Supporting Disadvantaged Young People into Work: Insights from the Capability Approach

The Capability Approach (CA) offers a perspective on the employment activation of young people that is concerned with their freedom to make choices that they value rather than focusing solely on outcomes, such as having to take any job. It incorporates empowerment and the individual and external conversion factors that influence the conversion of resources into functionings for young people, such as getting a job that they value. This article considers the implications of using the CA as a lens for analyzing youth activation polices. A more capability informed approach to employment activation would not measure success solely by the transition into work, but rather by whether it has improved the young person's capabilities, and might focus, for example, on more sustainable and valued careers and develop individuals' freedom of choice in the labour market. Using data from two UK case studies of third sector organizations that support young people into work, it explores these issues empirically, including the extent to which these employment activation programmes, in their current form, can enhance the capabilities of beneficiaries. Conclusions on the implications of a CA for employment activation are made.     

Street‐level Perceptions of Procedural Rights for Young Unemployed People – A Comparative Study between Sweden and Australia

Two types of welfare states are compared in this article. Differences in procedural rights for young unemployed at the level of service delivery are analyzed. In Australia, rights are regulated through a rigid procedural justice system. The young unemployed within the social assistance system in Sweden encounter staff with high discretionary powers, which makes the legal status weak for the unemployed but, on the other hand, the system is more flexible. Despite the differences, there is striking convergence in how the young unemployed describe how discretionary power among street‐level staff affects their procedural rights. This result can be understood as a result of similar professional norms, work customs and occupational cultures of street‐level staff, and that there is a basic logic of conditionality in all developed welfare states where procedural rights are tightly coupled with responsibilities.     

The United States Agency for International Development and forest loss: A cross-national analysis of environmental aid

Among scholars of international development, there is a debate regarding the effectiveness of bilateral aid to improve the natural environment. Here we focus on evaluating whether United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) aid in the environmental sector reduces forest loss. Little empirical evidence exists on this question, partly because of the challenge of modeling such a relationship, given the problem of endogeneity whereby the same social, political, or economic processes that affect forest loss may also be correlated with a nation receiving aid from international donors. We contribute to this debate by utilizing a two-stage instrumental variable regression model to analyze cross-national data for a sample of 74 low and middle income nations. After controlling for potential endogeneity, we find that higher levels of USAID’s aid for environmental protection correspond with lower rates of forest loss. We also find that a forest’s proximity to infrastructure, agricultural and forestry exports, agricultural land area, and tropical climate are related to increased forest loss.     

A Joined-up Approach to User Participation in Public Services: Strengthening the "Participation Chain"

Participation has emerged as a key theme for social policy and administration in the UK. Public service providers are often keen to consult users, and users themselves want to make their voices heard. Despite this, however, there is a perennial problem in getting people to participate, and participation is often better supported in principle than in practice. The motivations of key actors are crucial, but are often poorly understood. This article attempts to build a more detailed understanding of the motivations to participate of one key group: service users. Using Mutual Incentives Theory, it shows the extent to which users are motivated by individualistic or collectivistic concerns. These “demand side” factors are then combined with others on the “supply side” in a model we call the “participation chain”. This model provides a systematic framework for understanding what makes public service users participate, and seeks to demonstrate that, while the question of participation requires a combination of answers, it is a combination that can be predicted, planned for and acted upon.     

论大型国有企业失业人员的转型适应与社会认同——于辽宁省的个案调查,

大型国有企业下岗失业人员再就业出现困难的一个重要因素是其转型适应发生了障碍,其根源在于单位习性的惯性作用和社会认同的自弃制约。单位习性源自国有企业长期的计划经济体制施行的影响;社会认同的自弃行为则是计划经济体制与市场经济体制运行脱节的现实表现。转型适应有同化、整合、分化和边缘化四种表现形式。同化、整合是转型适应的良性状态;而分化和边缘化则是其恶性状态。分化和边缘化的产生是由于体制内社会国家责任过重、社会保障项目过于全面等因素的影响。就社会政策的导向效用而言,社会保障必须把握一定的度,否则就会导致保护懒惰的消极后果。     

Petitions: Different Dimensions of Voice and Influence in the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales

The creation of the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament not only saw a shift in responsibility and democratic accountability for many areas of policy, including significant areas of social policy, but also provided the opportunity for the Parliament and the Assembly to adopt ‘transformative reforms designed to expand the opportunities for citizens to connect with their governments’ ( Carman 2006 : 4). One such reform, which was associated with aims of increased access and openness, was the introduction of petitions systems in the new legislatures. Drawing on case studies from the devolved level, this article explores one of the less researched non‐traditional forms of participation to examine how and what petitions can contribute to social policy. In particular, it seeks to explore the extent to which petitions systems challenge or replicate existing inequalities; what voices and interests they enable to be heard; and what impact they can have on social policy and social policies.     

家庭暴力的女权主义与系统理论的比较研究

家庭暴力已成为一个全球性的问题。从以往的研究中发现,任何一种单一的理论观点,都无法全面解释暴力现象。因此为了理解并有效地解决家庭暴力,在社会工作实务领域中有必要从多维视角出发来研究家庭暴力问题。本文通过对家庭暴力最有代表性的女权主义和系统理论的比较,提出了通过相互补充和完善女权主义和系统理论来解决家庭暴力问题的建议和意见。     

Improving the Mental Health Outcomes of LGBTQ Youth and Young Adults: A Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this groundbreaking study was to evaluate outcomes of 482 LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning) youth and young adults who received services and supports through the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances Program (CMHI). This study was a secondary data analysis using data from a larger study of 3208 LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ youth ages 11 through 21 who had a serious emotional disturbance (SED). This study is significant in that it evaluates functional outcomes for young people identified as LGBTQ based on a specialized service framework (i.e., system of care approach). In essence, do LGBTQ youth with SED benefit from a specific approach to intervention? In addition, a comparison at intake on suicidality, bullying and victimization was conducted between the LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ identifying youth from the larger sample. The youth and a caregiver were interviewed face-to-face separately at intake, 6-months, and 12-months. Significant improvements were found across all of the dependent variables, supporting the viability of SOC for improving outcomes for LGBTQ youth. Future research should continue to build on this study by adding to the design a control group to improve internal validity of the findings.     

低保未就业人员的情况分析与促进就业的基本思路--对北京市东城区调查数据的分析

文章基于北京市东城区低保人口的严格抽样调查数据 ,对低保未就业人员的基本情况、就业意愿、培训及求职情况进行了分析 ,提出应在开发就业岗位、拓宽就业渠道的前提下 ,针对低保未就业人员的不同情况 ,采取市场手段与非市场手段相结合的、多种形式的就业扶持措施 ,并加强社会救助与就业政策之间的衔接     

Association Between Unemployment Duration and Depression in the SouthWest Region of Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Unemployment has risen as an effect of globalization in the country of Turkey. To date, no studies have examined the association between the duration of unemployment and perceived mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the association between the duration of unemployment and the incidenence of depression among citizens in the southwest region of Turkey. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 908 unemployed individuals. The questionnaire gathered sociodemographic characteristics and employment-related circumstances. To measure mental health, a depression inventory was administered and group-wise t-tests and logistic regressions were conducted. The findings show that long-term unemployed persons had more episodes of depressive moods in the past 12 months when compared with the group of the short-term unemployed. In addition, depression levels were higher among the long-term unemployed compared with the short-term unemployed. It was estimated that the duration of unemployment and the measurement of depression had a positive correlation. Risk factors that increased depression in the short-term unemployed were gender (female), older age, and greater periods of unemployment. However, higher education, income, and having social insurance significantly decreased the risk of developing depression for both the short-term and the long-term unemployed. Future recommendations include supportive counseling to increase motivation levels and developing strategies to handle periods of unemployment.     

提高农民素质是解决我国劳动力就业压力的根本途径

加入WTO ,会对我国农业生产造成巨大的冲击 ,农村剩余劳动力的问题会更加严峻。只有提高农民的科技文化素质 ,才能有更多的农民进得了城。也只有这样 ,才能提升我国的企业素质 ,提升我国的城镇素质。因此 ,提高农民素质 ,解决农民再就业是解决我国就业问题的关键。而提高农民素质的关键又在于加大农村教育的力度 ,搞好农民教育。     

New Governance and the Case of Activation Policies: Comparing Experiences in Denmark and the Netherlands

This article explores the importance of new forms of governance in active labour market policies (activation) in two countries: Denmark and the Netherlands. Drawing on research with key stakeholders in these countries, we analyse how new governance, and particularly processes of contracting-out and localization, have found expression in recent reforms to activation. We conclude that localization and contracting-out may have a future role to play in the development of more locally responsive and individually focused services. But both countries have encountered problems in promoting joined-up services through local jobcentres, while contracting-out has not always led to the tailored, individually focused services envisaged by policy-makers. In both countries, there are also concerns that the restriction of the Public Employment Service to a 'gatekeeping and signposting' role will lead to inconsistencies in the quality of services, exposing the most disadvantaged to greater social risk.     

日本社区福利发展模式与居民参与

社区发展作为社会工作的一部分在发达国家已有上百年的历史,随着人类社会的不断进步,寻找社会福利的新型依托主体势在必行,社区福利时代已经来临。本文通过对日本的社区福利的调查,从政府完善相应的法律法规、社会福利与社区福利的关系、社区组织的功能与居民参与的重要性等几个方面,探讨社区福利体系与发展模式。     

The Dutch and Danish Miracles Revisited: A Critical Discussion of Activation Policies in Two Small Welfare States

Denmark and the Netherlands are usually considered to belong to two different families of welfare states: the Scandinavian and the Continental model respectively. Yet, in both states active labour market policies, or activation, have increased during the 1990s and are currently prominent. Both in Denmark and in the Netherlands activation has been viewed as an important reason for the low unemployment rates which both states have experienced since the early to mid‐1990s, hence explaining the so‐called Dutch and Danish jobs miracles. The paper examines critically the activation measures taken in both countries and their alleged positive effect upon (un)employment. It further examines their effect on rights and obligations from a citizenship perspective. The paper concludes that in both cases the positive development of labour market performance cannot primarily be attributed to activation measures. Furthermore, activation has reduced the entitlements and increased the obligations affiliated with social citizenship.     

Fully Unconscious and Prone to Habit: The Characteristics of Agency in the Structure and Agency Dialectic

While the human agent must have the capacity for reflexivity, intentionality and consciousness, the same agent must also be affected by the social world in which she lives: herein lies the essence of the structure and agency dialectic. This paper argues that while some realists are in principle committed to a dialectical relationship between structure and agency, there is some dissonance between this commitment and the concepts of agency that they develop. I highlight the exclusion of the unconscious and habit from realist notions of agency and argue that this oversight serves to unbalance the dialectic between structure and agency thereby leading to the over‐empowerment of agency. The concepts of agency developed by Margaret Archer, Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu are discussed in this paper. Archer's concept of agency is argued to focus exclusively on reflexivity whilst neglecting to include the unconscious and habit. Giddens is shown to develop a much improved concept of agency, which includes the unconscious, however, his rejection of the independent causal powers of structure and agency problematises his commitment to the dialectic. A much improved approach to theorising agency, developed within a critical realist framework, is offered drawing on Bourdieu's concept of habitus. The paper concludes with a discussion of gender, and considers how the unconscious and habit can help to better understand the myriad ways in which gender functions in society.     

Assessing the Needs of Older Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual,and Transgender People: A Service-Learning and Agency Partnership Approach

A county agency and a social work research class partnered to conduct a state-mandated needs assessment of older gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people (GLBT). A survey design with purposive sampling of GLBT people over 60 yielded 38 participants. Findings included that the Internet was a viable means to reach this population and student awareness increased. Areas of greatest unmet need were GLBT-oriented/friendly legal advice, social events, grief and loss counseling, social workers, and assisted living. Some participants perceived existing senior services as unfriendly or hostile to GLBT persons. Recommendations include continued use of service-learning research and expanded needs assessment efforts.     

(Not) Taking Account of Precarious Employment: Workfare Policies and Lone Mothers in Ontario and the UK

Workfare is, at least in part, a policy response to changing labour markets and the expansion taking place in jobs that are low‐paid, irregular and insecure. For lone mothers, increasingly the focus of workfare policies, precarious employment creates special challenges. However, the nature of the jobs that are available to women on social assistance has received relatively little attention in the workfare literature, which focuses more on individual characteristics, supports to employment, and programme impacts. Drawing upon both primary and secondary sources and using Ontario, the province with the most developed workfare programme in Canada, this article examines the ways in which policies support and enforce precarious employment. The article also considers the implications of precarious employment for UK policy, which has not (yet) adopted workfare for lone mothers, although incremental steps in that direction are taking place as employment is increasingly viewed as the appropriate objective of income support programmes for lone mothers.     

Implementation of a Community-Based Approach to Dementia Care in England: Understanding the Experiences of Staff

ABSTRACT

Given the increasing numbers of people living with dementia, it is imperative that new, practical solutions are found to the issues faced by this group of people and their families. This article draws on findings from a qualitative study that explored the implementation of a community-based project to support people living with dementia in one local area in England. This approach has different names; in the United Kingdom it is Shared Lives or adult placement, which would be most comparable to family care in Europe and adult foster care in the United States. Interviews were conducted with 14 staff connected to the Shared Lives project. Interview data were coded using the normalization process theory constructs of coherence, cognitive participation, and collective action. Supportive program factors identified were a dedicated staff member and resources, and the availability of specialist knowledge and skills. Detriments to program success included lack of understanding about the service, perceptions it was a poor fit with existing practice, and wider organizational issues that negatively affected normalization of the intervention. Suggestions for future research go beyond staff opinions, stressing the importance of using a wider range of stakeholders and incorporating measurement of outcomes for people using the service.     

Work Activation Regimes and Well‐being of Unemployed People: Rhetoric,Risk and Reality of Quasi‐Marketization in the UK Work Programme

Well‐being and employment activation have become central and intertwined policy priorities across advanced economies, with the mandation of unemployed claimants towards employability interventions (e.g. curriculum vitae preparation and interview skills). Compelled job search and job transitions are in part justified by the well‐being gains that resulting employment is said to deliver. However, this dominant focus within the activation field on outcome well‐being – the well‐being improvement triggered by a transition to paid work – neglects how participation in activation schemes can itself affect well‐being levels for unemployed people – what we term ‘process well‐being’ effects. Combining theoretical literature with empirical work on the UK's large‐scale quasi‐marketized Work Programme activation scheme, we develop the limited existing academic discussion of process well‐being effects, considering whether and how activation participation mediates the negative well‐being effects of unemployment, irrespective of any employment outcomes. We further relate variation in such process well‐being effects to the literature on activation typologies, in which ‘thinner’ work‐first activation interventions are linked to weaker process well‐being effects for participants compared to ‘thicker’ human capital development interventions. Confirming these expectations, our empirical work shows that Work Programme participants have, to date, experienced a largely ‘thin’ activation regime in which participants are both expected to, and empirically demonstrate, similar if not lower levels of process well‐being than those who are openly unemployed. These concerning findings speak to all nations seeking to promote the well‐being of unemployed people and particularly those perusing ‘black box’ activation schemes based around quasi‐marketization, devolution and New Public Management.