Critical Social Policy Research Articles

Beyond administrative burden: Activation and administrative harm

AbstractWithin recent public policy and administration scholarship, there has been a growing focus on the concept of “administrative burden” to describe the learning, compliance and psychological costs incurred by citizens when trying to access services and exercise social and political rights. Specifically, in the context of activation and welfare‐to‐work programmes, scholars have highlighted the effects of administrative burdens on claimants' autonomy, dignity and well‐being. We bring critical social policy scholarship on administrative harm into conversation with Adam and Balfour's concept of “administrative evil” to highlight the underlying dynamics of masking, moral inversion and dehumanisation that facilitate street‐level workers to adopt dispositions of enforcement of administrative burdens. To illustrate the applicability of Adam and Balfour's work to understanding how experiences of administrative burden can be intensified by the practices and dispositions of street‐level workers, we draw on examples of from an ethnographic study of the delivery of welfare‐to‐work in Australia.

Living Activism – Critical Social Policy introduction

Critical Social Policy ( CSP) proudly launches the Journal’s Living Activism Section. This co-produced introduction to the Living Activism section of CSP, includes the ongoing impact of the CSP Solidarity Fund, lessons from the 2023 CSP gathering ‘Learning with Solidarity Funded Activist Groups’ and an account by the Solidarity Funded activists Women and Digital Inclusion (WODIN). The Living Activism section of CSP is rooted in and continues to grow in the soil of activist’s situated knowledge. What is clear is that the ‘critical’ of critical social policy happens at the grassroots. The aims of the Living Activism section of CSP are focussed on drawing out the learning from the lived experience of activist work, including the inherent challenges, tensions and victories of resistance and transformation for social justice. The Living Activism section of CSP is an integral part of decolonisation. We are clear that to decolonise does not mean to diversify or increase variety, rather it is a questioning and taking action to redress which actors are privileged and placed at the centre.

Unburdening care: Exploring modes of care through post‐productivist thought and Australian parliamentary inquiry representations

AbstractResearch on care increasingly emphasises the “care‐less” or “uncaring” nature of state‐coordinated interventions imposed on marginalised communities. However, these perspectives tend to eliminate discussions about modes of care (Fox, Critical Social Policy, 15, 1995, 107) or the ways in which care is differentially experienced and performed. This paper argues for scholars to think multimodally about care, proposing a typology of four different modes of care: care‐as‐gift, ‐burden, ‐control and ‐cure. The paper makes a case for locating these modes of care within a post‐capitalist political horizon to respond to the demand to “unburden care.” That is, the political demand to provide the economic and social conditions that best enable caregiving and reduce gendered pressures on caregivers. The paper develops these arguments through the post‐productivist thought of Kathi Weeks (2011, The problem with work: feminism, marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press) and a critical discursive examination of care representations made by submitters to two parliamentary inquiries into the Australian “pre‐employment” programme ParentsNext—a labour market activation programme that targets single‐parent caregivers “at risk of welfare dependency.” The paper contributes a critical and multimodal approach to better conceptualise competing framings of care's value and the ways in which the state can (un)burden caregiving.

Analyzing the impact of fintech industry and green financing on energy poverty in the European countries

In the fourth industrial revolution, the fintech has significantly expanded during the last several years, and this has caused scholars to worry about how much electricity is being used. Because energy poverty is one of the most critical social policy concerns facing the majority of nations in the world in the modern era. This study adds to what has already been written by looking at how the fintech industry affects the environment and energy in European countries. The current study investigates how the growing awareness of the need to preserve energy and the environment has an effect on society, and analyzes the role of the fintech industry, green finance, energy efficiency, and research and development on energy poverty across European nations from 2013 to 2020. To estimate long- and short-term impacts, DOLS and FMOLS are used along with diagnostic tests. The outcomes found that there is a tight relationship between energy poverty and all the factors taken into consideration (fintech, green finance, energy efficiency, and R&D). EU governments should employ “green finance" to encourage and enable the fintech industry since fintech plays a vital role in enhancing environmental effectiveness. The financing of environmentally friendly projects is very beneficial and might help alleviate energy poverty. The findings also indicate that more financing, ecological subsidies, and social assistance programs are necessary in order to satisfy the needs for energy and put an end to energy poverty in Europe. Policymakers in the tech world may be especially interested in the results.

Social protection programmes in mitigating the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparative study of Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa

COVID-19 has become one of the most significant global health crises in history, with a wide range of socio-economic consequences due to the measures taken to stop the spread of the virus. The socio-economic implications of the quarantine caused by COVID-19 have affected all continents. The purpose of the article is to analyze the socio-economic consequences of the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, Kenya and the Republic of South Africa, as well as to examine the critical social protection policy measures taken by the governments of these countries to reduce the vulnerability associated with pandemic prevention measures. This study used content analysis, which allows for the identification of recurring themes, ideas and terminology in the studied database. Directive documents on social protection programs during the pandemic, scientific publications, and reports of international institutions and organizations served as the source of primary information. Based on the content analysis results, 40 documents were selected that met the inclusion criteria: 14 works from Ghana, 13 from Kenya, and 14 from the Republic of South Africa. To investigate the effects of the lockdown caused by COVID-19, content analysis was chosen to identify recurring themes, ideas and terminology in qualitative data collection. A systematic review shows that lockdown measures implemented by the governments of Ghana, Kenya and the Republic of South Africa to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have led to increased poverty and inequality, lost incomes, worsening food insecurity and increased unemployment. Content analysis found that the impact of COVID-19 differs significantly for men and women, with women experiencing more excellent destructive effects compared to men. The COVID-19 pandemic has harmed rural residents, with poverty rates rising at higher rates and their well-being declining compared to local residents. To respond to the socio-economic consequences of the quarantine due to COVID-19, the countries studied continued existing or introduced new social protection programs to support their citizens. These include cash transfers, food transfers, utility subsidies and fee waivers, community service programs, tax credits, and unemployment benefits. These welfare programs had different parameters consisting of benefits, rights and beneficiaries. Although this study cannot determine the impact of social programs, future studies will be able to assess their impact and effectiveness on beneficiaries.

The low odds of poor women with small business loans emerging from poverty: Critical social policy implications for Pakistan

AbstractThe government of Pakistan has been relying on the microfinance industry to reduce poverty among poor women in Pakistan. Using a theoretical framework that argues for limiting the abilities and capacity of existing microfinance services, we empirically investigate the odds of poor women remaining in poverty despite microfinance loan provision. We collected data from four provinces in Pakistan and analyzed it using multivariate logistic regression. Three‐fourths of the 442 women respondents live below poverty lines and are unable to emerge from poverty due to factors such as: housing instability, food insecurity, lack of savings, insufficient loan size and high installment rates, lack of gender solidarity through group borrowing, and threats of domestic violence. Lack of health insurance and critical health problems such as infectious diseases, having suffered an injury, chronic ailments, and mental health challenges are also preventing poverty emergence. We conclude by recommending key social policy development agendas that need to be introduced by the state, in partnership with the microfinance sector, to support women borrowers and help them emerge from poverty.

Rural and regional homelessness in Queensland mining communities: Implications for rethinking the housing and homelessness policy landscape

Rural homelessness has largely been silenced in homelessness narratives and social policy in Australia and throughout the world. This paper reports on data from a larger qualitative study about homelessness in rural and regional Central Queensland mining communities located within the Bowen Basin region, inland from Australia's eastern seaboard. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with people who had lived experience of homelessness in the rural mining communities of Mackay (regional), Moranbah and Dysart (rural), and service provider representatives and community advocates. The qualitative analysis revealed that people experience homelessness in rural and regional communities in unique ways that are different to metropolitan constructions of homelessness. This research identified rural and regional poverty, the nature of boom or bust economies, over-stressed human service providers, social isolation and lack of affordable housing as factors contributing to homelessness in rural and regional mining communities. This paper highlights the urgent need for more scholarly research to inform and promote more critical social policy approaches that frame homelessness as a public policy priority in rural and regional mining communities.

Digesting how the gender of household heads determines housing location choices in Sub-Saharan African cities: a review

Our study reviews critical social science and policy literature on human settlement research. It examines how the gender of household heads determines housing location preferences in Sub-Saharan African cities. Five themes are obtained from the review: circumstances under which household headships emerge, household fundamental gender roles, interaction with the local property market, power relations and gender in social networks, as well as differing gendered residential location choices. Uncovering how varied gender-influenced household location choices are made underscores the differing significance of the unique gendered preferences in selecting urban housing in rapidly urbanising cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. Engendering the differing preferences and their effect on housing location choices is critical in tracking the housing location journeys of respective household heads and guiding policy action.

Quality early childhood education through self, workplace, or regulatory support: exploring the efficacy of professional registration for early childhood teachers in Australia

Teacher registration is increasingly utilised as a governance mechanism to audit teachers’ work and drive professional practice. There is limited and mixed empirical evidence, however, as to whether registration drives teaching quality. Our study extends this limited empirical base by critically examining the policy trajectory in Australia to bring early childhood teachers into a uniform system of registration with primary and secondary teachers. Adopting a relatively novel methodology, the study intertwined a critical social policy framing with a national quantitative survey. Results showed that respondents perceived their professional self, followed by their workplace (colleagues and employer) as key influencers of quality practice, and neither agreed nor disagreed that teacher registration was beneficial. Findings problematise the need for, and benefits of, teacher registration. That early childhood teachers’ practice and development was most driven by intrinsic motivation and, to a lesser extent, being employed in high-quality, not-for-profit, and preschool settings where other early childhood teachers are employed, suggests that more effective and progressive policy approaches to support quality early childhood education require an addressing of the contexts and conditions in which early childhood teachers work.

A Review of Housing Policies and Their Relevance to Vulnerable Households in Sub Saharan Africa

This study reviews critical social science and policy documents on human settlement research to assess the practicality and relevance of the existing housing policy frameworks to urban households headed by vulnerable persons. Specifically, this study intends to justify the significance of vulnerable households’ classification and segmentation when in policymaking. Furthermore, the paper investigates the different omissions and stereotypes in the policymaking that have hindered adequate housing provision for the vulnerable households in sub-Saharan Africa. Several catchy strategies adopted by the various housing policies have been reviewed in this paper. These include; empowerment of the rental housing tenure, particular emphasis on low-income groups/households like the case in Tanzania, proposals for tenant-to purchase housing schemes, densification of the urban areas (Zimbabwe), delegation of house development to the private sector and the governments taking a back seat and assuming enabling roles among others. The various policies appear promising on paper but with limited or no tangible results regarding housing provision for low-income urban households. This paper avers that policy strategies like a special strategy for the low income and vulnerable households remain on paper with no streamlined strategies to achieve it.

Meanings and expressions of co-responsibility: A small qualitative study based on the reflections from Chilean social workers involved in public-private child welfare

The study critically explores the meanings and expressions of co-responsibility based on the experience of Chilean social workers involved in public-private child welfare. It draws upon critical institutionalism to frame thematic analysis of interviews with practitioners participating in these arrangements. Results show that meanings and expressions of co-responsibility are diverse and co-exist in intervention. Some meanings are that co-responsibility is the responsibility assumed by the State as the first guarantor of rights with a private that takes responsibility for clients. It also means collaboration in a neoliberal system. Regarding expressions, it takes the form of a programmatic execution that operationalizes the rights approach. Another one is that co-responsibility expresses in individualistic performance that neglects the other colleague. Implications for critical social work practice, policy, and scholarship are discussed, based on the diversity of meanings and expressions of co-responsibility identified.

Big data and poverty governance under Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand's “social investment” policies

AbstractSurveillance and governance of the poor have been key foci for the critical social policy literature for some time, although scholarship regarding the role of big data in social policy – and how this might differ from previous forms of surveillance – is continuing to emerge. This article contributes to this literature by exploring the use of big data under Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand's social investment approaches. Both seek to replace social policy spending with “investment” expected to produce future fiscal returns; in the words of a former Aotearoa/New Zealand Prime Minister, they aim to do “more with less”. We argue that big data often provides a poor evidence base for social investment and can, instead, be better understood as part of a panoptic toolkit for poverty governance, mediating continuous surveillance, examination and normalisation of the body politic by enabling the discursive (re)construction of people's identities and subjectivities. This construction serves to exacerbate social inequalities and undermine the rights of ordinary citizens.

Anticipated Alienation and Critical Social Work: Ex-Offenders’ Perspectives on Re-entry

Abstract The criminal justice system constrains social workers’ ability to practice critical social work. Given the increased rates of re-entry from prison into disenfranchised, minority communities in the USA, knowledge about re-entry should be made available to social workers wishing to assist those who suffer from extreme marginalisation and oppression during re-entry. In this qualitative research study, we interviewed American male halfway house residents (N = 21) in the lead-up to their release about their perspectives on returning to their communities of origin, settling into other communities and meeting individuals from outside of their immediate social networks. Our results demonstrate that research participants anticipated experiencing social alienation in all three domains. Our discussion contextualises these findings within two dimensions of critical social work: critical consciousness and critical social policy.

Nexus between drinking patterns, gender and life satisfaction: Some evidence from Indigenous Australians

AbstractExcessive alcohol consumption results in a broad range of health problems and other social issues, such as violence, social disorder and family breakdown. As such, alcohol consumption is considered as a critical social policy issue in Australia. In this study, we have used ordered logit models to estimate the probability of an Indigenous person consuming alcohol and to assess the impact of alcohol consumption on self‐perceived life satisfaction. A heteroscedasticity‐corrected ordered logit model is used to identify the gender difference in such effects. For this purpose, we use the latest National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) 2014/2015 data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The estimation results reveal that age, gender, employment status, income and the experience of unfair treatments significantly affect Indigenous people's (level of) alcohol consumption. The results also reveal that any level of alcohol consumption is linked with reduced overall life satisfaction, which is another reason why prevention of alcohol misuse should be a priority. A significant gender differences in the medium‐risk‐level alcohol consumption were also observed. These findings could be used as an alcohol prevention message in developing and implementing alcohol prevention strategies and policies.

Välfärden, samhällskritiken och medierna

Welfare, critique and the media – social workers’ voices in podcasts in social policy and social workSocial workers and social policy researchers can engage in social work and critical social policy, in traditional media and in the new media. In recent years, the social media have been increasing in both the international media systems and in the media system in Sweden. One channel for social workers to use to be able to make their voice heard in society is to participate, debate and discuss social policy in podcasts. In 2016, the Union for Professionals, Akademikerförbundet SSR, developed ”Social Services Podcasts”. At the same time the National Board of Health and Welfare introduce a new podcast on social services and health care that is called ”Podcast in the Deep”. This article examines voices and themes in social policy and social work in a total of 112 programmes in two podcasts: ”Socialtjänstpodden” and ”In Depth” during the years 2016–2019. There are several challenges for the storytelling tradition and social criticism in social policy and social work in podcasts, which is highlighted in this article.

Critical Social Policy on its 40th Anniversary

<i>Critical Social Policy</i> on its 40th Anniversary

A new era for social protection analysis in LMICs? A critical social policy perspective from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)

Abstract This paper advocates for a new generation of social protection (SP) research that takes seriously the analysis of political and policy-making processes in the Global South. Based on qualitative research funded by the ESRC and Carnegie Corporation, it combines theoretical insights from social policy and critical policy analysis to highlight the importance of policy framing in shaping development and social welfare outcomes. Empirically, the broader research upon which the paper is based covers the broad range of social policy changes that have happened in the Middle East and North Africa region over the last decade. The critical policy approach adopted in this paper is important because of the endurance of SP as a global orientation in international development interventions at a time when its operationalisation in policy terms appears to be narrower than its professed goals. The paper categorises SP according to three orders of discourse: social risk management, social justice/social contracts, (“ex ante”) institutionalisation of social protection (specifically social assistance), in order to address areas of “discourse closure” (Veit-Wilson, 2000) in the conceptualisation of SP. On the basis of this categorisation, the paper proposes a framework for analysing SP that highlights the importance of three elements to aid SP policy operationalisation: (1) state-civil society relations in the provision of services; (2) the ethical and not only legal parameters of SP; (3) the enhancement of social cohesion as a final SP outcome. These three elements support a process-oriented analysis of SP encompassing policy actors, principles and goals that can better ascertain the long-term impact of SP on social policy agendas in the Global South.

UNJUST AGEING: WHY POLITICAL ECONOMY IS STILL ESSENTIAL TO GERONTOLOGY

The starting points for this paper are Carroll Estes’ observation in The Ageing Enterprise that a largely classless view of old age dominates public policy, and her subsequent direction of the nascent political economy perspective towards variations in the conditions of older people and their relationship with societal forces. First of all it argues that the idea of social justice must be central to the political economy of ageing and supports this case with reference to the idea of ‘unjust ageing’. This analysis fuses critical social policy and critical gerontology perspectives which, among other things, reject the idea that inequalities in life chances and conditions are inevitable. Secondly, the paper outlines the causes of unjust ageing from a life course perspective, including the life long influence of birth status and mid-life factors such as employment, gender, race and ethnicity. Thirdly, the paper looks at the sorts of measures required to promote a socially just later life, including preventative health, education, healthy working conditions and decent pensions. It also establishes some key principles to guide a strategy for social justice in life, including later life.

The growth of food banks in Britain and what they mean for social policy

Recent UK social policy has been dominated by welfare reform and austerity. This article draws on empirical research to argue that the rise and prominence of food banks is the embodiment of a wider political–economic trajectory of social policy change which has intensified significantly since 2010 and involved reinterpretations of the causes of and responses to poverty. It highlights the potential of food banks as a lens through which to interrogate the consequences of these policy shifts in relation to: the importance of structural determinants; the inadequacy of relying on ad hoc privatised caring initiatives; and the increasing embeddedness of food banks in local welfare landscapes. The article concludes by arguing that food is an important conceptual tool, which critical social policy researchers should employ more often to explore questions of justice, equality and wellbeing.

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow: power, expertise and the hegemonic temporalities of austerity

This article addresses the temporality of politics and policy, examining the hegemonic temporality of austerity discourses and practices and the social role of knowledge and expertise in finance capitalism. An overview of conceptualisations of “time” and “temporality” in critical social science and critical policy studies is followed by a non-determinist exploration of the temporalities of expertise and austerity. The example of Greek Government-troika negotiations in the first half of 2015 is taken as a case study of the disciplining of the European periphery, in which the imposition of hegemonic temporalities becomes a crucial mechanism for the operation of power. A concluding section sketches out elements of a possible counter-hegemonic temporality.