correlates of children’s subjective well-being, with a special emphasis on the context of family policies and family well-being in different European welfare states, and (2) to analyse the relation between these policies and subjective child well-being. In order to get these aims we have elaborated two indexes: the index of child subjective well-being and family policy index. Data for HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) for the first index and data from OECD Family Database is used to build these indicators. We found that the index of child subjective well-being is comparatively higher in those countries where family policies are more generous in the areas of preschool education, family services, family spending and duration of paid parental leave.     

Gerechtigkeit als Politik der Befähigung zu reflexiver Selbstbestimmung

Drawing on Günter Dux’ thesis concerning the co-evolution of social development and cognitive competence, the article argues that the 21st century offers the opportunity to universalize, for the first time, a human potential deemed a general, species-typical capacity, namely the capacity to reason logically and reflexively at the levels of formal operations (Piaget) and post-conventional understandings of social order (Kohlberg). A key prerequisite for realizing this potential are enabling policies aimed at equalizing the freedom of self-determination. Once this is accepted as a central tenet of social policies, a shift in the relative priorities guiding the allocation of public welfare funds is required that broadly follows Scandinavian models. Both considerations of justice and sustainability support such a shift.     

Welfare measurement in labour supply models with nonlinear budget constraints

This paper is concerned with the measurement of individual welfare in labour supply models which allow for the impact of income taxation and income support schemes on labour supply decisions. The paper is motivated by the concern over the need to have measures which can be interpreted easily, which can be compared with net income, and which can be meaningfully aggregated. To illustrate the issues we use estimates of a discrete choice model of labour supply for United Kingdom lone mothers to compute alternative welfare measures which might be considered as having intuitive appeal to policy-makers. We compute welfare change based on these measures arising from a recent reform of the child support payments system. Received: 25 February 1997/Accepted: 12 March 1998     

Theorizing indicators

Policymakers and social theorists have increasingly come to rely on social indicators to guide their decisions and theories. Social indicators are also useful in bridging theory and empirical research as well as the traditional gap between policymaking and social theory. The concept of social indicators covers interpretation of cultural signs, simple statistical measures, and complex statistical indexes related to sets of domains. The article views the development of child well-being indicators as central not only in the social welfare field, but as an indicator of future societal conditions, given that children’s lives are especially sensitive to social change. The paper addresses the development of indicators of children’s well-being, arguing that the expansion of the field, the complexity of new domains and indicators, and the position of children as “being” and “becoming”, they are citizens of the present as well as being socialized for the future, illustrates that the next crucial step for the field is to further elaborate theories and models.     

Conditioning factors for fertility decline in Bengal: history, language identity, and openness to innovations

This article argues that looking solely for the immediate causes of reproductive change may distort our understanding of policy options by failing to take into account the historical and cultural factors that affect not only the impact of policies and programs but their very nature and existence. The article examines the historical origins and spread of “modern” ideas in Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. It concludes that a colonial history in which education and modernization processes took hold very early among the elites in the larger Bengal region was paradoxically accompanied by a strong allegiance to the Bengali language. This strong sense of language identity has facilitated and reinforced the diffusion of modern ideas both within and between the two Bengali‐speaking regions. Thus, to understand the fertility decline in Bangladesh, for example, one needs to look also at cultural boundaries. In this case, the cultural commonality through language facilitates the spread of new ideas across the two Bengals. In turn, the strong sense of language identity has facilitated mass mobilization more easily and intensely within the two Bengals. Shaped by these processes, Bangladesh and West Bengal today are more amenable to social change than many other parts of South Asia and the Middle East.     

Models of well-being and ill-being

The purpose of this paper is to present models of well-being and ill-being which integrate the effects of different types of independent variables. Using the more powerful techniques provided by the LISREL software, the paper replicates and extends analysis previously reported in SIR (Headey, Holmstrom and Wearing, 1984a). A preliminary issue is whether well-being and ill-being constitute different dimensions or whether they are polar opposites. Factor analytic evidence, derived from two waves of an Australian panel study (1981, 1983) with samples of 942 and 878 respectively, confirms that indicators of well-being and ill-being form distinct, although not orthogonal dimensions. In the models of well-being and ill-being estimated from the panel data, we attempt to integrate research dealing with the impact of social background, personality, social networks and satisfaction with particular domains of life. Two key personality traits which influence both well-being and ill-being are self-esteem and personal competence. Social background (SES) has greater influence on ill-being than well-being. Having a well-developed social network, on the other hand, contributes more to enhancement of well-being than relief of ill-being. This is largely because a rich social network is associated with satisfaction with leisure, friends and marriage, which themselves are the life domains most closely connected to feelings of well-being. By contrast, the domain of health is relatively closely associated with ill-being. The conclusion discusses public policy implications of the finding that well-being and ill-being have different correlates and causes. Conventional welfare policies are designed to relieve ill-being. Quite different policies (“positive welfare” policies) are required to enhance well-being.