This article reports the results of a study that examined the ways in which current and recent TANF recipients assembled or
“packaged” their child care arrangements among formal and informal providers. The findings are drawn from in-person, in-depth
interviews with current and former welfare recipients. The study found that most of the respondents used multiple providers
within the category of informal child care for reasons including availability, the use of a network of social acquaintances as a
problem-solving resource, the need to accommodate irregular work hours, and personal trauma that contributed to a distrust
of strangers in formal settings. The findings can affect the efficacy of practice with TANF recipients by contributing to
social workers’ understanding of the context of decision-making regarding child care. 相似文献
Whereas period life expectancy constitutes an intuitive indicator of the survival conditions prevailing at a particular period,
this paper argues that, given the existence of welfare interdependencies, that widespread indicator is nonetheless an incomplete
measure of the longevity achievements relevant for human well-being. The central importance of coexistence for human-beings
implies that usual life expectancy measures should be complemented by joint life expectancy indicators, which measure the
average coexistence time under particular survival conditions. After a study of the theoretical foundations of ‘single’ and
‘joint’ life expectancy indicators, it is shown that joint life expectancy measures tend to enrich significantly the comparison
of longevity achievements across countries and periods. Moreover, the introduction of joint life expectancy indicators—as
a complement to conventional life expectancy measures—into multi-variable indexes such as the United Nations’ HDI is also
shown to affect international rankings of standards of living to a non negligible extent.
In this article we analyse the evolution of the Czech welfare state and we examine the factors explaining its path. We show that although the Czech welfare regime exhibits a 'mixed profile' that includes conservative and universalist elements, it is increasingly moving in a more liberal, residualist direction – not because of conscious steps but rather through decay. Governments have often zig-zagged in their policies and resorted to symbolic reforms at times rather than implementing ideologically based, consistent policies. We argue that historical and sociological institutionalism combined with a social-capital approach can explain this decay better than the more common arguments about economic pressures combined with ideological hegemony or the protest-avoidance strategy. In particular, the social capital approach adds to our institutional framework by explaining why cutbacks in welfare programmes have not met much opposition, even though public opinion surveys consistently show support for more generous welfare policies, and why policies have deviated so much from political rhetoric. 相似文献
Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfare is examined by using, as an exemplar, local taxation in England, a subject that itself is neglected within social policy. Local taxation in England is of interest because it illustrates the impact of a system of taxation on different groups of citizens, and how this can operate to the benefit of rich over poor citizens. This is because the current system is highly regressive, meaning that those on low and middle incomes spend proportionately more of their income paying the tax than do those on high incomes. What is of further interest is how within the debate about reform of local taxation, concern with regressivity becomes obscured and ceases to be the focus of attention. We are thus provided with an example of how fiscal welfare remains a hidden issue. The article concludes by arguing that social policy analysis needs to move beyond the narrow confines of social welfare and develop a broader understanding of welfare, based on the SDW. 相似文献
This study examined the contributions of maternal labor force participation and marital status on economic self-sufficiency
over time for rural mothers. Data were from 174 rural families participating in three waves of data collection in Rural Families Speak. χ2 and multiple logistic regression were utilized. Results revealed only one-third of mothers moved toward economic self-sufficiency
over three years. Maternal education, employment status, and weekly work hours were associated with improved economic well-being.
Compared to single-parent families, unmarried-couple and married-couple families had increased odds of improving economically.
In an analysis of all mothers with partners, married or unmarried, martial status was not significant in economic improvement.
Findings suggest the role of marriage in welfare reform for rural families should be reconsidered.
This article argues that social work in the UK needs to renegotiate its relationship with community welfare agencies. It begins by examining what we mean by local community and how welfare needs reflect complex non-linear dynamics unique to the local circumstances. It is argued that these are not always recognised in centralised policy agendas. The article broadly draws a parallel between policy issues for the European Community and for the national state. The drive for both is towards uniformity, which potentially fails to acknowledge the unique circumstances at both the national level between nations and the local level between communities.
The focus of the analysis is the lack of engagement with the subtleties of the local within the arena of social work education and practice. With the opportunity presented by the introduction of a new social work degree in the UK, the authors describe how a social work programme in Liverpool undertook a piece of research with the aim of creating an appropriate place for community welfare agencies in practice placements, the academic curriculum and, ultimately, with the next generation of social work practitioners. Eight welfare agencies within the proximity of Liverpool University, an area known as Toxteth, agreed to participate in the research to investigate what kind of placement module would enable local welfare agencies to engage meaningfully in the social work degree. Out of this process emerged a model for research based curriculum development involving local community agencies and academic institutions. More specifically for Liverpool, it placed the notion of social work's relationship with local community welfare at the heart of professional development for qualifying social workers, paving the way in this region of England for closer links between welfare agencies associated with civil society and professional social workers. 相似文献
This paper studies natives’ economically motivated preferences over different levels of immigration of low-income earners. Immigration affects natives through both intra- and intergenerational redistribution programmes and in the labour market. Our analysis suggests, in a welfare state that looks after the poor and the aged, economic motivation does not necessarily lead a native to have an extreme opinion on the preferable level of immigration, although it causes disagreement among natives. We find, regardless of parameter values, high-income earners prefer at least as much immigration as low-income earners who, in turn, prefer at least as much immigration as pensioners. The median voter is then likely to be a low-income native.