Paternalism in Australian welfare policy

Since at least the 1990s, policies comprising welfare reform in Australia have focused on securing employment for jobless people. This article demonstrates that these policies are highly paternalistic, and argues that despite the absence of the term ‘paternalism’ from relevant government discourse, paternalism is indeed a substantial characteristic of the policies. Such policies have been substantially justified through appealing to the objective of advancing the interests of those people subject to the policies while simultaneously involving compulsion. The research is based on evidence from 1996 to 2011. Through the analysis of government documents and interviews with policy makers, the presence of a benevolent justification is identified and analysed, focusing on two subordinate justifications: reducing welfare dependency, and promoting social inclusion. Policies aimed at getting people into work are then examined, where it is found that compulsion is the primary policy instrument. It is shown that the compulsive elements in workfare, when linked to the objective of helping workfare subjects, renders the policies implicitly paternalistic.     

Work barriers perceived by welfare recipients of a community employment program in Beijing,China

This research adopted a qualitative research method to explore work barriers perceived by 36 welfare recipients of a community employment program in Beijing, China. The barriers identified included personal and family factors of low education, lack of working skills, poor physical health, mental health problems and family care burden, along with interpersonal factors of weak social networks and social factors of high competitiveness in the job market and age discrimination. The findings were discussed in Chinese social contexts. The practice and policy implications of the study were noted and further research was recommended.     

Dynamics of social assistance: the Norwegian experience in comparative perspective

In the article we ask how long Norwegian recipients of social assistance stay on aid over an eight‐year period? We focus on the populations selected, the design of the study and how spells are recorded and measured. The data set includes nearly the entire 1995 cohort of social assistance claimants (n = 155,000), and contains individual information over eight years (1992–1999), which is the maximum length of a single continuous spell. The study combines a retrospective and a prospective multiple cohort design. The data analysis shows that there is no simple answer to our question; the answer depends on the sample selected, the design, number of spells counted and the chosen measure of central tendency. We find that median duration times vary from two months to 40 months. The conclusion is that a point‐in‐time sample has clearly the longest duration. It makes a big difference whether one measures one or more spells. Because cycling is a common phenomenon, the sum of all spell durations is much higher than that of the first continuous spell. A retrospective design severely underestimates spell durations since many spells are right‐hand censored. As there is no single, adequate answer to our initial question, it is recommended that analysts of social assistance dynamics carefully specify their sample, design and spells counted.     

From Social Insurance to Social Assistance

In attempting to establish a social security system that would function to smooth the transition from a planned to market economy, the government of China has, for most of the time in the past decades, focused its efforts on setting up social insurance programs in the urban areas. Along with the emergence of urban poverty since the mid 1990s, the emphasis of the government has shifted to means-tested social assistance programs as the major means to combat poverty and maintain social stability. However, with the absence of more equitable social and economic policies that can protect people against the many risks associated with a market economy, the role of social assistance is very limited.     

Social investment,social service and the economic performance of welfare states

This article begins with an examination of the role of social services as the key instrument of social investment strategy, presenting an empirical analysis of its impact on economic performance. A pooled time series, cross‐section analysis was conducted with the data of 15 welfare states from 1990 to 2007 under the ‘social investment hypothesis’ that more social service orientedness brings about a greater positive effect on the economy. The results show that a larger share of social service spending in the total social expenditure – more social service orientedness – contributes to economic growth and labour market performance, whereas a larger aggregate size of the welfare state may have a negative effect on employment. In conclusion, this study suggests that the relatively ambiguous welfare strategy of social investment could be clarified as a ‘transition from income security to livelihood security’ in which emphasis is placed on social service. Key Practitioner Message: ● This study suggests that the key instrument of social investment strategy is social service; ● The results show that more social service orientedness contributes to economic growth and labour market performance.     

Poverty and anti-poverty measures in China

During three decades of rapid economic development and governmental anti-poverty measures, China achieved considerable success in poverty alleviation. However, because poverty remains a severe problem, this research analysed the causes and implications of poverty as well as the associated social policies, based on official statistics and survey data. Three decades of successful anti-poverty measures, have largely reduced ‘absolute poverty’, yet ‘relative poverty’ is still severe and substantial challenges remain, caused by the changing socioeconomic circumstances. To enhance poverty alleviation, relevant social policies should be reformed, including changing the underlying approach from addressing absolute poverty to addressing relative poverty, increasing the beneficiary coverage and raising the level of benefits, increasing public funding and improving the relevant administrative systems.     

Poverty and welfare in Denmark

From 1945 to the 1980s, Denmark was characterized by the absence of poverty or at least by the lack of any debate over poverty. However, by the mid-1980s, the presence of new forms of poverty made it impossible for politicians and social scientists to neglect poverty as an issue. The re-emergence of poverty did not clarify its extent, but it is widely agreed that poverty now is related to social exclusion and marginalization from the labour market. Empirical evidence is given that shows a poverty incidence of about 8%; the extent of marginalization is calculated to include 20-25% of the population of working age. The existence of poverty can be seen as a critique of the Scandinavian welfare state project, which was developed explicitly to fight and eliminate poverty. The article concludes with a discussion of the latest welfare state development in Scandinavia and possible future trends, summarized as welfare pluralism. The further implementation of the concept of welfare pluralism holds both positive and negative prospects for the poor, since it opens up both a more differentiated yet possibly also more stratified distribution of welfare     

Social impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on China and its policy initiatives

The Global Financial Crisis has brought eminent, negative economic and social impacts on China since late 2008, including a considerable decline in GDP growth and a rapid rise in unemployment. Drawing on the published literature and official statistical data, this paper examines the social consequences of the Global Financial Crisis in China, explores various policy initiatives taken by the Chinese government and assesses the effectiveness of these policy initiatives. It argues that the Global Financial Crisis has led to high levels of enterprise bankruptcy and job losses in China. Rural migrant workers and new university graduates are the two social groups most adversely affected. The economic stimulus package and expanded social programmes tend to be short term and economic oriented. Whether the policy initiatives have been effective in mitigating the social impacts of this crisis and correcting the structural imbalance of China's economy is unclear. The paper concludes by suggesting that a new policy approach should be taken to timely and effectively address the negative social impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on China, in particular by providing a more inclusive and comprehensive social safety net, prioritizing employment generation, and addressing housing deficits.     

From the hidden welfare state to the hidden part of welfare state reform: Analyzing the uses and effects of fiscal welfare in France

This article argues that fiscal welfare in Europe not only forms part of the “hidden welfare state” (Howard, 1997 ), but also constitutes an important yet understudied—and therefore hidden—element of welfare state reform. Using the example of France, and relying both on available data and on an exhaustive database of social tax expenditures (STEs) compiled for 2014, the article begins by providing an overview of the structure of STEs in France (section 2 ). It then analyzes the specific uses and effects of STEs in the fields of employment, health care, and pensions. In particular, it shows, first of all, how STEs have constituted a privileged instrument for circumventing certain institutional features such as high levels of minimum wage and of social security contributions in the field of employment (section 3 ). Second, it also shows that STEs have been used to quietly divert resources away from the earmarked social security funds and into collective private insurance funds, thus fueling their development, in the case of health care and pensions (section 4 ). Lastly, the article engages with the notion of the “social division of welfare” (Titmuss, 1958 ) by considering some of the distributional effects of fiscal welfare in France (section 5 ), before concluding (section 6 ).     

The welfare politics of Charles Murray are alive and well in the UK

Prideaux SJ. The welfare politics of Charles Murray are alive and well in the UK
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 293–302 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article takes a historical look at the ‘underclass’ debate that was prominently provoked and perpetuated in Britain by the American Charles Murray. It does so because the recent protestations about gun crime, welfare dependency and lone parenthood by David Cameron and the Conservative Party have not only echoed New Labour's New Deal logic, but have also reignited an argument that furiously raged in British policy debates during the 1980s and 1990s. Despite numerous criticisms and critics questioning Murray's selection of evidence, methodology and use of anecdotal vignettes, it is still apparent that the stereotypical assumptions about a section of British society who choose not to work, live a life of crime and produce inadequately socialised illegitimate children still persist. Consequently, the article revisits these arguments so that lessons from the past can now be brought to the fore and, hopefully, taken on board academically if not politically.     

Work, welfare and the attack on the welfare state: the mixing of politics and policy

This article considers the current ideological and political attack against the floor of benefits for poor families in the United States. It examines a number of punitive approaches to the treatment of families on welfare that were developed in the United States in the late 1980s and the 1990s and contends that such policies will not effectively deter the dysfunctional behavior of some of the poor. Rather these policy developments reflect an attack on current national policies of developing an income maintenance floor that seeks to economically sustain poor families, albeit often inadequately. The article contends that current welfare proposals by conservatives and social liberals are not satisfactory for dealing with the problems of the welfare poor and offers suggestions for dealing with these deficits. It also notes that criticisms of welfare state protection for the poor raised in the United States are much more categorical than those raised in Sweden.     

Frontline implementation of welfare conditionality in Norway: A maternalistic practice

Welfare conditionality is both ambitious and ambiguous for the frontline workers who put policy into practice. Since January 2017, the Norwegian frontline service should require social assistance benefit recipients under the age of 30 to participate in some sort of work-related activation, so-called mandatory activation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with frontline workers at local offices in the Norwegian Public Welfare Service (NAV), we investigate how the requirement is implemented in a context of a professionalised social welfare service. Mandatory activation is arguably a paternalistic measure. Drawing on Bernardo Zacka's concept of moral dispositions and Laura Specker Sullivan's concepts of maternalism, our findings indicate that at the frontline, mandatory activation policies are implemented by maternalistic decision making, emphasising the interpersonal relation between trained caseworkers and clients. The caseworkers use their discretionary powers in the implementation of conditionality and sanctions by emphasising care and support as embedded in the strict rules.     

A comparison of social assistance in China and Sweden

This article compares social assistance in China and Sweden, and finds a number of similarities. In both countries, benefits are regulated by a national policy, while local governments are responsible for administration. The proportion of the population receiving social assistance is surprisingly similar in China and Sweden. Social assistance reduces dire poverty but is less successful in raising full-year recipients above the poverty line used in international comparisons of developed countries. During the last decade, the income thresholds used to assess claims have not increased at the same rate as the mean income level in both countries. Not surprisingly, there are also substantial differences in the social assistance systems of the two countries. The Swedish system has a long history; the Chinese is relatively recent. The income thresholds differ in terms of their method of calculation and the extent of the relief they offer. While the same thresholds are applied across Sweden, in China they vary by location. The profiles of recipients also differ between countries.     

Building state capacity for welfare governance: The pathway and development of child welfare system and social work in China

ABSTRACT

China’s dramatic socioeconomic transformation after the reform and opening up, coincided with changes in state-family relationship, has resulted in a large number of children at risk of care. In the past three decades, child welfare has been highly concerned by the government and society, and the child welfare system has substantially developed in the direction of establishing a moderately universal system. In this process, the development of child welfare and social work has shown a mutually reinforcing trend. This includes the professionalisation of child welfare services, the professional training of child welfare workers and the advancement of child welfare policies. The governance of child welfare is an essential component of national social governance. Its future development should be oriented towards a developmental and holistic approach of governance, and social work as an important institutional actor plays a critical role in promoting good governance of child welfare and beyond.     

Emotions, self-interest and support for social welfare in a Chinese society with reference to a Dutch study on welfare legitimacy

This article aims at contributing to a better understanding of welfare legitimacy in different institutional contexts. It examines whether or not emotions are important for welfare legitimacy by using survey findings from a representative sample of Chinese residents in Hong Kong. It follows a Dutch study of a similar nature, but finds that the Chinese exhibit a different response pattern towards the emotional motives of moral obligation and empathy and the non-emotional motives of self-interest, probably as a result of the perception of the residual nature of the Chinese welfare system. In the Chinese case, personal characteristics carry different effects compared with those found in the Dutch study. A further finding is that both emotional motives and self-interest motives are significant for hypothetical choices of welfare alternatives. But their effects are marginal, though striking in comparison with other determinant variables. In conclusion, the article argues that reciprocal self-interest is progressive, an idea that is unlikely to be honoured by many welfare state theorists such as Richard Titmuss.     

Introduction to the special issue on welfare conditionality in Australia

Conditionality in Australia’s welfare state has sustained a significant academic critique, including the critique published in this journal. In this Special Issue of the Australian Journal of Social Issues, we contribute to the existing critical literature on welfare conditionality. This Special Issue aimed to provide empirical scrutiny into welfare reform and conditionality in Australia. The articles extend our understanding of welfare conditionality’s underpinnings and its lived effects. These case studies illuminate the aspects of welfare conditionality that have not received enough attention: the role of technology, the question of mobility, the relationship with housing and the little thought given to the state’s role in mutual obligation. What is clear is that the individualisation of structural problems is not just a theoretical and political misstep ripe for critique, but leads to the formulation of policies that impact marginalised people’s capacity to shape life on their own terms. Through different empirical foci, all papers in this Special Issue demonstrate how welfare conditionality is put forward as a solution to address the consequences of structural disadvantage.     

Mobilising the welfare machine: Questioning the resurgent socialist concern in China’s Public Rental Housing Scheme

This study examined the resurgence of public housing provision in China since 2007 by situating it in a broad welfare regime analysis. Based on insights from Productivist Welfare Capitalism (Holliday, 2000. Productivist Welfare Capitalism, 706?723) and Graduated Sovereignty (Ong, 2006a. Neoliberalism as exception), we have sought to shed new light on the productivist approach through a study on Chinese cases. Using the examples of Chongqing and Nanjing, we argue in the study that the proactive action of the state to further commodify labour power has led to the flexible de‐articulation and re‐articulation of welfare and citizenship in an ongoing process of de‐territorialisation and re‐territorialisation of various segments of the population that own parcels of land. Another aspect of flexibility in the welfare regime is the double segmentation of population and territory, which is also contingent on, and subject to, alteration upon government decision.     

Mutual aid in the welfare system in the Republic of Korea

For the past two decades, in many Western industrialized states, problems of their welfare systems have become more and more obvious. Three common complaints about welfare systems are high taxation, minimal effectiveness and impersonal bureaucracy. Various measures (such as budget cuts, decentralization and privatization) have been undertaken in order to overcome these problems by many welfare states. In any case, public welfare systems in many Western industrialized states do not cover the affective element which is inherent in the Korean welfare system. In Korea, where the public welfare system is in the formative stage, mutual aid, which is based on a long tradition of personal and voluntary networking, has played an important role in meeting citizens' welfare needs not only by material aid but also by psychological support. To understand welfare in society, it is necessary not only to study the welfare provided by the state and the market but also to consider the welfare provided by mutual aid networks.     

Controlled and dependent: experiences of living on social assistance in Sweden

Marttila A, Whitehead M, Canvin K, Burström B. Controlled and dependent: experiences of living on social assistance in Sweden
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 142–151 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This study explored experiences of people receiving social assistance in 21st‐century Sweden, based on 33 in‐depth interviews conducted in 2005 and 2006. Two overarching themes emerged from the accounts, encompassing both a material and a psychosocial dimension of living on social assistance. Recipients reported that social assistance was generally sufficient for their basic material needs but allowed for no extras. It was possible to live on social assistance for a short time, but became difficult in the longer term. Perceptions of powerlessness, hopelessness and dependency were common and had the most damaging consequences for the recipients' perceived wellbeing. Some recipients believed that society at large had negative perceptions of people living on social assistance; it was something to be ashamed of but, at the same time, it was the recipients' only possible source of income. Findings of this study are partly similar to previous studies conducted in Sweden, suggesting that improvement in services should take into account the experiences of social assistance recipients.