Social Policy Systems Research Articles

Social orphanhood in Latvia

The reform processes and the developments of social policy to solve the major social problems of the socially vulnerable population, among them, children in particular, take place in Latvia during the last 20 years. Protection of children rights is declared one of the strategic priorities of the state social policy. At the same time the problem of child neglect and child abandonment in Latvia has not yet been sufficiently conceptualized. Already since 1990-ies Latvian society has clearly faced with an objective necessity of solving problems of child abandonment in connection with an increasing number of social orphans. The situation was complicated by the fact that the formation of a fundamentally new system of social policy, social support and assistance to risk children had to be developed and implemented in conditions of economic transition to market economy relations, increasing social tensions, and sharp increase in social inequality and social discrimination. Among the enourmous number of economical and social problems in the developing democratic state, the issue of child abandonment as an important social problem has been addressed rather fragmentary. The term “social orphanhood” does not appear in the social policy vocabulary of the Latvian social policy doscourse.

Reshaping Eldercare towards New Professions

The impacts of global longevity are commonly regarded as a threat to future social policy systems and structure of future welfare organizations. Focusing future needs of older adults, social gerontologists have long since recognized the importance of different types of socially interventional aspects. The methods used in this article are based on a survey of scientific literature on some central topics related to social gerontology. The main object is to discuss how these may be imbedded in rethinking future Swedish eldercare. Challenges and needs of longevity in Sweden have been met with the efforts of reshaping eldercare through new aspects of training and education. The article draws attention to the educational program of elderpedagogy at the University of Malmo. The main goal of elderpedagogy is to comprehend the assets of social capital and social experiences of old adults, in order to reduce social isolation. The scientific soil of elderpedagogy is made of influences from traditional social gerontology as well as social pedagogy. Despite its ambitions and well proven innovative potentials, elderpedagogy faces difficulties in recruiting students. The obstacles are well known in an international context where similar educational programs within social work focusing the social dilemmas of older adults share the fate of having to cope with ageist discursive attitudes towards later life.

Attributing Outcomes to Social Policy Interventions – ‘Gold Standard’ or ‘Fool's Gold’ in Public Policy and Management?

AbstractIn recent years there has been increased interest in outcome‐based social policy‐making and management. TheUKhas been in the forefront of this movement but similar movements have been identified internationally. This interest in outcome‐based decision‐making has been given particular impetus through the ‘results’‐based movement in evaluation and performance management since the 1980s, which has increased in scope over time, slowly changing its emphasis from cost reduction and measuring outputs to measuring outcomes. This change has been widely welcomed by policymakers, practitioners and academics. However, there is evidence that the reality is often rather less than the rhetoric. Moreover, the ‘attribution problem’ of attributing changes in outcomes to specific social policies has remained a major issue. The conceptual solution of constructing ‘cause‐and‐effect’ models, imported from the policy evaluation field, has only recently become common for operationalising these models. This article outlines the evolution of interest in outcome‐based social policy‐making up to recent times and the growing realization of the importance of the attribution problem. It then outlines both how the ‘cause‐and‐effect’ policy modelling approach can partially tackle the attribution problem, but also its inherent limitations. Lastly, the article uses several case studies in currentUKsocial policy‐making to demonstrate the potential importance of the reasoning embedded within cause‐and‐effect models but also the dangers in policy‐making which adopts this approach without understanding its conceptual basis or in fields where it is inappropriate, given the current state of our knowledge of social policy systems.

What Did the Study of Transition EconomiesContribute to Mainstream Economics?

Basing on examples this paper shows that the experience of the postcommunist transition, and the policy-related and academic discussion about it, have made a useful contribution to mainstream economics. In particular, such issues as the role of the state and social policy, institutions and banking system in economic development were reconsidered. The new perspectives on the issue of the efficiency of privatization, path dependence, and the role of political elites in institutional reforms were developed. The author shows which of the recommendations provided by international organizations proved to be inadequate and why.

Inequality and the Politics of Social Policy Implementation: Gender, Age and Chile’s 2004 Health Reforms

Summary Regarding scholarship on the political determinants of inequality, little attention has been paid to policy implementation. We examine the 2004 Chilean health reforms that sought to regulate private insurers, and measure their effects on gender and age inequality. We find that reforms intended to decrease these inequalities largely failed. Analysis of this failure demonstrates the importance of the politics of implementation. When reforms threaten profits, private providers may act to undermine reforms in the implementation process. Given the widespread emergence of private providers in social policy systems, understanding their stakes in implementation is key to more effective, equality-enhancing reforms.

Employment, Consumption, Debt, and European Industrial Relations Systems

Comparisons between British and German employment performance in recent years have characterized the two countries as, respectively, finding a formula of high employment based on high‐consumption expenditure financed by household debt, and remaining tied to an external trade and low‐consumption model that no longer creates jobs. Placing these two countries in a wider perspective of all European Union member states and the United States reveals a different picture. Two different patterns seem associated with high employment levels: a northern European one of low‐consumption expenditure and high household debt, and an Anglophone one of high‐consumption expenditure and high household debt. Links for these contrasting models are sought in their very different social policy and industrial relations systems. Questions are raised concerning the role of household debt in the northern European cases, and the lack of any clear patterns differentiating much of western, southern and central Europe.

SOCIAL POLICY VERSUS SOCIAL INEQUALITY: JUST COMPROMISING INJUSTICES?

The paper provides a critical discussion of the controversial relationship between social policy and social inequality. This is primarily about investigating the principles of equality, liberty and justice which are central to an understanding of inequality and of social intervention. A social policy system is either radical or compromising. For those who prefer the radical option, the failure of social policy to substantially erode inequality in unquestionable. For those who choose the prevailing version of compromise, social policy may gain the support of the tax-paying middle classes and may offer a means of reconciling notions such as capitalism and social welfare.In short, there are two broad social policy options. First, a radical but optimistic version, where social policies are geared towards social change and vertical redistribution. Second, a compromise but survivingc one, where moderate social policies effect some degree of social mobility and horizontal redistribution. In any case, social policy has to develop a more sophisticated and complex analytical paradigm reconciling class and social movement theories and reconsidering the current complexities of social inequality. Postmodern social policy should incorporate social participation with welfare provisions and cultivate a social reform inspired by more commitment for less inequality.

About role of pedagogical science in harmonization of social strategy, educational policy and russian education system reforming practice

The article is based on the analysis of advanced experience of reforming of education system in Tyumen region, which was accepted as a reference territory for other territories in this matter. The article reveals both positive results of the recent phase of education reforming (since 2004), and a number of insufficiently elaborated decisions to be corrected, which will facilitate harmonization of education policy, implemented by the State in the federal center and regions, as well as reforming practice. This is to be done here and now in connection with implementation of the National initiative Our new school and new educational standards. Pedagogic science is supposed to play an active role in this process.

Glocalization of social work practice: Global and local responses to globalization

Globalization has become a catchword for the integration of local markets into world capitalism. This article raises social justice concerns in governments shirking their social responsibilities for caring for those who are most vulnerable to the risk of globalization. By structuring the world as a global society where both local and global responses can interact to ameliorate the conditions of global citizens, the article proposes a glocalization approach to social work practice: thinking globally and acting locally (Lyons, 2006). It argues for the formation and growth of global civil society, accompanied by the establishment of a global social policy system and sub-systems.

European ‘models’ and their implications to China: internal and external perspectives

AbstractEuropean Studies in China developed very rapidly in the last twenty years. The reasons for that are not only because of the smooth evolution of EU-China relations and wider and deeper economic interdependence between two economic giants, but also the relevance of the European models to China's domestic political and social development, as well as China's external relations. The article reviews the evolution of the European Studies in China and finds out that more and more research on European affairs relates to China's internal and external development. Two major aspects of the learning process are exploited further. Firstly, European models for China's domestic political and social development, including European party politics and Democratic Socialism, European social policy and social security systems, and European regional policies. Secondly, European models for China's foreign policy and external relations, including European neighbourhood policy, European concept of effective multilateralism, Europe as an example of peaceful rise, and functionalism as the way to East Asian regional integration. The EU or Europe has higher profile in China than any other Asia Pacific country. From the domestic political and social development and China's preference in international affairs we can see the silhouette of the European models. Chinese would like to learn more from Europe than the United States. It also shows clearly that the role of the EU as a social power.

Editorial: Why an Issue on the New Public Health?

In this inaugural issue of the revived journal, Public Health Reviews, we seek to address a wide audience from the myriad disciplines that comprise the workforce of public health. In this effort, we hope to reach public health educators, researchers, students, policy makers, and practitioners worldwide with evidence-based theoretical and experiential knowledge. Applied nationally and internationally, public health has enormous global potential to save lives and improve quality of life if applied equitably throughout the world. The inaugural issue is therefore devoted to the New Public Health, as the basis for improving population health globally.The central idea behind this issue is to focus on some of the major challenges and possibilities for improving health in the coming decades. The New Public Health involves the interdependence of traditional local, state or provincial, national, and global public health initiatives and their societal and political contexts. European societies, as others, face the challenges of ageing populations, increasing costs and rising public and individual expectations. At the same time, there are many social, regional, and transnational disparities.1,2The New Public Health addresses traditional aspects of public health, as well as the great potential for prevention-oriented healthcare systems. The New Public Health seeks to safeguard and improve individual health in the context of social and economic disparities that exist in varying degrees in all countries and regions. Furthering the New Public Health implies crossfertilization between public health protection, health promotion, disease prevention, health maintenance, and environmental health in the context of improvement of societal, economic, industrial and community habitation policies. Management of health systems and resource allocation are crucial to setting priorities in prevention, and the effective organization and provision of health services are a cornerstone of society's responsibility for the health and well-being of the population.The New Public Health is not a new vision of what health should be; it is a strategic and equitable application of current best practices across the broadest aspects of social policy, public health, and healthcare systems. Ultimately, the New Public Health relies on the adoption of effective policies and programs based on the cumulative experience and available scientific evidence. Such programs and policies must be targeted to individuals, to groups at special risk, to communities, and to societies across the globe.In this issue, we seek to present the interdependence of social and health policy with examples illustrating the interconnectedness of healthcare systems issues. The topics included are not encyclopedic of all the vital issues facing public health systems in the 21st century. Many of those that are not included in this first issue will be addressed in later issues of the journal. Accordingly, we start with the application of science to public health practice, as in the case of Helicobacter pylori, and we move on through health systems, organization of public health, chronic diseases, micronutrient deficiencies and infectious diseases.In this issue, we include:Preface,3 and Foreword: Reminiscences of Helicobacter pylori.4 Respectively by Theodore Tulchinsky, Antoine Flahault, and Robin Warren (Nobel Prize 2005, Western Australia), who relates his experience of scientific discovery that was ultimately embraced by medical and public health practitioners and policy makers. This fascinating historical account provides a vivid example of translating science into practice with major impacts on population health and health services.Editorial: Why a journal called Public Health Reviews?5 Antoine Flahault and Linda Fried present the renewal of this journal with a wider international scope, reaching out to a European and worldwide readership.What is the "New Public Health"? …

Social care under state socialism (1945-1989): ambitions, ambiguities, and mismanagement

This book examines the period of State Socialism in Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989, when social welfare was exercised on two levels. The dominant level was the system of governmental social policy, because individual and private structures of social help were considered as a dispensable bourgeois tradition. According to this perception, social welfare should include an extensive system of support and social services, although, in reality, special groups of 'asocials' and 'parasites' were excluded. Although, with the exception of Yugoslavia, social work as a profession was nearly completely eliminated, with modulated forms of social care still having to be provided, because certain groups - such as the handicapped, the elderly, or the mentally disabled - were still in need. Therefore, social care was realized on a subordinated level, mostly allocated to proximate vocations or organizations like teachers, nurses, and mass organizations. The coverage includes the following countries: Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia.

WELFARE REFORMS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: A NEW TYPE OF WELFARE REGIME?

This paper discusses some recent socio-economic achievements and losses in Central and Eastern Europe from a comparative perspective. Yet, the paper examines whether the economic-social-political restructuring of Central and Eastern Europe and the ensuing social policy reform has brought new forms of welfare regimes into focus. The paper demonstrates that, despite an increase in poverty and inequalities in many Central and Easter European countries during the last 18 years, the social policy systems have not experienced a radical dismantlement throughout the entire region and still show more comprehensive solutions to social problems than residual ones. Furthermore, the Central and Eastern European region is very diverse regarding the scope and depth of social problems encountered, and some countries have implemented more successful policy solutions than other ones. Nevertheless, the experience of the communist regime, the relatively lower fiscal capacity of the states as well as the higher share of GDP produced in the shadow economy allow the Central and Eastern European countries to group into a distinct post-communist regime. The current global economic crisis, which is felt in the CEE region much more than in the rest of the globe, can reinforce the features of the post-communist welfare model: still quite comprehensive in its structures, but weak in its performance to ensure a decent standard of living for its citizens.

Resilience research and policy/practice discourse in health, social, behavioral, and environmental sciences over the last ten years.

Resilience research has gained increased scientific interest and political currency over the last ten years. To set this volume in the wider context of scholarly debate conducted in previous special theme issue and/or special section publications of refereed journals on resilience and related concepts (1998-2008). Peer reviewed journals of health, social, behavioral, and environmental sciences were searched systematically for articles on resilience and/or related themes published as a set. Non-English language publications were included, while those involving non-human subjects were excluded. A total of fifteen journal special issues and/or special sections (including a debate and a roundtable discussion) on resilience and/or related themes were retrieved and examined with the aim of teasing out salient points of direct relevance to African social policy and health care systems. Viewed chronologically, this series of public discussions and debates charts a progressive paradigm shift from the pathogenic perspectives on risk and vulnerability to a clear turn of attention to health-centered approaches to building resilience to disasters and preventing vulnerability to disease, social dysfunction, human and environmental resource depletion. Resilience is a dynamic and multi-dimensional process of adaptation to adverse and/or turbulent changes in human, institutional, and ecological systems across scales, and thus requires a composite, multi-faceted Resilience Index (RI), in order to be meaningfully gauged. Collaborative links between interdisciplinary research institutions, policy makers and practitioners involved in promoting sustainable social and health care systems are called for, particularly in Africa.

Cross-National Comparison of Income and Wealth Status in Retirement: First Results from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)

This paper provides a first glance at the role of income and wealth in comparing economic security of older persons in the United States in cross-national perspective. We compare our elders to those in six other rich OECD countries (Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). These countries have diverse social policy systems, with respect to both social insurance and public assistance; and they have very different patterns of private wealth holding. The paper is based on a new source of wealth micro data, known as the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)...

Teaching the System of Social Policy in Hungary

Provides an inside perspective on the development of social work education in Hungary during the final years of communism and after the country regained its independence, when there was a strong focus on re‐introducing social work and social sciences which had been repressed by the socialist regime in its denial of social problems and thus, its suppression of education about social work policy or practice.

The opinions of Finnish specialist physicians on social security system

Background: We can argue that opinions are considered to be part of the physician’s professional identity. Professional identity has been considered a result of learning. After graduation physicians usually continue to study to gain a specialisation, and we can assume that this process affects their opinions because every specialty has its own “cultural climate”. Also, specialists have different views towards the welfare state because, for example, of the fact that they work with different types of population groups. Aim of the study: In this article we will describe how specialists feel about the current level of social security in Finland. Methods: The empirical analysis in our study is based on postal survey. The 2000 working age physicians’ random survey sample was picked from the register of the Finnish Medical Association (n=1092, response rate 54,6 %). The whole questionnaire included questions dealing with social security, health policy and health care system. The data was analysed using means and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: This study shows that surgeons and radiologists are the most critical of social security. These groups often think that social security is excessive. In contrast, psychiatrists show a stronger tendency to support social security. All in all, Finnish specialists are more critical of the social security system than are nonspecialised physicians. Conclusions: There are many similarities between Nordic countries when we look at the historical role of medical profession. We can also assume that specialist physicians' opinions on social security are quite similar compared to those of other Nordic countries.

Chaos, Complexity and Transformations in Social Care Policy in England

The concepts of chaos and complexity theory can be used to describe change in policy systems. This article does so for social care policy in England from 1981. The author shows the imprecise nature of policy action and the instabilities and fluctuations of social care markets. The growing importance of individualism and independence for older people will increasingly influence the future social care policy system.

At the Crossroads and in the Crosshairs: Social Welfare Policy and Low-Income Women's Vulnerability to Domestic Violence

Although research and social policy on domestic violence and poverty have largely focused on factors linked to welfare reform policy goals, low-income abused women have a broader set of needs for which they turn to the state for assistance. Using ethnographic data, I explore the impact of abused mothers' interactions with an array of social welfare policy systems on their ability to protect themselves and their children from domestic violence. Analysis of interview and observational data found that distinctions between positive and negative influences on vulnerability to domestic violence were not clear-cut. Policies that provided protection and security to some placed others at increased risk; some policies mitigated the risk of further abuse for participants at the same time that other policies exacerbated their risk. Findings identify some current policy successes and failures, highlight the important role played by frontline workers, and demonstrate the importance of expanding the focus of research in this area beyond welfare and employment policies and outcomes to include the range of structural forces affecting family life in low-income communities. Drawing on the analyses and findings, I discuss ways in which social policy might be made more responsive to abused women and better ensure the safety and security of our most vulnerable families.

International Nurse Migration

Developed countries facing nursing shortages have increasingly turned to aggressive foreign nurse recruitment, primarily from developing nations, to offset their lagging domestic nurse supplies and meet growing health care demands. Few donor nations are prepared to manage the loss of their nurse workforce to migration. The sole country with an explicit nurse export policy and the world's leading donor of nurse labor - the Philippines - is itself facing serious provider maldistribution and countrywide health disparities. Examining the historical roots of Philippines nurse migration provides lessons from which other nurse exporting countries may learn. The authors discuss factors that have predicated nurse migration and policies that have eased the way. Furthermore, the authors analyze how various stakeholders influence migratory patterns, the implications of migration for nurses and the public in their care, and the challenges that future social policy and political systems face in addressing global health issues engendered by unfettered recruitment of nurses and other health workers.