Present Welfare System Research Articles

The evolution and involution of service provision: Interactional understanding of the welfare of urban youth with disabilities in China

China has the largest population of people with disabilities in the developing world. These people are identified as a vulnerable group, and as such, they have attracted increased attention from the entire society. The present welfare system in urban areas of China, which has been constructed through a long history of development, is an integrative system involving several service providers. The relationships among the service providers have attracted scholars’ attention. However, service users’ perspectives of their interactions with different service providers have garnered less focus. This study adopts both a historical and an interactional understanding of disability in an effort to examine the development of social welfare for young people with disabilities in China. The qualitative method used in this practical research focuses on the subjective experiences of individuals obtaining welfare. A review of the existing research is also conducted, focusing on policies for young people with disabilities in China. We examine the transitional process and analyze the themes underlying the policies for families in which there are people with disabilities in the present welfare system. Based on our findings, we discuss the evolution of service provision, especially in regard to the way in which it reflects the disabled community and the rational employment market; we reveal the involution of service provision for families, involving both ethical and functional considerations in familistic Chinese culture; and we analyze the dilemma regarding supportive policies for families in which there are people with disabilities in urban China. We also point out that the “individual” and the “family” cannot co-benefit in the implementation of current policies.

The long-term determinants of marital fertility in the developed world (19th and 20th centuries): The role of welfare policies

Background: Demographic transition theory was shattered dramatically as a result of the research carried out in the course of the Princeton European Fertility Project. There is still no consensus among demographers as to the causes underlying the fertility transition. Objective: We set out to test the explanatory capacity of certain variables which have traditionally been used to interpret the historical decline in fertility (mortality, level of education, economic development, urbanization) as well as the role played by the rise of the welfare state. Methods: We collected information on different kinds of socioeconomic variables in 25 developed countries over a very long period of time. We carried out panel cointegrating regressions and country panel fixed and time effects generalized least squares. Results: We show that the decline in mortality, the increase in educational level, and economic factors all played a leading role in the historical decline in fertility. We found that the present welfare system places a remarkable burden on those who decide to have a family. Conclusions: A new kind of public social transfer model needs to be designed which will minimize the damaging consequences that our current welfare states have had with regard to fertility. Contribution: 1) The emphasis on the causal impact of the emergence and maturation of the social welfare system using Lindert’s data on social transfers since the late 19th century to 1990. 2) The enormous amount of historical data compiled, as documented in the Appendix. 3) The modern panel cointegration techniques used to analyze the long- and short-term impacts of the different determinants of fertility.

International Circumstances as Factors in Building a Welfare State: Welfare Regimes in Europe, Japan and Korea

AbstractThe East Asian experiences of welfare‐state building have universal implications for the sociology of the welfare state because they clearly indicate the relevance of international circumstances to welfare‐state building. The convergence theory of the welfare state lays emphasis on the economic development, demographic structure, and age of the social security system. The path dependency theory regards a country's social structure and history as important. However, both these theories clearly state the importance of the domestic factors as well. On the contrary, the East Asian experiences show that the dates of the takeoff of the welfare state and the international context at that time were decisive for the subsequent development of the welfare state. The European welfare states are considered to be a by‐product of “embedded liberalism.” The Japanese welfare state, on the other hand, was established in the context of the worldwide stagflation of the 1970s; therefore, Japan experienced the formation and crisis of the welfare state at the same time and this is what characterized its present welfare system. The Korean welfare state emerged in the age of global capitalism and was consequently shaped by the co‐occurrence of welfare and workfare. Given the above, it can be said that the international circumstances faced by each welfare state characterized the three worlds of welfare capitalism: Europe, Japan, and Korea.

Social Work Education in the Urban Scene

Among my first public acts as mayor of Cleveland was the appointment of a com mission to study the welfare crisis in this community and to make recommendations on what the city government (as well as other levels of government and agencies in the private sector) could do about it. With the active cooperation of representatives from religious groups, industry, unions, the professions, and welfare rights organiza tions, Dr. Stein submitted a report which not only documented, in human and statis tical terms, the tragedy of our present wel fare system, but gave this community a blue print for action for years to come. I don't claim that this study has solved the prob lem, but I do know that it has already achieved important modifications in ad ministrative policies in this county and na tionally through the recent regulations of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. I also have hopes that this docu ment will act as the basis for important leg islative action at the present session of the Ohio General Assembly and the Congress of the United States.