Context Of Neoliberal Policies Research Articles

Neoliberalism and Urban Sphere: Contextualization and Impacts on the Urban Spaces of the Global South

The urban space was the epitome of rationality, functionality, and efficiency in the post-war period which got transformed into market flexibility, horizontal functional integration, and global-level efficiency with processes like outsourcing giving effect to spatial rationality and integration. The principle of marketability has allowed the space for the local governance to rescale, reorganize, and restructure itself. Urban space in the global south has the phenomenon of ‘Accumulation by Dispossession’, but this process created new opportunities for the dispossessed people to participate in the incoming opportunities. In the local context of the Global South Neoliberal policies in the urban space have a differential impact on different sections of the urban populace as they perpetuate the marginality in certain cases, especially socio-economic lower strata, and provide new opportunities for the other well-off sections. The Government adopted a new restructured approach to welfare and the urban governance role has not been insignificant as the impact of neoliberalism would have been more devastating to the marginal section of the urban population especially in the global south if the State and local government had completely abdicated its functions of welfare and completely fall in the line of market principle.

SERVIÇO SOCIAL E SAÚDE: PERSPECTIVAS DE ATUAÇÃO NO CAMPO DE GESTÃO E PLANEJAMENTO.

The current problems involving the health field are read within the context of neoliberal policies which make access and implementation of the right to health unfeasible as proposed by the Health Reform and in accordance with the assumptions of the Unified Health System (SUS). Social Work, as a professional category aligned with the interests of the working class and in line with professional documents, especially its current Code of Ethics, identifies in the sphere of management and planning an appropriate space to contribute to the realization of the right to health. The work is developed based on a bibliographical analysis of existing materials and, through an analytical reading, promotes discussion about the possibilities for social workers to work in the field of health management and planning. As a result, we have to move away from traditional practices, characterized by their technicality and bureaucracy, and by opting for a democratic and strategic management concept, they enable, in this field, critical action that considers the real health needs of the population from a perspective of realizing the right to health.

SERVIÇO SOCIAL E SAÚDE: PERSPECTIVAS DE ATUAÇÃO NO CAMPO DE GESTÃO E PLANEJAMENTO.

The current problems involving the health field are read within the context of neoliberal policies which make access and implementation of the right to health unfeasible as proposed by the Health Reform and in accordance with the assumptions of the Unified Health System (SUS). Social Work, as a professional category aligned with the interests of the working class and in line with professional documents, especially its current Code of Ethics, identifies in the sphere of management and planning an appropriate space to contribute to the realization of the right to health. The work is developed based on a bibliographical analysis of existing materials and, through an analytical reading, promotes discussion about the possibilities for social workers to work in the field of health management and planning. As a result, we have to move away from traditional practices, characterized by their technicality and bureaucracy, and by opting for a democratic and strategic management concept, they enable, in this field, critical action that considers the real health needs of the population from a perspective of realizing the right to health.

Surviving the educational landscape: a case study of leadership, policy tensions and marketisation

Within a neoliberal educational policy context, we are increasingly witness to educational leaders compelled to become strategic operators to ensure the survival of their schools. Drawing on the tenets of institutional ethnography (IE), this article traces the everyday work and experience of a school leader in one Australian private school site that was in ‘survival mode’ after experiencing an unprecedented decline in enrolment numbers. By tracing the power of global and local market forces informing the work of one educational leader, our intention is to capture how a school leader’s subjectivity was influenced by market demands and how he invested his time in strategizing to ensure his school would survive. The article makes two main contributions; first, the case study complements research exploring the impact of neoliberal reform on schooling and, second, we highlight the role of IE in furthering our understanding of the pressures schools face and the lived experience of school leaders.

Framing school choice and merit: news media coverage of an education policy in Chile

ABSTRACT School choice is a controversial issue in the public discussion of education. In Chile, the new School Admission System (SAE) was recently implemented to gradually reverse the country’s high educational segregation. However, this system is facing strong opposition. Voucher and free choice promoters have opposed SAE because they claim it violates the freedom of families and merit. The media have actively participated in this debate, working as political actors. By applying a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative thematic analysis, we study how Chilean media have framed school choice, and discuss the political contention faced by policies that attempt to reverse the primacy of the market in a global context of neoliberal education policies.

Lifting the lid on Pandora’s box: Putting professional curiosity into practice

Professional curiosity has recently become a ‘buzzword’ in the field of probation and social work. However, little research has sought to understand what professional curiosity means definitionally, conceptually or operationally. In this article, we analyse interview data from 49 probation practitioners in England and Wales to explore what professional curiosity means in the context of probation and what the main barriers are to enacting professional curiosity. We argue that professional curiosity is primarily used to assess risk and that practitioners face multiple barriers to its enactment which are rarely acknowledged or dealt with in policy and practice guides. These barriers fall into three groups: structural, relational and emotional. We conclude the article by examining the findings through the lens of neo-liberalism and probation values. The article therefore extends knowledge of professional curiosity operationally while also seeking to explain its position in a neo-liberal policy context. This research has important implications for policy and practice. Rather than simply asking practitioners to ask questions and be on the lookout for disguised compliance, probation providers should recognise and acknowledge these barriers to practice.

Rural Parents' School Choices: Affective, Instrumental and Structural Influences

The paper discusses qualitative findings from an in-depth study of the school choices of 65 parents living in rural and remote areas of Tasmania and their views about the need for their children to move out of the area to pursue education at secondary and post-secondary level. A constructivist analysis of open-ended survey questions and focus group discussions formed part of a broader mixed-methods approach and probed the affective 'subtext' of instrumental survey responses. Findings contribute to our understanding of the interaction of affective, instrumental and structural factors influencing rural parents' educational decision-making in the neo-liberal policy context, especially with regard to decisions perceived by parents as 'risky' with respect to their own future employment and financial expectations. External threats to rural livelihoods, such as economic downturns and natural disasters create parents' feelings of anxiety about children's educational futures and are experienced differently by those living on farming properties or in small rural towns. Parents' perceptions of local and urban school availability, access and quality differ by locality and region. Educational outcomes reflect multidimensional structural, socio-economic and cultural constraints shaping school choice. Membership of voluntary associations, which provides supportive informational networks and develops shared social capital, appears to help parents to overcome socio-economic inequalities and improve their children's prospects of educational success. The interplay of social class, gender and place attachment is examined with reference to Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and disposition, as well as the processes by which parents try to transmit intergenerational advantage through educational choices.

Political Dilemmas in the Making of a Sustainable City-Region: The Case of Istanbul

This article aims to explore the political dilemmas of sustainable metropolitan development marked by intense tensions between ecology and economy within the context of neoliberal urban policies over the Case of Istanbul, Turkey. It investigates the re-scaling and centralization of the state in directing the investment capital and focuses on the ways in which it reregulates and loosens the institutions to create exceptionalities in order to realize mega projects. It examines Canal Istanbul and the “New City” or the Yenişehir Project, the so-called “crazy project” imposed upon the city by the central government, which presents a crucial case demonstrating the processes of creating exceptionalities and the erosion of public norms. Empirically, drawing from the Turkish experience through an in-depth analysis of policy documents, plans and reports prepared by a variety of agents, the article demonstrates and discusses different modalities of creating exceptions to capitalize on the lucrative real estate markets through mega projects in an increasingly authoritarian neoliberal context, its ramifications on the existing norms and the oppositions it raised. The article concludes with a discussion on how the new political climate that moved away from subsidiarity, transparency and democratic participation, and became increasingly centralized, created an impasse for planning and that neither the ecology nor the economy could be protected and enhanced. Although economic development discourse is used to legitimize these mega projects, it is obvious that they lead to an ecocide.

Spaces for coping with change: Kindergarten educators’ emotional refuges

ABSTRACT This case study of a US suburban Kindergarten illustrates the challenges and opportunities posed by the shifting context of Kindergarten toward a narrowed academic focus aligned to state goals. In this neoliberal policy context, teachers experienced difficult emotions as they supported children's and families’ cultural and linguistic talents and skills. Emotional refuges and emotives are key concepts used to theorise teachers’ experiences. The Findings of the study indicated that a subset of teachers used the available storylines to ‘compartmentalise’. In doing so, they created an emotional refuge in which they might conserve traditional aspects of Kindergarten such as developmental discourses and practices, yet also segment their own lives to cope with the stress and strain invoked by the change. A second storyline was ‘intensifying’ in which a set of teachers actively engaged with the neoliberal paradigm. Yet, the navigation of emotions was complex and created moments of collectivism as well as some tensions amongst educators based on their individual positions. In order to enhance teachers’ abilities to teach and cope with change, the possibilities of emotional navigation are discussed.

Spaces of well-being: Social crofting in rural Scotland

The transformation of nature-society relations towards conditions of wellbeing and sustainability is of major global concern and academic interest. Contributing to this important area, this research examines the interconnection between rural development, wellbeing and agriculture in Scotland through a qualitative study of ‘social crofting’. Social crofting is a type of care farming, which is increasingly prominent in the UK context and beyond, but under-developed in Scotland. Drawing from the existing literature, we apply a wellbeing lens to the unique conditions of crofting in rural Scotland through the concept of ‘spaces of wellbeing’. We show the diverse practices that constitute social crofting and enable different kinds of wellbeing within rural communities. Our findings point to the challenges and barriers for social crofting which is under-resourced and under-valued in Scotland and we contextualise this within a hybrid neoliberal policy context. Given the potential for transforming nature-society relations and contributing to the wellbeing agenda, greater support is needed for crofters to pursue social crofting in rural Scotland.

The England degree apprenticeship: a lens to consider the national and international context of social work education

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the new English degree level social work apprenticeship scheme. Examining how it links and contrasts with modern and historical international apprenticeship models, it identifies how this route may offer new opportunities to open the profession to social care staff, while allowing employers to improve strategic workforce planning. In arguing that successful implementation of the new qualification pathway requires careful preparation and adequate resourcing, the paper highlights the importance of drawing on the extensive body of knowledge developed internationally in relation to social work education. The author discusses how this could prove challenging given the impact of government funding reductions to social care providers and other public sector bodies, and considers how long-standing debates about social work education reflect the context of global neoliberal socio-economic policies. Many of these can be seen to coalesce around the new training route.

NOTA DE PESQUISA: A PRIVATIZAÇÃO DA PETROBRAS

This note seeks to highlight the dimension of Petrobras' dismantling that has been intensified in the current context of neoliberal policies in Brazil. In this sense, it identifies, locates and maps all the assets of the different segments (production, distribution, transport and refining) who were sold and who have the sale announced by Petrobras. This work was carried out through analysis of Petrobras' administrative reports, newspaper reports, statistical data from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP). It was possible to conclude that Petrobras is currently undergoing a huge dismantling. This has intensified since the 2015 coup when the company's management stopped thinking of it as an integrated energy company and simply started to slice it into several offers to the private sector.

Using an equity-based framework for evaluating publicly funded health insurance programmes as an instrument of UHC in Chhattisgarh State, India

BackgroundUniversal health coverage (UHC) has provided the impetus for the introduction of publicly funded health insurance (PFHI) schemes in the mixed health systems of India and many other low- and middle-income countries. There is a need for a holistic understanding of the pathways of impact of PFHI schemes, including their role in promoting equity of access.MethodsThis paper applies an equity-oriented evaluation framework to assess the impacts of PFHI schemes in Chhattisgarh State by synthesising literature from various sources and highlighting knowledge gaps. Data were collected from an extensive review of publications on PFHI schemes in Chhattisgarh since 2009, including empirical studies from the first author’s PhD and grey literature such as programme evaluation reports, media articles and civil society campaign documents. The framework was constructed using concepts and frameworks from the health policy and systems research literature on UHC, access and health system building blocks, and is underpinned by the values of equity, human rights and the right to health.ResultsThe analysis finds that evidence of equitable enrolment in Chhattisgarh’s PFHI scheme may mask many other inequities. Firstly, equitable enrolment does not automatically lead to the acceptability of the scheme for the poor or to equity in utilisation. Utilisation, especially in the private sector, is skewed towards the areas that have the least health and social need. Secondly, related to this, resource allocation patterns under PFHI deepen the ‘infrastructure inequality trap’, with resources being effectively transferred from tribal and vulnerable to ‘better-off’ areas and from the public to the private sector. Thirdly, PFHI fails in its fundamental objective of effective financial protection. Technological innovations, such as the biometric smart card and billing systems, have not provided the necessary safeguards nor led to greater accountability.ConclusionThe study shows that development of PFHI schemes, within the context of wider neoliberal policies promoting private sector provisioning, has negative consequences for health equity and access. More research is needed on key knowledge gaps related to the impact of PFHI schemes on health systems. An over-reliance on and rapid expansion of PFHI schemes in India is unlikely to achieve UHC.

“You Gotta Be Strong Minded”: Substances Use and Individualism Among Urban Minority Youth

ObjectiveThrough the voices of racially ethnically marginalized adolescents (N = 85), the present study highlights the ways in which youth access drugs and alcohol within their immediate environmental contexts, while simultaneously underscoring youth's sense of individualism in abstaining from substance use—both a cause and consequence of their socioecological circumstances.MethodsThe current study was part of a larger Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant initiative that focused on preventing the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among urban adolescents through environmental-community based strategies. A sample of 85 youth were recruited from existing summer programs throughout the target city. Youth participants were engaged in 11 focus groups that were guided by five semi-structured interview questions. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative approach.FindingsFindings illustrated three overarching themes: (1)“People Get Ahold of Drugs”: Numerous Environmental Access Points;(2)“The Cops Won't Do Anything”: The Limits of Perceived Support;and (3)“You Gotta Be Strong Minded”: The Embrace and Reality of Individualism. Through these themes, youth described the accessibility of drugs and alcohol in their community, while simultaneously juxtaposing these narratives with discussions of strategies in abstaining from substances. Data suggested that youth were exposed to numerous access points to substances and described minimal social support to abstain from drugs and alcohol. Youth embraced a narrative of individualism and viewed themselves as solely responsible for staying away from substances.ConclusionFindings provide useful insights for mental health and social work practice and are discussed within the context of neoliberal policies that limit access to resources and place the blame of substance use on the individual. Recommendations emphasize the significance of enhancing youth's community connection and the perception that others, such as social workers and other adult allies, are also interested in their success.

You are here! Negotiating liminality in place in the context of the National Disability Insurance Scheme

The dynamics of inclusion and exclusion for people with disabilities and the places in which they live are being challenged in Australia with the transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This paper reports on the experiences of a place-based and participatory action research project in regional Tasmania which sought to co-create citizenship opportunities with co-researchers living with disability. We report on our experience of negotiating this ambitious and emergent project through the uncertain and shifting terrain of the contemporary neoliberal policy and service context. We highlight the rich gains as well as the significant relational, contextual and procedural challenges of operationalising and staying true to bottom up and strengths-based community development principles. Key learnings relate to risks of creating liminal spaces for community action, about power and authority, and about the skills, resources and labour needed to unearth and mobilise individual and community strengths. We argue that there remains a significant tension between the aspirations of collective action and contemporary services and policy structures that reproduce liminality, silent positioning and place denial. This research challenges traditional disability centric notions of inclusion and place and has implications for the NDIS, for policies at risk of reproducing disabling dynamics, for service innovation and collaboration and for all social workers and others working to develop more inclusive communities.

Educación intercultural bilingüe, privatización por defecto y desigualdad entre los docentes Awajún de la región San Martín

This paper explores some effects of the privatization of education and Awajun teacher training in the reproduction of inequality in the Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (EIB), main education policy for indigenous peoples in Peru. Since Leg- islative Decree N° 882 was promulgated in 1996, within the context of neoliberal policies, private education grew enormously. Although scarcely supervised by the State, this education offer became attractive to Awajun teachers from San Mar- tin, who work in the EIB service, in which indigenous teachers with professional degrees are scant. However, the engagement with private education contributes to the increasing devaluation of Awajun teachers’ roles and to the configuration of unequal educative networks. This qualitative research is based on informa- tion collected from interviews, observations and surveys with Awajun students and teachers, as well as with non-indigenous teacher trainers from public and private institutions in the cities of Moyobamba, Rioja, Nueva Cajamarca, and Jaén. In a complementary way, the study bases on official documents regarding the privatization of education, teacher training and EIB policy during the period of 1990 to 2015.

“Like you failed at life”: Debt, health and neoliberal subjectivity

The need to more explicitly incorporate political economy and neoliberalism into research on social inequalities in health has been acknowledged across disciplines. This paper explores neoliberalism as it relates to consumer financial debt and internalized feelings of personal responsibility and failure for adults in Boston, Massachusetts. Using data from a mixed-methods study (n = 286), findings show that endorsing a neoliberalized view of personal debt as failure is associated with significantly worse health across a range of measures, including blood pressure, adiposity, self-reported physical and emotional symptoms, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress, even when controlling for several socio-demographic confounders. Results are discussed within the context of both neoliberal economic policies that funnel consumers into chronic debt and neoliberal sociocultural ideologies that promote self-judgments of indebtedness as personal failure. Findings highlight the importance of neoliberalism as an important contemporary social determinant of health and suggest new directions for research to explore.

Language tests, linguistic gatekeeping and global mobility

ABSTRACTLanguage tests are increasingly being used as gatekeeping tools in a globalised world. This article examines the processes of linguistic gatekeeping by the use of language tests in the context of migration. We draw on half a dozen cases of test-takers of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test who applied for entry into Australia on student, work or residency visa. We argue that while test-using migration programmes in countries such as Australia may give the impression that language tests are required for diagnosis of applicants’ ‘linguistic health’ and certification of ‘linguistic immunity’, official demands of language test scores may also be only distantly related to their actual language ability. From test-takers’ perspectives, the processes of linguistic gatekeeping can be linked to profit-making, suggesting how neoliberalism relates to immigration. In a neoliberal policy context, migration desires can be capitalised by gatekeeping authorities for their education and labour markets; these authorities may also capitalise on gatekeeping mechanisms such as language tests and test scores as commodified policy artefacts. Policy concerns for migrants’ linguistic health may, then, be related to financial health of testing industries. The article contributes to our understanding of the relationships between language policy and globalisation by illustrating the linguistic management of global mobility in transnational migration.

‘At What Cost? the Impact of UK Long-term Care Funding Policies on Social Work Practice with Older People’: A Literature Review

ABSTRACTMoving to a care home is a significant and often costly milestone in many older people’s lives, with considerable implications for an individual’s future autonomy, safety, wellbeing and security. Such provision has considerable financial impact both on the economy and on those required to make significant contributions to their own care. Reductions in community-based support and widespread gaps in the sustainable development of alternative options to residential care pose challenges in relation to decision-making for those older people and their carers who wish to make timely plans for good quality provision. The system and process of transfer to care can also be fragmented, bewildering and involve multiple organisations and assessments, often at a time of crisis. Social Workers are key professionals in providing assessment, advocacy and planning with older people and their carers and the challenging neo-liberal policy context suggests the potential for numerous ethical dilemmas for practitioners.This paper examines themes from recent literature in the field of social work with vulnerable older people, particularly in relation to funding arrangements for residential care, examining how ethical issues in this field of social work practice are. identified and discussed.This paper presents a narrative review of relevant literature since 2010. It examines and synthesises key themes and considers how ethical issues connected to this field of social work practice are articulated.

Contesting early childhood professional identities: A cross-national discussion

In this collective article, the authors explore constructions of early childhood practitioners and how they disconnect and reconnect in a global neo-liberal education policy context. The contributions to the conversation provide windows into shifting professional identities across five national contexts: New Zealand, the USA, Ireland, Australia and Denmark. The authors ask who benefits from the notion of distinct professional identities, linked to early childhood education as locally and culturally embedded practice. They conceptualize teachers’ shifting subjectivities, drawing on Kristeva’s philosophical conception of identity as constantly in construction, open and evolving. Arguments for the urgency to counter the global uniformity machine, streamlined curricula, standardized assessment and deprofessionalization are not new. However, the authors wonder whether these arguments are missing something. Does our localized and highly contextualized identity construction enable ‘divide and rule’ politics by global agents such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank and international corporations? The authors’ (preliminary) answer is to build individual and collective professional identities that are grounded in diverse local contexts and in a broader transnational professional (political) consciousness and collective voice.