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Welfare Society (welfare + society)
Selected AbstractsLabour market implications of EU product market integrationECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 30 2000Torben M. Andersen European labour markets are in a state of flux due to the changing market situation induced by international integration. This process affects wage formation through more fierce product market competition and increased mobility of jobs. This development is by some observers taken to enforce labour market flexibility, while for others it signals an erosion of social standards and in turn possibly the welfare society. Since labour is not very mobile in Europe, the effects of international integration on labour markets are mostly indirect via product market integration. We review the channels through which product market integration affects labour markets and perform an empirical analysis of the convergence and interdependencies in wage formation among EU countries. We find that integration is changing labour market structures and inducing wage convergences as well as stronger wage interdependencies, but it is a gradual process. Moreover, the present study does not support the view that international integration will lead to a ,race to the bottom' and rapidly erode domestic labour markets standards, nor that it will relieve politicians of the need to consider labour market reforms to improve labour market performance. [source] Social Change and Social Policy in JapanINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAPANESE SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Masayuki Fujimura Abstract This paper aims to present and discuss social change and social policy in Japan after the mid-20th century from a sociological viewpoint. Japanese social change and social policy from the mid-20th century onward can be categorized into three models in chronological order: escape from mass poverty by means of industrialization, improvement of the social security system to establish a welfare state, and parallel progress of aspiration for a welfare society and workfare. Defined concretely, these are (1) the period that established and improved social security, which started immediately after the end of World War II and ended in 1973, when Japan began to suffer from low growth after enjoying high growth; (2) the period in which finance for social security was adjusted, halfway through which the country experienced a bubble economy; and (3) the period after the 1990s, in which the structural reform of social security went hand-in-hand with labor policy and the advent of globalization. In each of the three periods, the direction of social policy was affected by factors that caused changes in such areas as industrial structure (the decline of agriculture), demographic structure (an aging society), and family structure and work pattern (the growing trend of nuclear families, single-person households, and irregular employment). In Japan, life security now attracts increasing attention, and employment security rather than social security has been the central issue. As it is greatly affected by globalization, employment security grows less conspicuous and makes the vulnerability of social security grow more conspicuous. Social policy has the potential to become an area with which to struggle for national integration and fissures between social groups. [source] From welfare state to welfare society: toward a viable system of welfare in Japan and EnglandINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2 2010Rosario Laratta Laratta R. From welfare state to welfare society: toward a viable system of welfare in Japan and England Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 131,141 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article compares the impact that public welfare reforms during the 1980s and 1990s had, and are still having, on the relationship between statutory organisations and the non-profit sector in two developed countries, England and Japan. The author argues that the failure of these reforms clearly shows that, although non-profit organisations may not be able to effectively replace the state in the provision of welfare services, they can contribute, working closely with the statutory organisations, to the shaping, financing and delivery of public services in a variety of ways. It is also interesting to note that, while the public welfare reforms of the late 1990s in England produced a shift away from a culture based on privatisation and contracting-out toward a partnership culture of collaboration between state and non-profit entities, similar reforms in Japan have resulted instead in an uncertain area of deregulation and privatisation. [source] Effective Practice in Probation: An Example of ,Advanced Liberal' Responsibilisation?THE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 1 2002Hazel Kemshall This article argues that the dominant emphasis upon effective practice in probation work, particularly the emergence of effective programmes can be understood as an example of a key mechanism of social control in advanced liberal societies. Utilising Rose's concept of ,responsibilisation' the article examines the role of effective programmes in the emerging social policy agenda of citizen re-moralisation, responsibilisation and inclusion exemplified in late modern advanced liberal welfare states. The article concludes that the embracement of effective programmes has reconstituted the probation service as a key agency in the social control and exclusion of those citizens deemed ,intransigent' or ,irresponsible', thus assisting in the demarcation of those who can play a full role in the welfare society from those who cannot. [source] The enigma of the welfare state: excellent child health prerequisites , poor subjective healthACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 6 2010C Lindgren Abstract The rate of subjective health complaints among Swedish children is increasing by age and over time, and more so than among children in other Scandinavian countries. In contrast, the somatic health and prerequisites for wellbeing are excellent. This paradoxical situation, The Enigma of the Welfare State, is the focus of this viewpoint. We argue that one important background factor may be late adverse effects of the welfare society itself and some of its inherent values. We have identified several possible pathways. We have given them names of diseases , on the society level , like health obsession, stress panic, welfare apathy and hyper-individualism. Together with other factors such as a dysfunctional school and an unsatisfactory labour market for youth, these diseases are involved in an interplay that is constantly inducing anxiety and low self-esteem. Conclusion:, The gradually deteriorating self-reported health among Swedish youth may, to some degree, be explained as a late adverse effect of the welfare society itself and its inherent values. [source] | ||||||||||