The Age of Social Policy and Governmental Capacity-building in Social Policy

本文根据西方发达国家社会政策的发展过程,提出了社会政策时代的概念,指出社会政策时代是现代社会社会福利发展的某种形态,它具有以下主要特征:第一,社会公正的理念被普遍认可;第二,覆盖面较宽的诸多社会政策出台;第三,社会政策被制度化地有效实施。文章指出各国的社会政策时代可能具有不同的表现形式,中国的科学发展观具有深刻的社会政策意涵。作者认为,从社会发展的需求和政府制定社会政策的现状来看,中国有望在不久迎来社会政策时代。在这一过程中,政府的社会政策能力将受到考验,文章认为,中国政府要加强社会政策能力建设。     

Social Policy Excellence – Peer Review or Metrics? Analyzing the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise in Social Work and Social Policy and Administration

A metrics‐based assessment can predict reasonably well the overall outcome of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 for social work and social policy and administration in terms of research environment, but not in terms of research outputs. It is not possible to replicate peer review of the research outputs using existing data. It is sometimes argued that citation counts provide an alternative approach that might help research assessment, but it is one fraught with difficulties. Academics did not, in fact, routinely chose to submit their most cited work. At least in this subject, metrics are more suited as handmaiden to peer review than its replacement.     

The Australian Social Inclusion Agenda: A New Approach to Social Policy?

The Social Inclusion Agenda (‘SIA’) was introduced by the Australian Labor Party (‘ALP’) in the lead up to the 2007 federal election. The rhetoric was hopeful, proposing to reframe the government's approach to disadvantage. Rhetoric aside, what the then opposition meant when it talked of building social inclusion (‘SI’) was less clear than may have immediately met the eye. This paper offers an introductory analysis and review of the SIA. It first considers why Australia might benefit from a readjustment in its social policy direction, reflecting on the concepts of poverty and Amartya Sen's ‘capabilities approach‘. Second, it offers a critical overview of the main conceptions of SI/Social Exclusion. Third, it applies these first two parts of analysis to developments to date with the SIA. This part, whilst limited in scope and preliminary at best, offers some general comments as to the possibilities and pitfalls of the SIA and proposes the way forward from an analytical perspective in terms of guiding the SIA in a desirable direction.     

How Social is Social Policy? Fiscal and Market Discourse in North American Welfare States

Long regarded as a 'laggard' among welfare states in advanced industrial countries, the USA may be emerging as a 'leader' in the reformation of social programmes and the relationship between government, the market economy, and civil society. The dissemination and impact of this new orthodoxy is realized, in large part, through discursive practices. Fiscalization and marketization are two processes central to this growing influence of American social policy. Fiscal and market discourse, while not new, have increased in acceptance and influence, and are changing the welfare state from within by altering perceptions of issues, vocabularies used and programme reforms adopted.     

Not a Solution at All? Communities and Social Policy

Bryson and Mowbray wrote about the uncritical use of the term community by governments in 1981 and ways in which ‘evidence‐based policy’ in relation to communities became little more than a ‘catchphrase’ in 2005. Both articles appeared in the Australian Journal of Social Issues. This paper reports research that utilised qualitative methods to gather data on subjective, practical meanings of community in one local government area of South Australia to assess the goodness of fit with the language of community contained in social policy. It is argued that in 2009, community, as it is applied by social policy makers, has little resonance with the large body of research around this topic or the current situation of individuals and families and this results in a poor match between the intentions and outcomes of social policies aimed at communities.     

Structural Reform of Heating Supply and Institutional Defects in Social Policy

The present heating supply system in urban China is a component of the public welfare system based on the work unit system and public ownership     

The Song Dynasty's Fiscal and Economic Policy and Its Social Economy

The fact that industrial and commercial taxation in the Song dynasty greatly exceeded agricultural taxation was unprecedented in previous dynasties. This is mainly explained by the Song government’s financial and economic policy which was dominated by industrial and commercial taxation, made good use of the laws and characteristics of market relations and the commodity economy in business operations, actively stimulated consumption and was clearly utilitarian. Under this policy, the rulers, in p...     

Special Issue: Scientific Approach to Development and Social PolicyIntroduction: Restructuring China's Social Policy System: An Examination of the Impact of the Scientific Approach to Development on Social Policy Formation and Implementation

From the social policy perspective, the current Chinese situation is unique - China will never again emerge so dramatically from a period of economic underperformance and will never again so fundamentally revamp its entire social policy system. It therefore of-     

Establishing and Perfecting a Social Policy System for Society on an Ultra-large Scale

中国是拥有近13亿人口的超大规模的社会,又正经历着史无前例的社会变革,其社会政策面临着前所未有的挑战和机遇。本文分析了中国社会政策领域存在的主要问题,认为目前诸多社会政策都是以为经济改革服务为主要目标,社会政策缺乏独立的主体性;中国社会政策的理论和方法主要受发达国家的影响,忽视了本土化特点;社会政策的政府部门协调性较弱和公民参与体系尚未形成等。作者提出必须以低成本的社会进步和低代价的社会政策体系作为在中国这样的人口大国实现可持续发展的基本战略取向。文章论证了进一步明确社会政策目标、加强社会政策的整合,规范政府部门在社会政策制定和实施中的角色定位,创造良好的社会参与的环境等完善中国社会政策体系的途径和对策措施。     

Development Social Policy: An Operational Model for Implementing the Scietific Approach to Development

文章指出,近20年来中国社会政策发展的主要问题是理论繁多。大量有关发达国家的社会福利理论和实践被介绍进来,使我们陷入伪问题的误区,社会政策模式选择的范围局限于发达国家的框架之中,造成了社会政策目标模糊等一系列问题。这些问题还隐含着对社会政策本体的认识偏差,即忽视社会政策对效率的贡献,忽视社会政策的长期目标和内在机制。文章在回顾国际发展理论演变的基础上提出,发展型社会政策与科学发展观有内在的契合之处,可以作为其在社会政策领域的操作化模式。作者指出,发展型社会政策的深层理论是对社会政策功能的全新认识:(1)社会政策不仅仅是个承载器,还是个加速器,特别是在可持续发展上。(2)社会政策不仅可以为经济发展提供一个稳定的社会环境,也具有经济效益。社会政策可以促进生产力的发展。文末,作者提出了投资现在和未来的劳动人群、在政策设计中逐步纳入并强化"发展"的维度等构建发展型社会政策的思路。     

The Gender Dimension of Social Policy Reform in Turkey: Towards Equal Citizenship?

This article discusses the current social policy reform process in Turkey from a gender perspective. Until now, social security and labour regulations have provided women with special benefits and protections. Depending on the particular case, these gender‐specific policies can be interpreted differently – as positive discrimination, satisfying practical gender interests, or as a reinforcement of traditional gender norms and relations, stigmatizing women as a weaker, vulnerable group in need of special protection. Ongoing reform initiatives, however, neutralize most of these long‐lasting gendered policies, either by terminating rights formerly enjoyed only by women or by extending these rights to men as well. The article questions this changing nature of social policy as to whether it promises equal citizenship for women or increases their vulnerability, in the absence of former benefits and without sufficient policy measures for improved capability.     

Weak and Inferior Groups: Policy Study on the Object of China's Social Welfare Services

Until the 1980s China's social welfare services were strictly confined to a small number of weak groups lacking labor ability who were parentless, handicapped, too young or too old. With the process of social transition entailed by the development of the market     

Social Enterprise – A New Phenomenon in the Field of Economic and Social Welfare?

Drawing upon insights from historical institutionalism, this article critically examines the origins of social enterprise and its emergence into the mainstream policy arena. It begins by relating the social enterprise idea to major non‐state/non‐private institutional traditions, including the European social economy, US non‐profits and the UK charitable sector, and places it within the specific field of economic and social welfare. In so doing, the article contests the idea that social enterprise is a new phenomenon in the social welfare field and proposes instead that the supposed ‘novelty’ of social enterprise as an organizational form and a subject of public policy lies primarily in the nature of the socio‐political and economic context of the 1980s–1990s, during which time it became ‘en vogue’. The process of institutionalization of social enterprise and its ascension into the mainstream policy arena is examined in more detail in the case of England during the time New Labour was in office and beyond, and lessons are drawn from this experience concerning both the role that social enterprise plays or is expected to play as a vehicle to address economic and social needs, and how this is intertwined with both a dominant neo‐liberal discourse, as well as alternative perspectives that emphasize more equalitarian and sustainable development paths. The article concludes with some reflections in relation to the apparent consensus that seems to exist around social enterprise as a legitimate subject of public policy and the resulting social enterprization of public services which is currently taking place in England.     

The Universal Decline of Universality? Social Policy Change in Canada,Denmark, Sweden and the UK

The debate about the future of universal social programmes has been raging for years, both in social‐democratic and in liberal welfare states. The objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on universality by analyzing the evolution of universal social programmes in two social‐democratic and two liberal countries: Denmark, Sweden, Canada and the UK. This choice of countries provides the opportunity to investigate whether the principle and practice of universality has fared differently both within and between countries. The analysis focuses primarily on the national level while exploring three policy areas: pensions, healthcare and family policy, specifically child benefits and day care. The main conclusion of our comparative analysis is clear: among our two liberal and two social‐democratic countries, the institutional strength of universality varies greatly from one policy area and one country to another. Considering this, there is no such a thing as a universal decline of universality.     

Innovation Awareness and Social Responsibility in Social Science Studies: A Survey of the Symposium on Social Sciences and Social Problems in Contemporary China

Since adopting a policy of reform and opening, Chinese society has seen tremendous changes. What opportunities does this social reality bring to social science? How may to social science serve it? Studying these