Does family still matter? Public and private transfers in emerging welfare state systems in a comparative perspective

Kim JW, Choi YJ. Does family still matter? Public and private transfers in emerging welfare state systems in a comparative perspective Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 353–366 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. While the role of the family has been a distinctive feature of East Asian welfare systems, rapid social policy development and reforms in South Korea and Taiwan over the last two decades have led to an increase in public welfare. Yet, despite a growing number of studies, little is known about the role of family support – private transfers – and public programmes in the performance of state welfare. This article reports on a comparative analysis of the role of public and private transfers aimed at poverty and inequality reduction in 12 Western and two East Asian states employing the Luxemburg Income Study data set. Results indicate that, in contrast to the West, private transfers that rest primarily on family support remain more important than public transfers in reducing income inequality and poverty in South Korea and Taiwan.     

Can we count on each other? Reciprocity and conflicts in financial support in Sweden

Espvall M, Dellgran P. Can we count on each other? Reciprocity and conflicts in financial support in Sweden
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 84–94 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article explores the experiences of reciprocity and conflicts in social relationships, and how these experiences are related to financial support (loans and gifts) in the wider social network. The balance of exchange within the social network as a whole is considered in relation to socio‐demographic features, financial conditions and the availability of social relationships. The data are drawn from a study of financial support exchange in Sweden based on a representative survey among Swedish citizens (n= 500). The results reveal that people living in economic hardship and who have more problematic life circumstances appear to be at risk of receiving more limited informal financial support and experience more feelings of conflict and nonreciprocal social relations.     

The perceived importance of family‐friendly policies to childbirth decision among Hong Kong women

Wong C‐K, Tang K‐L, Ye S. The perceived importance of family‐friendly policies to childbirth decision among Hong Kong women Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 381–392 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Declining fertility is a problem in many advanced industrialised countries, calling for government action. While positive findings have been established between family policies and fertility levels in European countries, empirical studies on family‐friendly policies and their impact on fertility levels have been few and far between in East Asia. Based on a random telephone survey of 645 young women, this study examined the perceived importance of family‐friendly policies to childbirth among Hong Kong women of childbearing age. Also investigated was whether public policies could have an impact on the decision to have a child. The findings give support to both the risk‐society theory and the rationality theory; family‐friendly policies such as tax credits, extended childcare and flexitime enhance the risk management capacity of women and reduce the cost of child rearing. The study also found that demographic factors such as age, education, and having children or not are significant to the intent to bear children.     

The management of professional roles during boundary work in child welfare

Hall C, Slembrouck S, Haigh E, Lee A. The management of professional roles during boundary work in child welfare Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 348–357 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This article examines the ways in which child welfare professionals negotiate their roles and those of other professionals in home visits with clients, in this case the parents of young children. The concept of boundary work is developed within the context of the professional–client encounter. Drawing on Goffman's concept of ‘footing’, the analysis examines how professionals attend to ways of constructing family problems in terms of appropriate professional interventions – both from themselves and others. It is argued that the careful consideration of how problems merit interventions displays an adherence to the development of the supportive relations which move beyond strict professional remits. The article adds to the research evidence, which sees inter‐professional coordination as a complex matter, located in everyday practice rather than as advocating more tightly monitored procedure.     

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.     

Motives,experiences and strategies of next of kin helping older relatives in the Swedish welfare context: a qualitative study

Dunér A. Motives, experiences and strategies of next of kin helping older relatives in the Swedish welfare context: a qualitative study Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 54–62 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Next of kin provide the major part of the help given to older people in Sweden, a country where the official goals of formal eldercare are universality and extensive coverage. This qualitative interview study investigates the thoughts and actions of next of kin who provide informal help to older relatives who also receive formal help from the municipal eldercare. Informal help‐giving, in the context of Swedish social policy, was connected with a multiplicity of motives, experiences and strategies. The motives for help‐giving were moral considerations, emotional attachment and ‘out of necessity’. The experiences of next of kin support the idea of ambivalence as a significant feature of informal help‐giving. Different strategies were employed, both active and passive in nature, to manage their situation. The study points out the importance of outlining working forms and methods of collaboration for older persons and their informal and formal networks to lessen the ambivalence experienced by help‐giving next of kin.     

Do public pensions matter for health and wellbeing among retired persons? Basic and income security pensions across 13 Western European countries

Esser I, Palme J. Do public pensions matter for health and wellbeing among retired persons? Basic and income security pensions across 13 Western European countries Int J Soc Welfare 2010: ??: ??–??© 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. Mortality rates suggest that elderly people in the advanced welfare democracies have experienced dramatically improved health over the past decades. This study examined the importance of public pensions for self‐reported health and wellbeing among retired persons in 13 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in 2002–2005. New public pension data make it possible to distinguish between two qualities of pension systems: ‘basic security’ for those who have no or a short work history, and ‘income security’ for those with a more extensive contribution record. For enhanced cross‐national comparison, relative measures of ill‐health and wellbeing were constructed to account for cultural bias in responses to survey questions and heterogeneity among countries in the general level of population health. Overall, better health is found in countries with more generous pensions, although the results are gendered; for women's health, high basic security of the pension system appears to be particularly important. Women's wellbeing also tends to be more dependent on the quality of basic security.     

Suspicious minds: local context and attitude variation across Swedish municipalities

Johansson Sevä I. Suspicious minds: local context and attitude variation across Swedish municipalities
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 225–235 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article investigates whether degree of suspicion of welfare abuse relates to local context in Sweden. It is suggested that certain features of Swedish municipalities can create a local information bias influencing individual suspicion of welfare abuse. Prevalence of social problems and political climate are features of the municipal context having the potential to influence opinion formation. Social problems are captured by local unemployment, social assistance and ill‐health rates. Political climate is captured by electoral support for conservatives. The results indicate that local context can influence suspicion of welfare abuse, contexts where social problems are widespread reduce such suspicion. While local political climate seems important in itself, it also interacts with social problem level, increasing suspicion if a conservative political climate and social problems coexist. While social problems seem to generate less suspicion regarding social policy abuse, they also provide ‘raw material’ for political rhetoric regarding suspicion.     

Laws and policies to support the wellbeing of children: an international comparative analysis

Nicklett EJ, Perron BE. Laws and policies to support the wellbeing of children: an international comparative analysis Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 3–7 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The international community has raised concerns regarding the extent to which countries have implemented laws and policies to support the rights and wellbeing of children. This study evaluates the progress of least‐developed countries (LDCs) and middle‐income countries (MICs) in developing such legislation. Surveys were sent to 131 UNICEF country offices. Items included efforts to promote family preservation and family ties, family‐based care over institutionalization, and child participation in placement decisions. A total of 68 surveys were returned, reflecting a 52 percent response rate (LDC, n= 25; MIC, n= 43). Legislation that addressed abuse and neglect of children, maternity leave, removal of children from the family, family care, adoption, and guardianship was widespread. Chi‐square tests indicated that MICs had a substantially higher number of laws and policies related to child allowances, school feeding programs, maternity leave, and day care.     

Girls with honour‐related problems in a comparative perspective

Schlytter A, Linell H. Girls with honour‐related problems in a comparative perspective
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 152–161 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The aim of this study was to learn to perceive the indicators of honour‐related problems in a girl's everyday life. Our investigation included all girls aged 13–18 years who were about to be taken into care in 2006. The comparative analysis was based on 37 County Court cases in Stockholm County. The girls' exposure to harm in 13 of the 37 cases could be coupled to the demands and values of the honour culture. All the girls in the ‘honour’ group had been victims of mental abuse; they were more isolated than the girls in the ‘other reason’ group and none of the girls in the ‘honour’ group chose to meet their parents in court. We found that the honour culture life situation is new to the social services, which for these girls can mean that they do not have access to the same legal protection as other girls.     

Badiou and the philosophy of social work: a reply to Stephen Webb

Imre R. Badiou and the philosophy of social work: a reply to Stephen Webb Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 253–258 © 2010 The Author, Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Stephen Webb's recent article ‘Against diversity and difference in social work’ claims that the work of Alain Badiou has the potential to be of great use in social work practice. Webb is faced with the problem of a discourse that has eroded any practical meaning attached to notions of diversity and difference, he laments the ‘ethical turn’ in social work practice and blames post‐modernism. Webb views the work of Badiou as a way to reinvigorate social work practice. I claim that Badiou's Being and Event is exclusive to ontology. Connections between Being and Event and possible ‘uses’ of Badiou's subtractive ontology, as an instrumentalisation, are not worthwhile. Critiquing Badiou's non‐ontological philosophies and political polemics is a better way to assess the practicality of his thought outside of his ontology. Webb's conflation of post‐modernism, neoliberalism and the difference, diversity and ethics discourse is also problematic and is critiqued here.     

Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea

Gao Q, Yoo J, Yang S‐M, Zhai F. Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 113–124 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article, the Basic Livelihood Security (BLS) systems of China and South Korea are compared. The purpose of BLS is to provide a safety net for poor families, particularly the unemployed and the retired who were hard‐hit by recent economic reforms and crises. A common characteristic of the two systems is residual welfare marked by strict eligibility rules and limited coverage. Both systems are subordinate to the primary goal of economic growth and therefore only compensate for the very disadvantaged left behind by market competition. Neither system is particularly effective in achieving its original antipoverty goals. However, South Korea's provision of self‐support programs to supplement cash transfers has helped individuals to move from welfare to work, and thus has implications for China's BLS system. Both countries need to put more emphasis on equity and social justice in their ongoing reforms and expansions of BLS.     

Client contribution in negotiations on employability – categories revised?

Eskelinen L, Olesen SP, Caswell D. Client contribution in negotiations on employability – categories revised? Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 330–338 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article, we explore how the institutional category ‘unemployed’ is specified in everyday practice when implementing an active employment policy. We illustrate the process of categorisation as an aspect of the in situ positioning and self‐representation of the client by examining one social worker–client talk: how the category unemployed is shaped and ‘translated’ when the client negotiates her situation with the social worker. Two types of category revisions are identified. First, the employability of the client, rather than her unemployment situation, is the issue under negotiation. Second, the client introduces new categories that are compatible with the demands of the employment system. She contributes by drawing on discursive resources related to the category of ‘active job seeker’ but does this with an own agenda of looking for a suitable job. The analysis elucidates the client's contribution to institutional practice and discusses constitutive and constituted elements of categorisation.     

Lagging behind in good times: immigrants and the increased dependence on social assistance in Sweden

Mood C. Lagging behind in good times: immigrants and the increased dependence on social assistance in Sweden Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 55–65 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. After the 1990s recession in Sweden, social assistance (SA) recipiency decreased to levels that were clearly lower than before the recession. However, this decrease masked a strong polarisation: the number of short‐term recipients fell, but the number of long‐term recipients was higher than before the recession. This article shows how SA recipiency and dependence changed over a whole economic cycle in Sweden's largest city, Stockholm, and asks whether the increasing dependence can be explained by immigration. It is shown that the relative increase of long‐term SA is similar among immigrants and native‐born, but decomposition analysis reveals that the increase among native‐born is of minor importance for the overall increase. Nearly half the increase can be attributed instead to the increased representation of immigrants in the population, and another 38 per cent to increased dependence among immigrants. Only 15 per cent of the total increase in long‐term SA is a result of increased dependence among native‐born.     

Low income and ‘poverty lines’ in Norway: a comparison of three concepts

Borgeraas E, Dahl E. Low income and ‘poverty lines’ in Norway: a comparison of three concepts
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 73–83 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article we address the question of how well three concepts of ‘poverty’ correspond with each other. We have compared three different measures of ‘poverty’ in Norway: income poverty and two measures of a minimum budget standard, one scientifically and one politically defined. The three measures rest on different underlying concepts, serve different purposes and yield significantly different poverty lines. If followed by the municipal social services, the governmental norms for social benefits will, paradoxically, leave the beneficiaries in income poverty as defined by that same government. The most generous poverty line of all three measures is provided by the minimum budget standard developed by the National Institute for Consumer Research in Norway, which rests on the assumption that a household's income has to give a sustainable financial situation in the longer run. Neither of the two other poverty measures have this property. All numbers pertain to the year 2005. Some political and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Trends in long‐term sickness absence in Sweden 1992–2008: the role of economic conditions,legislation, demography,work environment and alcohol consumption

Lidwall U, Marklund S. Trends in long‐term sickness absence in Sweden 1992–2008: the role of economic conditions, legislation, demography, work environment and alcohol consumption Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 167©179 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. In Sweden, absence from work because of illness or injury has fluctuated considerably over time. This study aimed to identify potentially important factors behind variations in long‐term sickness absence. Aggregated data were used to assess factors correlated with the number of ongoing cases of sickness absence lasting more than 59 days. Trends were analysed using statistics from national social insurance records, labour force surveys and other official statistics. Although specific changes in the degree of generosity in the sickness insurance scheme were important in some cases, the results showed no consistent associations for the study period 1992–2008. Men were generally more sensitive to macroeconomic factors than women. Furthermore, compared with earlier findings, workforce composition had less impact on variations in long‐term sickness absence. Notably, public health indicators such as alcohol sales and working conditions were clearly related to long‐term sick leave during the period under investigation.     

Children's services in the iron cage of performance management: street‐level bureaucracy and the spectre of Švejkism

Wastell D, White S, Broadhurst K, Peckover S, Pithouse A. Children's services in the iron cage of performance management: street‐level bureaucracy and the spectre of ?vejkism Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 310–320 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. Recent UK government reforms have introduced a range of measures to regulate practice in child welfare, with professional work increasingly structured into formal processes embedded in information technology. This prompts obvious anxieties about the erosion of professional discretion. Using Lipsky's concept of the street‐level bureaucrat, we report on an ethnographical study examining how social workers organise their practice in an atmosphere of performance management. Clear indications of attenuated discretion are revealed, reflecting the shift to a managerial model of control. Of concern is the emergence of a pattern of formally conformant behaviour in which the letter of the organisational law is obeyed but without genuine commitment. Drawing on the anti‐hero of Ha?ek's celebrated satire, we denote this form of passive resistance ‘?vejkism’. While showing up the absurdities of excessive managerial power, such behaviours are ultimately dysfunctional for the organisation; an alternative governance paradigm, based on professional values, is briefly outlined.     

Intervening in youth problem behavior in Sweden: a pragmatic cost analysis of MST from a randomized trial with conduct disordered youth

Olsson TM. Intervening in youth problem behavior in Sweden: a pragmatic cost analysis of MST from a randomized trial with conduct disordered youth Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 194–205 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Within the context of a randomized trial, this study assessed the costs of treating conduct disorder with multisystemic therapy (MST) or treatment as usual (TAU) for 156 youth in Sweden. From the perspective of the municipal Social Welfare Administration, all intervention costs were collected for the 6‐month period starting at randomization. MST was found to cost, on average, US$8,847 per youth. A course of intervention including MST was found to cost significantly more (US$5,038 per youth) than TAU. Although MST was found to reduce the use of and costs associated with non‐placement interventions, MST was not found to reduce the use of or costs associated with placement interventions. This is contrary to findings reported from studies undertaken in the USA. Intent‐to‐treat (ITT) and treatment‐of‐treated (TOT) analyses are presented.     

Compulsory Income Management in the Northern Territory – evaluating its impact

Australia has been experimenting with constraining the ways in which welfare recipients can spend their income support payments, limiting their ability to access cash and purchase some products. The policy objectives include to reduce spending on alcohol, gambling, pornography and tobacco in favour of meeting ‘basic’ family needs, especially for children, to limit the scope for financial harassment, encourage pro‐social behaviours, and build financial capabilities. In the logic of the programs these outcomes are expected to be manifest at the individual, family and community levels. The policy has primarily impacted on Indigenous Australians as a result of its geographic targeting, although a recent report has recommended a more stringent version of the program be introduced universally to all welfare recipients other than the aged. The largest of these experiments is ‘New Income Management’ in the Northern Territory, which has had more than 35,000 participants since its introduction in 2010. This article reports on the key findings of the major independent evaluation of New Income Management commissioned by the Australian Government.     

Financial self‐sufficiency or return to welfare? A longitudinal study of mothers among the working poor

Cheng T. Financial self‐sufficiency or return to welfare? A longitudinal study of mothers among the working poor Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 162–172 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This study investigated how working‐poor mothers who withdrew from a US government assistance program were affected by the economy, welfare reform policies, and their own human capital, in terms of their likelihood of returning to welfare and their likelihood of becoming nonpoor through work. The study employed longitudinal data (covering 42 months) extracted from a national data set. The sample for the current study, which relied on event history analysis, consisted of 228 working‐poor former welfare mothers. Results showed that the women's return to welfare was correlated to high unemployment, restrictive welfare policies, enrollment in Medicaid and food‐stamp programs, possession of service‐job skills, and being Hispanic. The women were most likely to attain relative financial independence in the presence of generous government assistance program policies, housing assistance, full‐time employment, operative‐job skills, college education, and marriage. African American ethnicity also made achievement of financial independence more likely.