The coverage of social protection in the Global South

About 73% of the global population is not, or is only partly, covered by social protection. Particularly across low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs), social protection coverage is highly heterogeneous. What explains the large differences in the inclusiveness of social protection across LMICs? By analysing 100 LMICs using retirement schemes as an example, this study shows that non‐contributory schemes in LMICs are, by far, more inclusive than contributory ones. Surprisingly, democratic institutions characterised by low levels of political corruption only promote the inclusiveness of non‐contributory social protection while reducing the coverage of contributory schemes.     

The evolution of the social welfare system in Palestine: Perspectives of policymakers in the West Bank

Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have long experienced social problems such as high rates of poverty and unemployment. These social problems necessitate the development of a viable, effective social welfare system. Relying on colonialism theory, this study examined the evolution of the social welfare system in the Palestinian Territories with an emphasis on the West Bank. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with 16 staff officials in Palestinian ministries and through archival material and administrative records. Results indicate that the Palestinian National Authority inherited a fragmented social welfare system in 1994 that lacked an appropriate legal framework. Additionally, internal deficiencies (e.g., unclear legal mandates, duplication of services) and external restrictions (e.g., road closures) have undermined the effectiveness of Palestinian social welfare institutions. The newly adopted approach to social welfare planning (i.e., partnership) and recent national planning initiatives show promise. Implications for social welfare policy and future research are discussed.     

源于身份的隔阂:人口多样性、社会信任与犯罪

本文以2014年中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据为基础，构建了一个人口多样性指数，并将其与288个城市的数据相匹配，检验了人口多样性与犯罪率之间的关系。实证结果表明，人口多样性是导致城市犯罪率上升的原因之一，且这一发现是稳健的。作用机制检验结果表明，社会信任是一个重要的中介变量，即人口多样性通过削弱社会信任水平导致犯罪率的上升。进一步，从地区制度环境和民生支出水平两个角度展开的实证检验发现，产权保护越完善、民众对法庭越有信心，政府在公共教育和社会保障上的财政支出越高，人口多样性对犯罪率的影响越弱，说明良好的制度和较高的社会福利支出具有显著的犯罪治理效应。本文的发现为城市化进程中我国各级政府的犯罪治理政策选择提供了经验证据，有助于科学把握犯罪治理的着力点。     

政治信任、社会网络与抗争倾向:基于53个国家和地区的实证比较

本文基于世界价值观调查数据（2010～2014年）,构建了以抗争倾向为因变量的多层次混合效应逻辑斯蒂回归模型。对53个国家和地区的7万余份样本的分析表明,影响个体抗争倾向的因素同时存在于微观与宏观两个层次。在微观层次,相较于政治信任,个体的社会网络对抗争倾向的影响程度更高,说明相较于社会心理学视角下的集体行为理论,组织社会学视角下的资源动员理论具有更强的解释力。在宏观层次,相较于威权政体,民主政体下的个体更倾向于诉诸抗争行为。具体而言,威权政体下,强社会网络、低政治信任的个体抗争倾向最高;民主政体下,强社会网络、高政治信任的个体抗争倾向最高。这说明微观层次的因素对抗争倾向的影响受到政体类型的干预。     

Developmental Social Policy,Social Welfare Services and the Non‐profit Sector in South Africa

The potential and challenge of constructing a democratic developmental welfare state through synergistic state‐civil society relations is the focus of this article. The author argues that while South Africa's pluralist approach, involving a leading role for the state in partnership with voluntary organizations, is a viable policy option to address the country's developmental challenges, anomalies between policy proclamations and actual practice raises questions about the efficacy of the partnership model and the gendered nature of welfare provision. Key governance issues and challenges, namely financial policies and institutional capability, underlie current failures in the delivery of welfare and care services, resulting in the non‐realization of these constitutionally guaranteed social rights. Further public action is needed to remedy the situation. Non‐profit organizations can advocate for policy reforms and challenge the instrumental nature of state‐civil relations and the abrogation of state responsibility for welfare services in contemporary South Africa.     

The Dynamics of Welfare Policy‐Making in South Korea: Social Movements as Policy Entrepreneurs*

This paper analyzes the role of social movements in the creation and evolution of a welfare state in South Korea. We begin with a theoretical overview of the existing works on policy change, highlighting concepts such as ideas, policy paradigms, and windows of opportunity. We then examine state institutions, hegemonic policy paradigms, and the specific dynamics of welfare policy‐making during South Korea’s authoritarian period (1961–1987). Next, characterizing the democratic transition in 1987 and the economic crisis of 1997–1998 as “windows of opportunity,” we probe how social movements emerged as “policy entrepreneurs” and played crucial roles in building welfare institutions and promoting welfare policies. In particular, we focus on the role of social movements in legislating the National Basic Livelihood Security Act in 1999 and consolidating fragmented health insurance systems in 2000. We conclude that social movements in democratized South Korea have assumed the role of policy entrepreneurs, filling the vacuum left by the central government and elite bureaucrats in the field of social welfare policy‐making.     

Progress of the social service professions in South Africa's developmental social welfare system: Social work,and child and youth care work

This paper examines the progress of the social service professions delivering developmental social welfare in South Africa, a subject we have followed closely over the last 20 years. Being policy-driven, developmental social welfare stemmed from expert social analyses that resulted in technically oriented solutions, including the broadening of social service professions. Twenty years on, it is hard to see developmental social welfare, as envisaged in government policy, in action, since the practice reality does not differ drastically from the prior apartheid system with the government's heavy reliance on social security as a poverty-alleviation measure. The expanded social security budget has led to underfunded services and a crisis for social service professionals. This paper focuses on the regulated professions of social workers, and child and youth care workers. Our examination of critical issues for these occupational groups revealed that South Africa still has a long way to go in building a strong social service workforce.     

信任溃败与圈子解散:田园茶叶公司的集体离职事件研究

以田园茶叶公司为例,本文运用集因素论和互动论优势于一体的圈子理论分析集体离职事件。研究表明,在以领导为核心的圈子中的网络结构位置决定了员工的去留、职级,集体离职源于组织中圈子内信任关系的受损、溃败所导致的圈子解散和替换。本文提出了五个研究推论：第一,职务结构和圈子关系的重合或分离会影响离职;第二,领导的圈外人最可能离职;第三,与小领导不和的大领导班底不会离职且会晋升;第四,圈间“桥”缺失会导致集体离职;第五,组织变革中的“幸存者”是大领导班底或圈间“桥”。本文有三个研究贡献：为离职研究提供了圈子理论的分析视角,拓展了圈子理论的解释范围;圈间“桥”关系协调作用的研究发现具有理论和现实的双重意义;有助于辨析圈间“桥”和结构洞概念。     

差序格局下的宗教信仰和信任——基于中国十城市的经验数据

目前学界对宗教与信任关系的研究尚未达成一致意见。基于中国10个城市的调查数据,本研究分析了宗教信仰对社会化信任、一般化信任和差序格局结构中不同半径群体信任的影响。研究发现,1.宗教对信任尤其是社会化信任具有显著的正向影响;2.宗教对信任的影响随着差序格局半径的增加而增加;3.宗教对信任的作用机制主要是信仰效应而非组织效应,此发现部分解释了宗教与信任关系研究结论的矛盾性。     

The Social Construction of Reality in the Realm of Children's Mental Health Services

ABSTRACT

Across the United States, systems of care have emerged to provide mental health care to children and their families; fragmentation inhibiting the success of collaboration by stakeholders is common and compromises these systems of care. Survey data were collected from 1,428 respondents in a Midwestern state to examine problems that exist within systems of care from the perspective of the different stakeholder groups. Stakeholder group membership was based upon the respondent's employment or involvement within various child-serving systems and included those in child welfare, juvenile justice, and education, mental health providers, and consumers (i.e., caregivers/parents). Group differences revealed patterns of “finger pointing” by the stakeholder groups on where specific problems exist within systems of care. The findings provide insight into how the social construction of service delivery and practice emerges as stakeholder groups describe, understand, and evaluate problems within the system of care as a function of their own practice location within the system of care. Future research should consider exploring methods that might minimize the competitive nature of disparate child-serving systems and its potentially negative impact upon system performance and treatment outcomes.     

Exploring Moderating Effects of Violent Conflict on Household Welfare in a Resource-Constrained Environment: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

This study examines correlates of household welfare in three countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, using data from the 2004 wave of the Afrobarometer survey. We also assess the role violent conflict might play in influencing this relationship. This subject has become especially relevant today in sub-Saharan Africa, given the growing disfranchisement of vulnerable individuals and households and increased incidents of violent conflict. Insight into the relationship between violent conflict and household welfare may be an important step in understanding why many sub-Saharan African countries have difficulties in stimulating economic growth and welfare. The study sample includes 3,525 respondents. Study findings provide partial support for the hypothesized relationship. Specifically, poverty reduction initiatives and informal assistance are associated with reduced hardship, while violent conflict is related to an increase in hardship. We also note that certain individual and household characteristics are linked to hardship. Practice and policy implications are suggested.     

Education in the Context of Conflict and Instability: The Palestinian Case

This paper draws on the results of a study carried out in the West Bank, in 1999, to explore the role of education as a coping strategy among the children of Palestinian refugees, and to examine how the state of being refugees affects perceptions of the value and importance of education. The paper first reviews the background to the development of a formal education system in Palestine and considers the different approaches to education in different political contexts, with ensuing particular reference to the West Bank. The findings of the regional study are then reported, with special reference to the various functions of education as a coping strategy—remedial, incentive‐mobilizing and identity‐building. Education, for those who have lost their property and whose identity is under threat, emerges as a key channel for maintaining consciousness of collective rights.     

Social investments in the knowledge economy: The politics of inclusive,stratified, and targeted reforms across the globe

As countries transition from industrial to post-industrial knowledge economies, education and skills are crucial. Consequently, policy-makers around the globe have increasingly focused on social investment, that is, policies aiming to create, mobilize, or preserve skills. Yet, countries around the globe have developed social investments to different degrees and in highly different forms. Our goal is twofold: First, we introduce a new typology of social investment policies, distinguishing nine types along two dimensions: three distributive profiles (inclusive, stratified, targeted) and three functions (skill creation, preservation, mobilization). This differentiation allows fine-grained analyses of the causes and consequences of different kinds of social investments, thus offering a perspective to study the relationship between efficiency and inclusiveness in a way that goes beyond the mere discussion how social investment policies grosso modo affect inequalities (‘equalizing’ versus ‘Matthew Effects’). Second, we theorize on the politics of social investment. We argue that the interaction of policy legacies and socioeconomic factors is the main explanation for which functions of social investment policies are introduced, whereas their distributive profiles are crucially shaped by political coalitions. We illustrate with empirical material from democracies around the globe.     

The Effects of Participation and Resources on Democratic Attitudes: Role of Social Capital in Four Latin and South American Countries

ABSTRACT

Social capital research in Latin and South American countries has been gravely limited by the absence of valid measures of social capital. This study seeks to create a scale for measuring social capital in the Latin and South American context using exploratory and confirmatory statistical procedures. It also seeks to test the effect of social capital on democratic attitudes in Latin America through structural equation modeling methods. Analysis of four countries in Latin and South America suggests that social capital is positively related to democratic attitudes. Recommendations for future studies are highlighted, and scale properties and outcomes are discussed.     

Social welfare and social work: the meaning of poverty programs in Latin America

During the last decade, the concern about poverty has turned into a key issue in the government discourse, and participatory poverty programs have multiplied all over Latin America. Nevertheless, poverty and social unrest keep growing. The objective of this article is to explain this apparent paradox. First there is an analysis of the relationship between structural adjustment, the growth of poverty, and the reorientation of broad social policy away from social rights towards selective and targeted poor relief. In order to illustrate the content and operation of a typical Latin American poverty program, the Mexican National Solidarity Program is examined. The initial question posed is whether this program alleviates poverty and grants a social minimum for the poor in view of the magnitude of poverty, the quantity of resources and their allocation. Next the participatory approach of the program is analyzed in relation to the empowerment of poor groups and communities. Finally, there is a reflection on the place of social work in this program and how the role of the social worker has been transformed.     

A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training

Sakaguchi H, Sewpaul V. A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 192–202 © 2009 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article draws on a one‐year study visit to the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, interviews with field supervisors and students in Japan and reviews of the national frameworks of education in Japan and in South Africa. In doing so, the authors identify the similarities and differences in social work education across the two countries and they explore some of the historical and socio‐cultural factors that might account for the differences. There are some identifiable peculiarities in social work education in Japan, especially with the coalescing of care work and social work education. The lack of differentiation between care work and social work makes it difficult to narrow the scope of social work education and practice. National social work standards have been approved in South Africa and regulatory frameworks for social work education and practice have been long accepted, thus rendering ‘social work’ a protected title and a profession that is more entrenched compared with social work in Japan. The codes of ethics in Japan and South Africa are discussed with specific reference to their control functions in South Africa. The article concludes by discussing these comparisons in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education.     

社会资本在社会发展中的作用——兼论韩国新村运动提高社会资本的实践与思考

目前,社会资本被认为是世界经济发展的关键因素。它已被广泛用来解释具有相同或相似的物质资本与人力资本的国家或地区经济发展差异和项目绩效差异的原因。然而,它在社会发展中的作用,也日益凸现出来。社会资本在社会发展中的作用主要表现在克服集体行动的困境、提高公共政策效率、促进政府治理绩效和有利于和谐社会建构四个方面。韩国的新村运动之所以能比以前其他类似的运动取得比较成功的绩效,主要在于政府采取多种措施提高和重建社会资本的结果。中国的新农村建设要想取得满意的成效,也不应忽视在提高和重建社会资本方面多下工夫。     

Global Social Justice for Older People: The Case for an International Convention on the Rights of Older People

Older people are beginning to represent a large proportion ofthe general population and have become a major area for socialprogramming in many parts of the world. However, neglect orviolation of older people’s rights is common. Until recently,there has been a surprising lack of advocacy on the part ofnon-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights activistsfor a legally effective international convention on the rightsof older people, as compared with other vulnerable groups suchas children and women. This paper argues that the introductionof an international convention on the rights of older peopleis long overdue. Such an international convention should containcomprehensive and legally binding provisions which would requireratifying states to promote older people’s rights. Itshould be reinforced by a strong monitoring system that wouldinvolve key members of the international community. This paperoutlines the arguments in favor of the creation of a transnationalhuman rights agreement for older people and proposes that internationalNGOs and human rights advocates should work toward creatingsuch a convention.     

乡镇政府在农村公共服务中的角色定位与功能实现

乡镇政府是农村社会的＂法人行动者＂,尽管它的组织形式一度为人民公社,其职能也曾表现为政治统治型和经济发展型,但它始终在农村公共服务与管理中扮演着重要角色。乡镇政府是新农村建设和城乡公共服务一体化的重要组织者,应该凸显公共服务型和治理型的功能。如此,为实现其与角色对称的功能,乡镇政府可以通过明确重点服务域、确立决策权威、增加服务资金投入等践行农村公共服务的供给与管理功能。     

北京市孤残儿童被遗弃的原因分析

孤残儿童是我国最软弱的一个社会群体。儿童遗弃的类型和原因非常复杂。这篇文章通过对社会调查和统计资料的分析 ,发现北京市孤残儿童的群体特征 :北京市儿童福利院的大多数儿童是残疾。由此得出残疾和重男轻女的思想是父母遗弃儿童的主要原因 ,并且指出解决北京市面对的儿童被遗弃问题的方法只有从全国来考虑 ,从制度上来考虑。文章提出了相关的政策建议