基于社会福利视角的青藏高原公共服务问题初探

文章在对现存关涉青藏高原公共服务问题研究进行思考和整合的基础上,试图从社会福利的角度,对具有浓厚区域文化特色的藏区农牧民公共服务,提出一些新的思考维度。具体分析青藏高原公共服务所面临的机遇和挑战,涉及了人口增长、环境恶化与老龄化、国际政治影响、藏传佛教文化的影响、农牧区社会保障制度的空白、家庭保障和社会互助的补充性等问题。文章建议通过构建非缴费型农牧区养老保险模式、构建覆盖所有农牧民健康保障制度、建立农牧区救助机制三个层面来构建新型的青藏高原福利体系。     

福利国家为什么需要慈善部门？

自福利国家陷入危机以来,慈善部门在福利国家中的功能问题一直没有得到全面和系统的讨论。福利多元主义者将慈善部门视为政府的合作伙伴,希望通过政府委托慈善部门提供公共服务的方式来缓解福利国家的危机;新自由主义者则认为这一定位会使慈善部门对政府的资金产生依赖,使慈善部门失去独立性,因而主张以市场化的方式来解决国家的福利供给问题,让慈善部门在公共服务以外的领域发挥作用。辨析福利多元主义与新自由主义的争论,结合全球化时代慈善部门出现的新特征,可以看到,慈善部门在福利国家中具有绩效提升、结构补充、价值倡导、民主促进、就业吸收和国际支援等六大功能。     

隐性财务契约与企业价值关系研究

知识经济时代,以关系资本、客户资本、声誉资本等为代表的隐性财务资本对企业价值的贡献度越来越大.针对现有文献对隐性财务契约的研究空白,本文在系统归纳、梳理国内外文献基础上,探究了隐性财务契约的基本思想、研究模型、构成要素、驱动系统等,并分别从隐性债务契约、隐性股权契约、隐性福利薪酬契约三个视角对隐性财务契约和企业价值的关系进行了深入的分析探讨.研究表明:隐性债务契约可能与企业价值正相关有助于提升企业价值,也可能与企业价值负相关无助于提升企业价值;隐性股权契约是一种基于财务控制权配置的激励约束机制,这种激励约束机制使得隐性股权契约与企业价值创造正相关;隐性消费方式在影响隐性福利报酬契约履行度的同时进一步影响到企业价值的创造.上述研究结论为深入理解隐性财务契约与企业价值的关系奠定了理论基础.     

可行能力与农民工的福利状况评价

基于辽宁省沈阳市农民工调查数据,应用森的可行能力理论和模糊数学方法对农民工的福利状况进行整体评价。结果发现,农民工福利水平的总模糊指数为0.365,处于较低水平。分指标看,健康状况方面的福利状况处于较高水平,居住环境和精神感受方面的福利状况处于中间水平,其它功能性指标的福利水平较低。在影响农民工福利的主要因素中,工作环境和防护性保障的改善对提升农民工福利影响最大。运用OLS回归模型对农民工的福利状况进行扩展分析,发现农民工群体内部存在较强的异质性,并且不同特征的农民工群体福利水平相差很大。     

我国家庭福利政策探究

在人口变迁与社会发展过程中,我国家庭规模逐渐缩小,传统的家庭功能已经受到严重冲击。因此,单纯地依靠家庭能力难以摆脱贫困、医疗、就业等困境。中国的家庭福利政策属于补缺型的家庭福利政策,应当尽快向普惠型和发展型转变：从发挥政府的主导作用,加强事前预防,投资家庭成员,扩大政策受益对象等方面重构家庭福利体系。     

农村经济、社会福利与区域非均衡性研究

我国农村经济增长与社会福利存在明显的区域非均衡性,二者均呈现出自东部向西部递减的规律;大部分省、市经济增长和社会福利的耦合度经历了从勉强协调向基本协调过渡的发展过程,二者的协调程度还有进一步提升的空间;经济增长指数与耦合度表现出了一致的波动性,经济子系统对整个系统具有牵引作用.当前,加快发展农村经济,扩大对农村地区的必要性供给,推进农村地区的城镇化进程是实现我国农村地区经济增长与社会福利协同发展的有效途径.     

‘My profession is gone’: how social workers experience de-professionalization in the Netherlands

Recently social work in the Netherlands underwent two major changes. Specialized agencies were replaced by one-stop shops (district teams) and the welfare state was replaced by a ‘participation society’, in which vulnerable groups have to rely on their social network rather than resort to professional care. The first change is termed ‘de-specialization’; the second ‘basic de-professionalization’. The research question in this article is: how do Dutch social workers experience and evaluate these two developments? Qualitative interviews with 29 experienced social workers show that most of them endorse de-specialization, as this type of aid is deemed better for clients with complex problems. Moreover, many social workers like to take on new tasks. Basic de-professionalization is met with more reserve. Social workers observe that many clients do not have a suitable network and need professional help. In addition, they feel that their profession is being degraded as lay people and volunteers take over (part of) their work. However, they feel unable to resist this development, because resistance might get them sacked. Some social workers even enhance basic de-professionalization because of their willingness to continue working as (retired) volunteers. Social workers and theorists need to address and counter the move towards basic de-professionalization.     

Expediting youth's entry into employment whilst overlooking precariousness: Flexi‐employability and disciplinary activation in Hong Kong

With an emphasis placed on supply‐side interventions such as skills training and incentives enhancement, active labor market polices (ALMPs) are strongly promoted by international organizations and widely adopted across different welfare regimes to boost employment rates. This article first presents the under‐examined relationship between ALMPs and employment precariousness, which has posed a challenge to the neoliberal notion of employability and activation. Youth‐focused employment policies tend to speed up employment entry whilst downplaying the risk of precariousness and the importance of job quality, and thus further reinforcing the belief that engaging in precarious employment is tolerable if not inevitable. The article then examines the case of Hong Kong, which illustrates that its relatively low rate of youth unemployment may conceal the unfavorable employment conditions confronted by youth. It is argued that the service‐led employment policies and short‐term vocational training define the employability of young workers in terms of labor flexibilities. The coined phase of “flexi‐employability” is characterized by promoting youth's readiness for, and adaptability to, the volatilities and changing demands of the labor market. Arguably, the disciplinary approach to youth activation would only strengthen the work‐first principle by enforcing young people to take up jobs available and leave welfare as soon as possible, but without thoroughly addressing the risks and insecurities generated by the labor market in undermining their well‐being.     

Social policies and solidarity during the Greek Crisis

This article provides a succinct overview of the phenomenon of solidarization in crisis‐ridden Greece. Brief accounts of the pre‐ and post‐crisis situation in four core social policy areas (health, employment, housing, education) are combined with the presentation of four illustrative case studies, one for each of the aforementioned areas. Drawing on a broad range of primary and secondary data, including 20 in‐depth interviews with key stakeholders and end‐users of the actions examined, we argue that while the crisis provoked a further “residualization” of the institutionalized solidarity system, it also triggered the development of new solidarity ventures, both by state and non‐state actors, often even including partnerships between them. These ventures reflect the building of a bridge between institutionalized and informal solidarity in Greece and the shift towards a new type of mixed, although fragmented, mode of solidarity.     

The role of the welfare state in supporting economic transitions following family bereavement: Comparing Britain and Israel

Despite its centrality to the experience of death and grief, it is only in recent years that the economic burden following family bereavement has been recognized by social care professionals and scholars. Based on the realization that death and bereavement are grounded in social context, and assuming this economic burden is a multifaceted phenomenon, the present study compares the British and Israeli welfare systems in three policy settings: social security, funeral services, and bereavement leave. The findings suggest that while in both systems bereavement and especially widowhood is considered a deserving category, recent pressures for restructuring the British welfare state have been successful in shifting provision from the state to the market. The findings also show that in both cases, albeit to a lesser extent in Israel, current policy measures are not fully aligned with critical scholarship on bereavement and its financial consequences, nor with socio‐economic and demographic trends. These disparities are addressed using the notion of disenfranchised grief and by emphasizing the pivotal, although often overlooked role of the welfare state in constituting it. Lastly, the differences between the two cases are discussed in terms of the powerful role of Judaism in shaping Israeli policy.