Concept Of Social Policy Research Articles

Sosyal Belediyecilik Uygulamalarında Kent Bilgi Sistemlerinin Kullanımı: Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi Örneği

Social policies, which have gained importance after Industrial Revolution have substantially changed in line with economic understanding. With global oil crisis in the 1970s, the process of transformation in which wealth state enter has also influenced wealth. This process of transformation which can be summarized as passage to free market economy by abandoning Keynesian economic policies, governments come to decentralize their non-fundamental duties to local administrations, private sector or non-governmental organizations. Together with social policy practices of central administrations, local administrations have come to the fore as fundamental social politic actors by moving with the times. The weight of local administrations in social policy systems can vary along countries and in recent years it is seen that municipalities in Turkey has started come to the fore with social policy practices. The concept of social policy is adopted in municipal work as social municipal work. In this context, with social data center project by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality a detailed investigation is carried out on the social fabric of the city. The project aims to inform every relief institution about any relief received in the system, to help those who are indeed need, to prevent repetitive aids and thus abuse, fairly distribute relief supplies, prevent waste of recourses by informing relief institutions to a maximum extend. In this study, the importance of data about social fabric needed to make optimal decisions in conduction of civic services and information obtained was analyzed

The transfer of European social policy concepts to tropical Africa, 1900–50: the example of maternal and child welfare

AbstractConcerns about a sinking birth rate and possible ‘national degeneration’ led to the implementation of various measures in maternal and child welfare across Europe at the dawn of the twentieth century. Infant health was strongly connected with the idea of population as both a national and imperial resource. In the colonies of the imperial powers, similar issues started to be addressed later, mostly after the First World War, when colonial administrations, who until then had predominantly worried about the health of the white European colonizers, started to take an interest in the health of the indigenous population. This article investigates the transfer of maternal and infant health policies from Britain and Germany to their tropical African colonies and protectorates. It argues that colonial health policy developed in a complex interplay between imperial strategies and preconceptions as well as local reactions and demands, mostly reifying racial demarcation lines in colonial societies. It focuses on examples from German East Africa, which became the British Tanganyika mandate after the First World War, and from the British sub-Saharan colonies Kenya and Nigeria.

Book Review: Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy

Book Review: Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy

Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy – By Ruth Lister

Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy – By Ruth Lister

Ruth Lister (2010), Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. £19.99, pp. 311, pbk.

Ruth Lister (2010), Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press. £19.99, pp. 311, pbk.

The Politics of Social Policy Language

AbstractA number of scholars have recently shown that key social policy concepts like ‘welfare state’ are both vague and problematic. Drawing on the international literature on the role of ideas in social policy, this article compares the development of two major policy concepts in two countries where the language of social policy is openly contentious: the USA and France. Focusing on the last three decades, the article discusses the meaning and development of the concepts of ‘social security’/‘sécurité sociale’ and ‘welfare state’/‘État‐providence’ in both countries. As suggested, these two concepts have long been controversial, in part because they are typically involved in the inherently political drawing and redrawing of the contested boundaries of state action. Overall, the article explains how the comparative analysis of social policy language can help scholars adopt a more reflexive approach.

Offene Arbeitsmärkte als Mittel und Ziel einer modernen Sozialpolitik

Abstract The interdependence between labour market policy and social policy can be interpreted in different ways. The dualistic approach sees social policy as a counterpart to labour market policy, especially if the latter is exclusively interpreted as the means for achieving an efficient design of factor markets. By contrast, constitutional economics introduces the concept of a “social policy for the market” by emphasizing the mutual gains that can be reaped if the interdependence between social and labour market policies is properly taken into account. Achieving an efficient design of markets thus requires a corresponding social policy framework. This article reminds of a third perspective: The efficient design of markets is never an end in itself. Overcoming social hardship, however, is a respectable goal. The author first develops a concept of social policy that draws on market-based processes to achieve its goals before applying this concept to the problem of structural long-term unemployment.

Los economistas políticos clásicos: pobreza y población. Algunos de sus teóricos relevantes

Las diferencias entre Adam Smith y Thomas Robert Malthus sobre la concepción de la pobreza, es el tema de este artículo. Dichas diferencias, además de ser teóricas, se materializan en la concepción de la política social. Smith mostró el poder del trabajo como causa de la riqueza, Malthus el poder de la pobreza como causa del trabajo. La característica básica de los pobres para Smith fue que eran trabajadores; para Malthus la característica del trabajador era su pobreza, ya que sin ella carecería de motivación para trabajar. Para Smith, la pobreza era relativa, ya que en su economía progresista los muy pobres llegarían a ser pobres y los menos pobres a vivir en una pobreza, cómoda, confortable. Para Malthus, la pobreza era absoluta: los pobres tendían a ser muy pobres y los muy pobres llegarían al hambre y hasta a la muerte.

Diminishing the concept of social policy: The shifting conceptual ground of social policy debate in Canada

This paper examines the struggle in Canada over ideas about social policy. It takes the view that debates held at the meso level of the policy community are important sites for exploring how dominant ideas about social problems and social policy are shaped. This paper examines one specific debate (the late 1990s debate on the national children’s agenda) to explore how the mainstream conceptual ground has shifted. It argues that progressive constructions of the issues and solutions have been increasingly undermined, as an outcome of both the narrow ‘child development’ focus of the debates and the success new actors have had in gaining credibility as voices in the social policy community. The result has been a shift in how dominant social policy actors think about social policy, with the shift gravitating towards a simplistic, individualized, casework model. This new diminished understanding has had implications for narrowing the scope of political debate about social policy in Canada and encouraging the development of policies that fail to address the root problems.

Gustav Schmoller, His Heirs and the Foundation of Today's Social Policy

Three elements make up the heart of Gustav Schmoller's conception of social policy: 1. Schmoller's comprehensive view regarding social policy issues; 2. Schmoller's distinction between the intemal and extemal effects of socio-political measures and finally, 3. the importance Schmoller places on education. For Schmoller, social policy represents far more than the setting up of individual welfare measures; instead, social policy is always linked to the encompassing and dynarnic societal conditions. In this way, social policy - as understood by Schmoller - mainly aims at ensuring that individuals take part in social progress. In the wake of Schmoller, two different development lines can be distinguished today: on the one hand, the attempt to better reach Schmoller's social policy objective by using a modern economic theory, which, however, leads to the dissociation of (economic) means and (social) objectives. On the other hand, the conviction that social policy must be understood as a central element of societal policy. The latter position does justice to Schmoller's integrative perspective, yet the implementation in terms of economic policy remains problematic. Integrating these two lines might be feasible by using an ordoliberal approach that balances economic policy and social policy on the constitutional level. The inclusion of every individual into society is also a top priority of ordoliberal social policy. The retum to Schmoller's social political concem using the ordoliberal research method could offer vital impulses in the ongoing debate about the welfare state.

Social Policy in Greece: Rhetoric versus Reform

AbstractThis paper reviews the major social policy developments in Greece during the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on social security, health and employment policies. It argues that the concept of social policy and the practice of politics have been distorted in this country. Social policy reflects the legacy of a heavily politicized and centralized policy‐making system, an impoverished administrative infrastructure and poorly developed social services. Its emergence is characterized by the pursuit of late and ineffective policies. It lacks continuity, planning and coordination, being oriented towards short‐term political expediency. It is largely insurance‐based, reproducing huge inequalities and institutional arrangements which are behind the times. It provides mainly cash benefits, low‐quality but rather expensive health services and marginal social welfare protection. Moreover, the lack of a minimum income safety net confirms the country's weak culture of universalism and social citizenship. By implication, complex policy and interlocking interest linkages have tarnished the “system” with a reputation for strong resistance to progressive change. At the same time, sources of change such as globalization, demographic developments, new household and family/gender patterns, unstable economic growth, fiscal imperatives, programme maturation, as well as persisting unemployment, changing labour markets and rising health care costs, have produced mounting pressures for welfare reform.

Translating English and French social policy concepts: A personal view from France

In 1998, the research unit of the French Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité (MIRE) published a bilingual glossary of French and English terms used in social policy. A number of issues, questions and hypotheses, all related to translation and transferability, were raised in the course of this exercise. This article purports to take some of them up again. Although the glossary was a collective venture, the following interpretations are under the sole responsibility of the author.

Social Policy and Welfare: A Clear Guide

1. General explanatory perspectives 2. Central concepts in social policy 3. Perspectives on social policy development 4. Social Policy Strategies 5. Social policy issues 6. Social intervention and vulnerable groups in Britain 7. The diversity of welfare states 8. The developed anglophone welfare states 9. Globalisation and social policy References Index

International Actors and Social Policy Development in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Globalism and the 'New Feudalism'

This article outlines the current development of aspects of social policy in Bosnia- Herzegovina, paying particular attention to the roles of diverse international actors. Bosnia-Herzegovina is seen as an example of a 'new feudalist' social formation in which the common citizenship model of 'normal' welfare regimes does not apply as a result of: (a) sepa ratist ethnicized claims and loyalties and (b) the fragmentation and multiplication of pol itical authority. The redevelopment of social welfare structures is hampered by the com peting and inconsistent visions and activities of ethnicized, local, national, international and supranational institutions. Dilemmas for supranational agencies such as the World Bank and UN agencies involved in policy advice are, therefore, of a different order to those found in other post-socialist states in the region. In addition, the large presence of International NGOs has not supported the building of a sustainable public policy for the social protection of the population. Support for local NGO development and for 'civil society' has also had unforeseen negative con sequences. Through relating the roles and activities of diverse agencies to various pro grammes of social assistance, health care, and social care, the article argues that a policy vacuum, in part a product of the competition and disarticulation between supranational, national governmental, and non-governmental organizations, actually reinforces 'new feu dalist' trends. An alternative conception of social policy as integrative social development is outlined.

A Feminist View of Social Policy in Some East Asian Countries

This paper aims to review some existing literature on social policy in East Asian societies. The concept of the social policy has been constructed in the context of the Western experience of capitalist industrialization over a century. Social policy issues are gaining increasing attention throughout the world as part of rethinking “development” in the move toward globalization. The objective of development raises the question of how women can participate in the process equally and benefit equally from its fruit.The concept of social policy is constructed on the assumption of a division of labor based on gender. The assumptions which also underlie the thinking about the relationship between “development” and women are that women's position will be automatically improved as a result of development, that employing women exacerbates employment problems, and that support for women's nonmothering roles leads to destruction of the family. This dualistic thinking of “development vs. women” obliterates women's contribution to development and welfare in society and thus hinders the achievement of development.Specifically, the claim regarding support for mothering role is analyzed as a part of the broader issue of the feminist goal of achieving equality with difference. Even if we followed the conservative argument that support for women should be concentrated on their mothering role, we are confronted with a major task of structural reform of society if real support is to be given to women.The formation of modern nation states has taken a relatively short span of time in East Asian countries. The concepts of democracy, civil society, citizenship and the role of government are still in the process of being defined and modified. Still more importantly, women's place in this discourse needs further elaboration. The crucial parts of the relatively short history of modern nation states coincided with major crises. These countries have only just embarked on building social welfare provisions. Since social policy in these countries is at an embryonic stage and relevant research has just started, the review in this study remains a sketchy description on the state of the art in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

Comparing the Australian and Scandinavian Welfare States

This paper Compares and Contrasts the Australian and Scandinavian welfare states with a view to demonstrating that, whilst the extent of welfare expenditures and the instruments of social policy vary quite markedly in these countria, policy outcomes in terms of levels of inequality and poverty and social protection are much more similar. In the course of this comparison. the paper casts serious doubts on the usefulness of both the prevailing paradigms for evaluating welfare state performance: measures of expenditure effort and measures of welfare decommodification. Instead. it is argued that welfare state performance can only be properly assessed, as Richard Titmuss pointed out many years ago, by evaluating the impact of fiscal and occupational welfare in addition to the extent and character of the explicit expenditures of the state. When we broaden our conception of social policy in this way. Australia appears much less of a welfare state laggard than it is often taken to be and the oft mooted Scandinavian claim to welfare superiority is. perhaps. rather less compelling than is sometimes argued.

Social Policy: Hayek and Schmoller Compared

The quite difficult task of comparing Hayek's and Schmoller's concept of social policy can only be attempted by confining the discussion to the dominant and basic principles of their prevailing ideas. The reasons are manifold. Just one of them for instance is that Schmoller, as far as I can see, never gave us any workable definition of this ambiguous term, and for Hayek this term is a politically much abused and empty phrase. Another would be that Hayek referred to Schmoller only sporadically and treated the latter's voluminous oeuvre only very peripherally in his own relevant work. I, therefore, suggest the concentration mainly on Hayek's critique of Schmoller's two important components of his somewhat “syndicalistic” system which determined his vague, but still relevant concept of “social policy”.

EQUALITY WITHOUT LIMITS? WOMEN'S WORK IN THE SOCIALIST SOCIETY OF THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

This paper discusses the transformation as well as the reproduction of conventional role sets of women in the family and in the larger society, particularly at work. The analysis is based on a representative sample of families belonging to different social classes and strata. The empirical research strategy was to compare socio-economic status and gender, and thereby to identify typical patterns according to the criteria `socially homogeneous' (spouses with the same SES) and `socially heterogeneous' (spouses with different SES). Inequalities of employed women, especially regarding income distribution and power relations, also persist in a socialist society though the participation of the female workforce is indispensable. They are closely linked with an unequal division of household tasks. In conclusion, social policy concepts are discussed to empower women at work, with special emphasis on the use of their acquired high level of general and vocational knowledge and skills (`qualifications'), and to empower men, particularly those belonging to the working class, to change conventional patterns at home.

Reviews

Journal Article Reviews Get access PARTICIPATION (CONCEPTS IN SOCIAL POLICY 1), Ann Richardson, 1983, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 151, £4.95. Allan Cochrane Allan Cochrane The Open University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Community Development Journal, Volume 19, Issue 1, January 1984, Pages 63–64, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/19.1.63 Published: 01 January 1984

A comparison of programs for the delivery of rehabilitation services in Australia, Canada and Britain: three nations' social policies reviewed

Australia, Canada and Britain were chosen as three countries to be compared in aspects of social policy making on the assumption that they share a language and culture which structures their thinking—their approach to problem-solving; that their ideological approaches, to social organisation stem from western democratic liberalism; that they share basic political institutions—a British Parliamentary system of government; and that their social service structures have common roots. In order to make comparisons, a broad conception of social policy is necessary. This analysis concentrates on examining philosophies, ideologies and social scientific input about rehabilitation policy in three liberal democracies. An historical review of rehabilitation services for disabled people is divided into three stages: the break up of the Poor Law, welfare state policies and the emergence of rehabilitation policies as a separate issue. It is concluded that the emergence of rehabilitation policies as a separate issue is unlikely to result in more than slow incremental changes since traditional structures are well established and not easy to change. The handicapped and impaired are becoming more visible in aging societies and policies have contradictory elements of utility and humanity, but whilst national ideologies continue to prize the work ethic and economic growth, the disabled will still be tolerated as deviants. International pressures are likely to result in more and better services, but these may be provided under “welfare state” or special rehabilitation policies and advances in the former may cloud the issues in the latter. Social scientists can contribute to improvements in categorization, program planning and evaluation and to causal analysis, but, except, perhaps, in Britain, where some have entered the elite group of policy makers, they should not except to have great influence upon political or administrative decisions relating to rehabilitation.