Active Welfare State Research Articles

Doing youth in time? A relational perspective on the temporal constructions of youth

Temporality is a key principle of the constitution of youth as a life phase. Historically, ,invented‘ and institutionalized as moratorium, youth has been reserved for preparation for adulthood, thus contributing to the sequential order of the modern life course. Institutional age marks in school, youth welfare or citizenship claim to explicitly demarcate beginning and ending of youth in a linear way. Not only but most lately in the context of the activating welfare state, temporal normativities and normalities of growing up seem to have lost consistency. Consequently, young people have to position themselves with regard to chrononormative markers of the ‘right age’ reflected by distinctions from, ‘too young for …’ or, ‘too old for …’. The article analyses blurring temporalities of the youth phase by relating changes of the temporal regime(s) of young people's growing up and their individual and collective time work from a doing transitions perspective. The complexity and paradox of these temporalities are illustrated by three exemplary empirical case vignettes: Coping with suspended transitions in the pandemic; Fridays for Future as intergenerational struggle for future; and youth cultural practices expressing attempts of slowing down. In these constellations tensions of temporality emerge: the tension between moratorium and acceleration, between orientation towards the future and orientation towards the present, between simultaneity and linear sequentiality. A relational approach to the temporalities of youth is developed along with concepts like relative time and asynchronicity while young people's time work is reinterpreted in terms of doing youth in time. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of relational temporality for conceptualizing young people's agency and consequences for youth research.

The transformation of European welfare states and its implications for social work (research): staying on the tanker or choosing a small sloop?

Since the conception of post-war national welfare states and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the notions of citizenship and of civic, political and social rights were institutionalised in European welfare states. In that vein, a social work workforce acquired a professional and public mandate to implement social policies. During recent decades, however, welfare state arrangements seem to have moved in another direction. The premise that the welfare state is responsible for social protection and the redistribution of resources has subtly shifted into one of an active welfare state, with a stronger focus on individual responsibility and conditionality. In addition, welfare state arrangements have been based on the premise of a territorial logic of the nation state, making it more difficult for migrants to access services. In this article, we first discuss the transformation of welfare state arrangements. We then make use of an exemplary case, namely, the emergence of new social work practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, to illustrate the current positioning of social work practice. In the final part, we critically tease out the changing role of social work and social work research in these circumstances.

Who Belongs, and How Far? Refugees and Bureaucrats Within the German Active Welfare State

Concepts such as “belonging” (Yuval‐Davis, 2011) and “community of value” (Anderson, 2013) try to capture the multiple ways of classifying migrants. In this article, we argue that belonging needs to be analyzed against the backdrop of active social citizenship in European welfare states. Although the literature acknowledges the increasing links between migration and social policies, the latest “turn to activation” in social policy has hardly been accounted for. By focusing on two policy fields in Germany, the labor market and health policies, we briefly describe discourses and social right entitlements and their ambivalences. Empirically we show (a) how bureaucrats within the two policy fields regulate and justify refugees’ social rights in practice and (b) how refugees act vis‐à‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures. Our study contributes to previous research twofold: Firstly, we illustrate processes of positioning and selecting refugees that stem from recent social policy architecture. Secondly, we demonstrate everyday experiences from refugees’ vis‐á‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures in Germany. Our results show that inconsistencies within and between social policy fields of one welfare state have to be taken into consideration for further national and transnational research.

Intimate standardisation: how the activating welfare state localises citizens and standardises welfare

ABSTRACT The activating welfare state often frames recruiting ordinary people as ‘local’ co-producers of residence-based welfare provisions as the antidote to standardised bureaucracy. This article demonstrates that their enrolment in the delivery of public services in the Netherlands constitutes not an antidote, but another variant of standardisation. To do so, it introduces the concept of ‘intimate standardisation’, a set of tactics and techniques that draw from and seek to evoke intimacy, rather than bureaucracy as a standardising mechanism. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in the knowledge practices of third sector professionals who enrol ordinary people in residence-based welfare delivery across the Netherlands, the article demonstrates how intimate standardisation produces and circulates qualifications of ‘local’ citizenship from one locale to another. In conclusion, I discuss the dynamics of power and politics at play in intimate standardisation to reflect upon the governmentalisation of local people in the broader context of the activating welfare state.

Who Belongs, and How Far? Refugees and Bureaucrats Within the German Active Welfare State

Concepts such as “belonging” (Yuval‐Davis, 2011) and “community of value” (Anderson, 2013) try to capture the multiple ways of classifying migrants. In this article, we argue that belonging needs to be analyzed against the backdrop of active social citizenship in European welfare states. Although the literature acknowledges the increasing links between migration and social policies, the latest “turn to activation” in social policy has hardly been accounted for. By focusing on two policy fields in Germany, the labor market and health policies, we briefly describe discourses and social right entitlements and their ambivalences. Empirically we show (a) how bureaucrats within the two policy fields regulate and justify refugees’ social rights in practice and (b) how refugees act vis‐à‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures. Our study contributes to previous research twofold: Firstly, we illustrate processes of positioning and selecting refugees that stem from recent social policy architecture. Secondly, we demonstrate everyday experiences from refugees’ vis‐á‐vis relevant institutional opportunity structures in Germany. Our results show that inconsistencies within and between social policy fields of one welfare state have to be taken into consideration for further national and transnational research.

When elective affinities foster Europeanization: How the EU active welfare state model and national policies for controlling the unemployed reinforced each other (1997-2005)

This paper advocates the use of a Weberian framework in the analysis of the processes of Europeanization of public policies. It focuses on employment policies to explore the "elective affinities" between the European Employment Strategy launched in 1997 and the subsequent elaboration of national reforms reorganizing and strengthening monitoring, surveillance, and sanctions of the unemployed. From this perspective, Europeanization is defined as mutual reinforcement between European policy frames and national reforms than a top-down unilateral relationship of influence.

Attualizzare il learnfare: un nuovo legame tra lifelong learning e welfare

Lifelong learning (LLL) is increasingly considered to be one of the basic rights of citizenship, a lever for inclusion, for economic and social participation. As the Eu-ropean paradigm of active welfare state and its heir (i.e., the Social investment welfare state) affirm, this assumption is even more true in the context of the cur-rent socio-economic transformations and their related impacts on the individual’s life courses. To meet the related challenges, LLL is placed at the very centre of the activation policies, according to the learnfare rationale. However, this strategy reveals to have lights and shadows, which the article investigates on a theoretical level. In the conclusions the article proposes a renewed vision of the learnfare par-adigm, reframing it through the capability approach.

Neoliberal security provision: Between state practices and individual experience

The article develops a new understanding of neoliberal security provision on the basis of available accounts of three different “states”; the penal state, the regulatory state, and the activating welfare state. I argue that these forms of state intervention provide individuals with security in the sense that anxiety is temporarily alleviated, while stabilizing the conflictual dynamic of global power structures. Marketization and organizational control account for the specifically neoliberal character. Such an understanding matters because it directs attention to the dynamic between state practices and individual experience, and the multitude of mechanisms, which not only promise but also provide security, however temporary and partial.

The changing relationship between the state and the voluntary philanthropic sector: special reference to Singapore

ABSTRACTThere has been a significant proliferation of voluntary philanthropic organizations to deliver basic services in the current context of anti-welfare neoliberal policies pursued by the state. While there are numerous studies and publications on these voluntary organizations, the nature of their relationship with the state remains relatively under-researched. This article attempts to explore this issue in the case Singapore where, in the absence of an active welfare state, the voluntary philanthropic organizations—especially the Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs)—have played a crucial role in serving citizens’ welfare needs. In evaluating the nature and determinants of this state-VWO relationship, the article examines some relevant theoretical models and applies them to the Singapore case.

Active Welfare State Policies and Labour Supply in Spain

This paper shows the effect of tax reforms aimed at encouraging Spanish mothers to join the labour market (or not to abandon it). The simulated reforms replace the current in-work benefit (of €100 a month) with more generous scenarios. The analysis is conducted using a behavioural microsimulation model of the Spanish tax-benefit system. The results show that in-work benefits boost the female labour participation rate and labour supply of low-income households (those with higher elasticities). Indeed there is an improvement in social welfare, but we should not overlook the impact on tax revenue.

A kertkultúra és a háztartásgazdaság szerepe a vidéki szegények társadalmi integrációjában – 25 éves a Szociális Földprogram

A jövedelemkiegészítő háztartásgazdaságok nagy tradícióval rendelkeznek Magyarországon. A ház körüli gazdaság és kertkultúra hagyományainak megőrzése, illetve újjáélesztése a rendszerváltást követően is jó megoldásnak tűnt a drasztikusan növekvő vidéki szegénység kezelésére. Az 1992-ben létrehozott Szociális Földprogram a mezőgazdasági termeléshez szükséges vagyonnal nem rendelkező, szociálisan hátrányos helyzetű személyek részére kínált lehetőséget a háztáji jellegű kistermelésre, az önellátás képességének erősítésére. A program fennállása óta az alapvető cél – a részt vevő háztartások gazdasági önállóságának erősítése és életminőségének javítása – jelentősen megváltozott, és a program működési feltételei is alapvetően átalakultak. Tanulmányunkban a Szociális Földprogram 25 évének rövid áttekintésére vállalkozunk azzal a céllal, hogy bemutassuk a program legfontosabb szakaszait és a változások jellemzőit.

Building active welfare states

Building active welfare states

How governance conditions affect the individualization of active labour market services: An exploratory vignette study

Service individualization is high on the agenda of active welfare states. Especially for the long‐term unemployed and other people with complex problems, individualized employment and social services are seen as a crucial precondition for social and labour market integration. To achieve tailor‐made service delivery, welfare states have introduced new governance mechanisms such as client profiling, performance indicators, game‐theoretical incentives or institutionalized discretion. However, comparative research on how these governance mechanisms affect service individualization is still rare. To fill this gap, this article presents an exploratory vignette study on Denmark and the Netherlands conducted in 2010–12. The main finding of this study is that institutionalized discretion, as it is implemented in the Dutch minimum income system, increases the variety and innovativeness of employment services, makes service provision more holistic (especially for vulnerable clients), and increases the targeting capacity of service allocation between vulnerable and work‐ready clients.

Book Review: Activation Policies for the Unemployed, the Right to Work and the Duty to Work, the Law of the Activating Welfare State

Book Review: Activation Policies for the Unemployed, the Right to Work and the Duty to Work, the Law of the Activating Welfare State

An ex ante evaluation of the Revenu de Solidarité Active by micro–macro simulation techniques

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the effects of the introduction of an active welfare state measure in France, the Revenu de Solidarité Active, which replaced the old system of social minima. By using a micro–macro simulation model, we characterize the effects on households’ disposable income, labor supply, wages, GDP, public deficit, and other micro and macroeconomic aspects. Our findings suggest that although increasing public expenditure, the reform largely repays its cost by reducing involuntary unemployment, increasing labor supply and private consumption and thus improves GDP and the deficit/GDP ratio. If the great recession did not occur, poverty and inequality would have been significantly reduced by the RSA reform. JEL codes: I38, C63, C68, J22, H31

The Welfare State and the Life Course: Examining the Interrelationship between Welfare Arrangements and Inequality Dynamics

The transformation of welfare state arrangements in European countries during the last two decades can not only be described as realizing an activating welfare state, but also as centred on specific life course transitions which are considered as critical. A number of new welfare arrangements have been set up or older ones have been modified taking into account the critical phases of the life course. These new welfare arrangements attribute new rights over resources to well-specified groups in terms of their life course events. The article first presents a selective overview of new welfare arrangements which are (in explicit or implicit ways) linked to specific phases and transitions of the life course in the different European countries; and, second, it analyzes the consequences of these new welfare arrangements on inequality. These arrangements establish (mostly implicitly) norms, which appear to define a role of an active, responsible and ‘able’ employee and citizen for everybody. However, the general starting positions of various groups of the population (such as women) and the existing welfare provisions constitute an obstacle to providing equal starting positions and an equal opportunity for pursuing one's life course according to the established norms. Therefore, the effects of these new welfare arrangements can have significant impacts on outcomes, and can therefore transform substantially the existing picture of inequalities.

State liberalism, female supervisors, and the gender wage gap

Whereas some are concerned that the gender revolution has stalled, others note the rapid increase in women’s representation in the ranks of management, and the reduction of wage inequality in larger and more active welfare states. Although these latter trends portend an attenuation of gender inequality, their effects on the gender pay gap in the U.S. are understudied due to data limitations, or to the assumption that in the U.S. pay is determined by market forces. In this study we extend research on the determinants of the gender wage gap by examining sex-of-supervisor effects on subordinates’ pay, and to what degree the state’s commitment to equality conditions this relationship. We pooled the 1997 and 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce surveys to estimate hierarchical models of reporting to a female supervisor and wages, with theoretically important predictors at the individual level, and at the state of residence (an index composed of women’s share of legislators, a measure of the liberal leanings of the state, and the size of the public sector relative to the labor force). We found that state effects on pay were mixed, with pay generally rising with state liberalism on the one hand. On the other hand, working for a female boss significantly reduced wages. We discussed the theoretical implications of our results, as well as the need for further study of the career effects on subordinates as women increasingly enter the ranks of management.

Social Investment in Gender Equality? Changing Perspectives on Work and Welfare in Norway

In many EU countries, the so-called social investment perspective has provided new arguments for active welfare state policies. The social investment perspective is characterized by emphasizing the role of the state to increase participation in employment by investing in the working capacity of the population—particularly women—through activation programmes and social policies. In this article we depart from recent debates surrounding this perspective to explore changes in Norwegian work and welfare policies, and the role of gender equality in these changes. In Norway, both female employment and fertility levels are high, but women still have a looser connection to the labour market compared to men, for example due to the large proportion in part-time positions, which makes changes in work and welfare policies an interesting case for exploring the relevance of the social investment perspective in this context. The empirical analysis suggests that ideas of social investment indeed have permeated recent changes in Norwegian work and welfare policies. However, questions of gender equality are not addressed in the documents introducing these changes, except when the problem at hand is the employment rate of migrant women—who are the main recipients of activation policies. In conclusion, we claim that social investment is a relevant lens for analysing changes in Norwegian work and welfare policies, but that a dual-tracked vision of gender equality is emerging, making migrant women the significant target of social investment.

High-skilled outsiders? Labor market vulnerability, education and welfare state preferences

Recent research has established that employment risk shapes social policy preferences. However, risk is often conceptualized as an alternative measure of the socio-economic status. We show that employment risk and socio-economic status are distinct, cross-cutting determinants of social policy preferences. More specifically, we analyze the policy preferences of high-skilled labor market outsiders as a cross-pressured group. We first establish that labor market vulnerability has spread well into the more highly educated segments of the population.We then show that the effect of labor market vulnerability on social policy preferences even increases with higher educational attainment. We conclude that that labor market risk and educational status are not interchangeable and that the high skilled are particularly sensitive to the experience of labormarket risk. Thereby, our findings point to a potential cross-class alliance between more highly and lower skilled vulnerable individuals in support of a redistributive and activatingwelfare state. Thus, they have far-reaching implications for our understanding of both the politicization of insider/outsider divides and the politics of welfare support.

Social Variations in Perceived Parenting Styles among Norwegian Adolescents.

Previous research has documented the associations between parenting and parenting styles and child and adolescent outcomes. Little is known, however, about the social structuring of parenting in contemporary Nordic welfare states. A possible hypothesis is that socioeconomic variations in parenting styles in present-day Norway will be small because of material affluence, limited income inequality, and an active welfare state. This study examines social variations in parenting as perceived by Norwegian adolescents (N = 1362), with a focus on four parenting style dimensions: responsiveness, demandingness, neglecting, and intrusive. Responsiveness seems to capture major divisions in parenting. Adolescents in families with fewer economic resources experienced their parents as somewhat less responsive, but responsiveness was not related to parents’ education. Low parental education was on the other hand associated with perceptions of parents as neglecting and intrusive. Viewing parents as demanding did neither vary with parental education nor with family economy. Substantial variations in parenting styles persist in present-day Norway, and these variations correspond moderately with the families’ placement in the social structure. Indicators of parenting and parenting styles may be useful indicators of some aspects of child and adolescent well-being.