Welfare State Arrangements Research Articles

Intergenerational transmission or local labour market context? A comparative analysis of the formation of work value patterns in 65 European regions

AbstractThis article analyses the driving factors behind the formation of individual work values in European welfare states. By comparing relative preferences for extrinsic and intrinsic work values, we shed light on the discussion of the effects of intergenerational transmission and the structuring effects of labour market policies and regional opportunity structures on the formation of work values. Therefore, a multilevel analysis is applied using the innovative CUPESSE data set, which provides data on young adults and their parents in 65 NUTS‐1‐regions from 11 European countries. The results show that individual work values of young Europeans are most substantively shaped by the respective values of their parents. Furthermore, we demonstrate that individual characteristics such as sex, education and personal unemployment experiences determine preferences for work values. Finally, the paper shows that the local labour market context and welfare state arrangements also play a decisive role in the formation of individual work values.

The transformation of European welfare states and its implications for social work (research): staying on the tanker or choosing a small sloop?

Since the conception of post-war national welfare states and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the notions of citizenship and of civic, political and social rights were institutionalised in European welfare states. In that vein, a social work workforce acquired a professional and public mandate to implement social policies. During recent decades, however, welfare state arrangements seem to have moved in another direction. The premise that the welfare state is responsible for social protection and the redistribution of resources has subtly shifted into one of an active welfare state, with a stronger focus on individual responsibility and conditionality. In addition, welfare state arrangements have been based on the premise of a territorial logic of the nation state, making it more difficult for migrants to access services. In this article, we first discuss the transformation of welfare state arrangements. We then make use of an exemplary case, namely, the emergence of new social work practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, to illustrate the current positioning of social work practice. In the final part, we critically tease out the changing role of social work and social work research in these circumstances.

Crisis and the welfare state: the role of public employment services for job placement and the Danish flexicurity system during COVID-19

AbstractDenmark is a Nordic welfare state with local government autonomy in public service provision related to workfare policies. We use a policy experiment that re-opened on-site public employment services after the first COVID-19 lockdown in a spatially staggered manner to provide evidence on the effect of public employment services on job placement during a crisis. Early re-opening of on-site public employment services is associated with a better local labour market performance. It particularly benefits low-skilled unemployed and rural areas with specific sector mixes and demographic structures, why workfare-oriented welfare state arrangements remain important to counter social and regional imbalances.

How to Think about the Climate Crisis: A Philosophical Guide to Saner Ways of Living, by Graham Parkes

<i>How to Think about the Climate Crisis: A Philosophical Guide to Saner Ways of Living</i>, by Graham Parkes

Genetic Influences on Educational Achievement in Cross-National Perspective

AbstractThere is a growing interest in how social conditions moderate genetic influences on education [gene–environment interactions (GxE)]. Previous research has focused on the family, specifically parents’ social background, and has neglected the institutional environment. To assess the impact of macro-level influences, we compare genetic influences on educational achievement and their social stratification across Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. We combine well-established GxE-conceptualizations with the comparative stratification literature and propose that educational systems and welfare-state regimes affect the realization of genetic potential. We analyse population-representative survey data on twins (Germany and the United States) and twin registers (Norway and Sweden), and estimate genetically sensitive variance decomposition models. Our comparative design yields three main findings. First, Germany stands out with comparatively weak genetic influences on educational achievement suggesting that early tracking limits the realization thereof. Second, in the United States genetic influences are comparatively strong and similar in size compared to the Nordic countries. Third, in Sweden genetic influences are stronger among disadvantaged families supporting the expectation that challenging and uncertain circumstances promote genetic expression. This ideosyncratic finding must be related to features of Swedish social institutions or welfare-state arrangements that are not found in otherwise similar countries.

COVID-19 and welfare state support: the case of universal basic income

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has revived discussions about universal basic income (UBI) as a potential crisis response. Yet despite favorable circumstances, little actual policy change in this area was observed. This article seeks to explain this absence of policy change and to reflect on the prospects for introducing UBI schemes after the pandemic in European democracies. I argue that public opinion on UBI provides few electoral incentives to push for social policy change. Using prepandemic data from 21 European democracies and pandemic data from the UK, I show that political support for UBI has been divided between different groups who advocate conflicting policy goals and who hold divergent views about existing welfare state arrangements. While support for UBI might have increased during the pandemic, the underlying political dividing lines are likely to have remained intact. Due to these enduring divisions and the stable support for existing social policy arrangements over an untested policy, the prospects for introducing UBI schemes in the post-pandemic world remain uncertain.

The rules of the game: Healthcare systems and cross-national attitudes about healthcare provision

In recent years, healthcare typologies are increasingly scrutinized. Prevailing healthcare system categorizations draw on comparative–institutional welfare state arrangements that constitute the “rules of the game” for healthcare provision. Challenging these perspectives, health policy perspectives suggest that ongoing policy changes shifted the “rules of the game” in ways that are not adequately captured by traditional comparative–institutional typologies. As a result, new questions arise about which categorization is most salient for understanding public attitudes about healthcare. We adjudicate between these two perspectives by examining the association between healthcare system typology and two different and important types of attitudes about healthcare provision: government responsibility and spending. Using hierarchical linear models, we find that traditional welfare state conceptions of healthcare systems are more closely associated with public opinions about healthcare provision. In general, respondents in countries with healthcare systems that have greater state involvement and rely more on public financing, which are traditional, institutional–comparative factors, report greater support for government responsibility in and spending on healthcare. We highlight how rallying broad public support for changes to healthcare systems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will require that researchers and policy makers understand what the public has come to expect about healthcare, as well as the institutional arrangements around healthcare that set the “rules of the game.”

What type of familialism is relevant for Lithuania? The case of elderly care

ABSTRACTIn Lithuania, elderly care is still strongly reliant upon the informal sector, while recent efforts to develop a policy of de-familialism using welfare state arrangements have so far been very vague. This article uses the concept of familialism to assess whether the infrastructure of elderly care services and labor market measures developed in the country are adequate in the light of social-demographic changes taking place in the country and the expectations of the future elderly population (over 50 years old). Where the expectations reflect high levels of normative solidarity and preconditions for supported familialism, rapid emigration of young people, high employment among women, and the growing share of single-person households reflect the need to develop a dual-supported familialism–de-familialism policy model in the nearest future in order to meet elderly care needs.

Are there educational disparities in health and functioning among the oldest old? Evidence from the Nordic countries

With the ageing of the population and recent pressures on important welfare state arrangements, updated knowledge on the linkage between socioeconomic status and health in old age is pertinent for shedding light on emerging patterns of health inequalities in the Nordic countries. This study examined self-rated health (SRH), mobility and activities of daily living (ADL) according to level of education in the three oldest old age groups 75–84, 85–94, and 95+, in four Nordic countries. Altogether, 6132 individuals from Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation study, Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old, the 5-Country Oldest Old (Sweden) and Vitality 90 + Study were analysed. First, associations of education level with SRH, mobility, and ADL were estimated for each individual study by means of age- and gender-adjusted logistic regression. Second, results from individual studies were synthesized in a meta-analysis. Older adults with higher education level were more likely to report good SRH, and they were more often independent in mobility and ADL than those with basic education when all age groups were combined. In mobility and ADL, differences between education groups remained stable across the age groups but for SRH, differences seemed to be weaker in older ages. With only a few exceptions, in all age groups, individuals with higher education had more favourable health and functioning than those with basic education. This study shows remarkable persistence of health and functioning inequalities in the Nordic countries throughout later life.

The Role of Welfare State Characteristics for Health and Inequalities in Health from a Cross-National Perspective: A Critical Research Synthesis

Research in public health, epidemiology, and medical sociology has debated the health impacts of income inequality. A common hypothesis is that socioeconomic contexts in neighborhoods, regions, or entire nation states shape individuals’ health and inequalities in health. Several reviews have concluded that the distribution of income within a society contributes to poor health. More recent research has focused on welfare state arrangements and their relevance to cross-national variations in health and inequalities in health. We argue that the welfare state determines and mediates the extent of inequalities in health through healthcare, social policy and public health. Many studies have been published in the last decade that have tried to examine the role played by these influences on health and health inequalities. This review will (1) summarize the extant research on the association between welfare state factors and health outcomes, (2) discuss how research theorizes the role of welfare state characteristics for between- and within-country differences in health, (3) present different approaches to empirically investigate the association between welfare state, health and inequalities in health, and (4) provide methodological considerations in this field of research.

There is no Such Thing as a Free Market

To deconstruct the still hegemonic narrative of free market ideologists in the realm of housing, this article looks at the provocative position of the German-British architect Patrik Schumacher, director of Zaha Hadid Architects. Schumacher’s 2016 lecture on housing at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin, in which he claims that only wholesale privatisation of urbanism would solve the housing crisis, is scrutinised on the two interrelated concepts of the free market and state intervention. Schumacher’s lecture is analysed within the context of the current housing crisis in the United Kingdom and London in particular, which dates back to the years of the Tory government of Margaret Thatcher. Additionally, the aftermath of the banking and credit crisis of 2008 brought the further breakdown of welfare state arrangements under the politics of so-called austerity. Lastly, the housing situation worsened due to the disruptive rise of the creative classes as depicted by urban sociologist Richard Florida. Schumacher’s position is interpreted in the tradition of the ideas of philosopher Ayn Rand and Nietzschean master-servant morality. A connection with the ideas of Rem Koolhaas is identified, in particular those expounded in his book Delirious New York and with Koolhaas’ conception of the architect as a surfer as well as a hostage, who is at the mercy of larger forces he cannot control. The argument is concluded by referencing a number of renowned alternatives to a delusional free market approach to solve the housing crisis, namely social housing projects from continental Europe. Ultimately, the importance of striking a balance between private opportunity and public planning is emphasised.

Migrants' support for welfare state spending in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands

AbstractThis contribution describes differences between 10 migrant groups and natives in their attitudes towards government spending in three residence countries: Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. Previous research provided evidence that “migrants” as a catch‐all category of people from different origins are in favor of more government spending on social welfare. We study to what extent support for government spending can be explained by self‐interest explanations of welfare state attitudes as well as by differences in ideological position. The contribution employs data from the Migrants' Welfare State Attitudes project, including migrant groups from similar origins in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The study moves beyond the larger migrant groups of Turks and Poles that received attention in previous research as well, and includes a greater variety of groups that differ in terms of their skill levels. The overall finding is that migrants' welfare state spending preferences are, as in the case of natives, significantly related to socio‐demographic differences and standard ideology measures of attitudes to regulation of the economy and family values. However, even with these standard variables included, spending preferences differ strongly between migrant groups, residence countries, and welfare spending domain. A comparison between country of origin and residence country provisions seems to be a promising path for further understanding migrant group differences in welfare state spending attitudes. The study challenges the idea that all migrants are supportive of extended welfare state arrangements.

Viewing Nordic Public Management

How do Nordic states conduct policies in order to bring people closer to the socio-economic realm, in the sense that they, being social capital, tend to be integrated as active and participatory citizens? How do the interventionist and expensive Nordic welfare states survive in the global age, with demanding and ever changing claims to international competitiveness? This paper addresses these questions. Social capital and partnership building are introduced as terms and policy concepts in order to find answers in the framework of intended or unintended strategic taming endeavours. As a critical approach claims a contextual conceptualisation, we shall here view different European social models and administrative traditions in relation to comparative basic contexts in order to arrive at analytical answers. Leaning especially on the Anglo-Saxon model, the traditional Scandinavian universal welfare state model of the post-war Keynesian order has gradually been transformed into the contemporary Nordic model (Veggeland 2007). Contextual regulatory innovations and path-dependent processes have generated the survival of universal welfare state arrangements and collective action but with the mixed use of Market-Type Mechanisms (MTM) in the public sector of Anglo-Saxon origin. In summary, this blending of policies has resulted in the advantageous social capital of what is called flexicurity , social security combined with a flexible participatory labour market. We shall discuss both flexicurity policy and participatory subsidiarity defined downwards as contributions to an explanation of why the expensive welfare states of the Nordic type have not only so far been doing well but have also sustained both democratic and output-side legitimacy.

Age Stereotypes and Attitudes Towards Welfare State Arrangements for the Old: A Multilevel Analysis Across Twenty-Nine Countries

textabstractThis study investigates whether and how support for welfare state arrangements for the old relate to the stereotypes of the young and the old within society. It is hypothesized that the social status that these groups have in society affect these attitudes through different mechanisms, relating to the deservingness criteria that citizens apply. An empirical analysis of Round 4 of the European Social Survey (including 50,009 individuals from 29 European countries) shows that: (1) the social esteem of people over 70 predicts support for welfare state arrangements for the old; and (2) the social esteem of people in their 20s has a moderate effect on support for these arrangements. Hence, there is little support for a generational conflict.

Ageing, health inequalities and the welfare state: A multilevel analysis

Comparative studies of health inequalities have largely neglected age and ageing aspects, while ageing research has often paid little attention to questions of social inequalities. This article investigates cross-country differences in gradients in self-rated health and limiting long-standing illness (LLSI) in middle-aged and in older people (aged 50–64 and 65–80 years) linked to social class, and degrees to which the social health gradients are associated with minimum pension levels and expenditure on elderly care. For these purposes, data from the European Social Survey (2002–2010) are analysed using multilevel regression techniques. We find significant cross-level interaction effects between class and welfare policies: higher expenditure on elderly care and particularly more generous minimum pensions are associated with smaller health inequalities in the older age group (65–80 years). It is concluded that welfare policies moderate the association between social class and health, highlighting the importance of welfare state efforts for older persons, who are strongly reliant on the welfare state and welfare state arrangements such as pensions and care policies.

Care leavers: A British affair

AbstractIndividuals in and leaving care within the UK experience numerous dilemmas that include a lack of supportive housing and potential homelessness, lower educational attainment and occupational status, and greater likelihood of moving into poverty. These adverse situations—all of which are interrelated—shape their present and future health status. Models of these processes usually focus on individual behaviours/characteristics, the consolidation of positive identities through the development of supportive networks, and specific social policies germane to this group. Although informative, these models neglect many key contextual factors that shape these outcomes. In this paper, we present a model of care‐leaving that incorporates developments in the political economy of health literature to show how differing welfare state arrangements shape health by mediating the distribution of economic and social resources over the life course for populations in general and for those in and leaving care specifically. The key recommendation suggested by this model is to focus upon developing public policies to address the vulnerable situations care leavers experience associated with skewed income distributions, lack of housing affordability, weak employment standards, and lack of access to higher education typical of liberal welfare states such as the UK.

Toward a New Social Contract? The Participation of Civil Society in Swedish Welfare Policymaking, 1958\u20132012

In contribution to current debates on the changing roles and responsibilities of civil society in welfare state arrangements, I examined the participation of various types of civil society organizations in national welfare policymaking in Sweden between 1958 and 2012. Drawing upon an extensive dataset of over 1400 civil society, state, and for-profit organizations, I tested three claims related to the role and responsibility of civil society in the governance of welfare: the changing balance between corporatist and welfare organizations, the shift from voice to service, and another shift from nonprofit organizations to FPOs. My results revealed weak but emerging trends aligned with changing patterns of corporatism and the marketization of Sweden’s welfare system. However, support for any shift from voice to service remains uncertain.

Ethnic inequality in retirement income: a comparative analysis of immigrant–native gaps in Western Europe

ABSTRACTPrevious research unequivocally shows that immigrants are less successful in the labour market than the native-born population. However, little is known about whether ethnic inequality persists after retirement. We use data on 16 Western European countries from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC, 2004–2013) to provide the first comparative study of ethnic inequalities among the population aged 65 and older. We focus on the retirement income gap (RIG) between immigrants from non-European Union countries and relate its magnitude to country differences in welfare state arrangements. Ethnic inequality after retirement is substantial: after adjusting for key characteristics including age, education and occupational status, the average immigrant penalty across the 16 countries is 28 per cent for men and 29 per cent for women. Country-level regressions show that income gaps are smaller in countries where the pension system is more redistributive. We also find that easy access to long-term residence is associated with larger RIGs, at least for men. There is no clear evidence that immigrants’ access to social security programmes, welfare state transfers to working-age households or the strictness of employment protection legislation affect the size of the RIG.

Social Capital. Viewing Nordic Paths of Management

How do Nordic states conduct policies in order to bring people closer to the socio-economic realm, in the sense that they, being social capital, tend to be integrated as active and participatory citizens? How do the interventionist and expensive Nordic welfare states survive in the global age, with demanding and ever changing claims to international competitiveness? This paper addresses these questions. Social capital and partnership building are introduced as terms and policy concepts in order to find answers in the framework of intended or unintended strategic endeavours. As a critical approach claims a contextual conceptualisation, we shall here view different European social models and administrative traditions in relation to comparative basic contexts in order to arrive at analytical answers. Leaning especially on the Anglo-Saxon model, the traditional Scandinavian universal welfare state model of the post-war Keynesian order has gradually been transformed into the contemporary Nordic model (Veggeland 2007). Contextual regulatory innovations and path-dependent processes have generated the survival of universal welfare state arrangements and collective action but with the mixed use of Market-Type Mechanisms (MTM) in the public sector of Anglo-Saxon origin. In summary, this blending of policies has resulted in the advantageous social capital of what is called flexicurity, social security combined with a flexible participatory labour market. We shall discuss both flexicurity policy and participatory subsidiarity defined downwards as contribution to an explanation of why the expensive welfare states of the Nordic type have not only so far been doing well but have also sustained both democratic and output-side legitimacy.

The End of the Conservative German Welfare State Model

AbstractThis article investigates change and continuity of the German welfare state at the institutional as well as at the outcome level in the domains of family, pension and unemployment policies. It shows that seemingly path‐dependent policy adaptations – largely through drift, layering and recalibration – have led to a paradigmatic and indeed transformational adjustment of welfare state arrangements. The unsettling of institutional arrangements and functional underpinnings of the welfare state in the wake of German unification constituted a ‘critical juncture’ facilitating the establishment of new ‘interpretative patterns’ that have subsequently replaced previous assumptions relating to the economic benefits of social policies and reordered the aims and goals of the welfare state.