‘The unwilling and the unwell’? Exploring stakeholders’ perceptions of working with long term sickness benefits recipients

This paper draws on qualitative research with Incapacity Benefit (IB) stakeholders in the North East of England, UK. Stakeholders’ experiences of working with long-term sickness benefits recipients reveal multiple barriers that both sick and disabled people, and themselves as practitioners, clearly face. Reflections on what ongoing welfare reform could mean for future practice for both stakeholders and recipients will be explored. The findings suggests that whilst stakeholders recognise the complex barriers faced by those receiving sickness benefits, a wider moral dialogue between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ is being created and sustained as a result of negative stereotyping of sickness benefits recipients.     

Young and out: An application of a prospects-based concept of social exclusion

We develop a forward-looking empirical concept of social exclusion based on the estimated transition probabilities from a random effects multinominal Logit-model. Youths are considered socially excluded if they are currently outside school/work and have a low predicted probability of re-entering in the near future. Implemented on extraordinary rich event-history data of compulsory school graduates, we estimate social exclusion among Norwegian youths and find that social exclusion propensity is (i) non-cyclical; (ii) much more prevalent among young adults in their early twenties than among teenagers; (iii) strongly dependent on family background; and (iv) independent of gender.     

PLANNED RESPITE CARE: HOPE FOR FAMILIES UNDER PRESSURE

Respite care — having breaks from the constant demands of parenting — has long been recognised as a crucial service for families of a child with a disability Only more recently has it been considered equally beneficial for families at risk of abusing or neglecting their children. A growing body of research demonstrates the negative impact of social and economic stress on people's capacity to raise their children effectively. The experiences of welfare workers indicate that planned respite care can be an important means of reducing stress and lessening the likelihood of child maltreatment and the possibility of children's removal to long‐term care. A case is outlined for a much more substantial investment in planned respite care as part of an integrated range of family support services.     

The benefit and sacrifice principles of taxation: A synthesis

The implications of equal sacrifice taxation have only been pursued in a very narrow context. This note applies this principle to the problem of levying taxes to provide public goods. Its purpose is to determine how taxes used to finance public goods must be structured in order to benefit each agent equally. This tax structure may be viewed as a benchmark against which to compare tax regimes with redistributive intent. Equality of taxation, therefore, as a maxim of politics, means equality of sacrifice.  . . This standard, like other standards of perfection, cannot be completely realized; but the first object in every practical discussion should be to know what perfection is.  J. S. Mill Received: 10 April 1997/Accepted: 16 November 1998     

Leadership, personality and effectiveness

This survey article is about leadership and personality, as it appears to be a renewed interest in this topic. Even when traditional research is re-examined and new research performed the most basic conclusion remains the same. Studies of how personality traits relate to leadership give inconsistent answers. Traditional and contemporary research shows that personality cannot explain leadership. Traits of leaders cannot explain organizational effectiveness. Leadership appears to have a minor impact on organizational effectiveness. The personality approach is less relevant to management. Management and leadership in formal organizations are not about possessing special traits. It is about acting.