Search results for "Welfare state"

Pros and cons of family policies for mothers' labour market participation

2012

PurposeThe purpose of this editorial is to examine sociological research on the possibilities and pitfalls of social policies for mothers' employment participation, and identify research gaps in the existing literature. The paper aims to focus mainly on the implications of parental leave schemes on mothers' employment participation.Design/methodology/approachThe editorial discusses the inconsistencies in the current sociological debate on the impact of social policies on mothers' employment.FindingsThe relationship between parental leave policies and women's participation in the work force is complex. The literature shows a disagreement about whether such policies mitigate family‐related ca…

Research-Based Social Work Profession in the Finnish Welfare State

2021

This chapter examines the Finnish model of social work education from the perspective of the European system of higher education. The analysis is framed by the fast development of the social-democratic welfare state. Formalised social worker education started in 1942 as a two-year bachelor’s degree that was vocationally oriented with the purpose of providing municipalities a sufficient labour force. From the 1970s onwards, social work education started its process of academisation, and in 1994 social work became its own scientific discipline. Currently, Finnish social work education places strong emphasis on research and research-based understanding of social work. Social work education is …

Changes in Young Europeans’ Values During the Global Financial Crisis

2019

We investigate the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the personal values of youth and young adults (age 16–35 years) from 16 European countries. Using time series cross-sectional data from seven waves (2002–2014) of the European Social Survey, we examined (1) whether the GFC led to value shifts between cohorts of young people and (2) whether welfare state provision moderate the expected value shifts. Multilevel analyses showed that, following the GFC, the importance of security, tradition, benevolence, and, to a lesser extent, conformity values increased. In contrast, hedonism, self-direction, and stimulation values decreased. In line with our moderation hypothesis, power, and…

Diritti sociali, istituzioni, risorse e la sfida dell'effettività

2019

This article concernes the effects of the financial and economic crisis on the effectiveness of social rights and on the sustainability of social spending. The Author discusses the relationship between rights and resources and between rights and institutions in order to deepen the factors that produce inequality in EU and in its member states. The article revises the European Pillar of Social Rights, criticizing the lack of innovative content ant its impossibility to found the revival of a social Europe

The Human Right to Social Security and Its Impact on Socio-Political Action in Germany and Finland

2017

Social human rights have rarely been given attention in social work research or comparative studies on welfare states. The paper aims at filling the gap by analysing the conception of human beings inherent in human rights and in unemployment policy documents in Germany and Finland. Its focus lies on the right to social security, a central norm of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The main question is what impact does the right to social security have on socio-political action in Germany and Finland. The results of the analysis, which was based on the objective hermeneutics, revealed a structural similarity between the conceptions of human beings in both cou…

Legal Issues Affecting Labour Market Integration of Migrants in Finland

2021

AbstractFinland has only relatively recently become a country of immigration, and as a result most immigration and integration policy legislation is also relatively recent. Since the 1990s, the number of migrants to Finland has increased steadily, motivating the adoption of various policy measures to regulate migration and support integration. From the perspective of migrant labour market integration, the two most important legislative acts are the Aliens Act (FINLEX 301/2004) and the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration (FINLEX 1386/2010), which lay out basic labour market integration supports for migrants, and determine who can work in Finland and on which grounds. Finland’s comp…

The Economics of Freedom. Theory, Measure and Policy Implications

2012

What is freedom? Can we measure it? Does it affect policy? This book develops an original measure of freedom called 'Autonomy Freedom', consistent with J. S. Mill's view of autonomy, and applies it to issues in policy and political design. The work pursues three aims. First, it extends classical liberalism beyond exclusive reliance on negative freedom so as to take autonomous behavior explicitly into account. Second, it grounds on firm conceptual foundations a new standard in the measurement of freedom that can be fruitfully coupled with existing gauges. Third, it shows empirically that individual preferences for redistribution and cross-country differences in welfare spending in Organisati…

Giving up Farming as a Precarious Decision

2015

‘Precarity’ is a novel noun that is widely recognized and applied in timely political discourses and socioeconomic diagnoses of the present. It refers to fixed-term, temporary, low-paid, insecure, unpredictable, and often risky work. The occupational position of precarious people has been characterized as flexible or flexploitative, informal, casual, intermittent, non-standard, exceptional, often outsourced, or subcontracted. ‘Precarity’ is typically seen to characterize young people, women, immigrants, and service sector workers; but particular segments of creative and immaterial ‘new labour’ are also identified with the ‘precariat’. However, in spite of all these groupings, lists, and clu…

The Roosevelt Years and the Rise of the American Welfare State

2014

Financialization of Eldercare in a Nordic Welfare State

2022

Abstract The increasing presence of for-profit service providers in publicly-funded eldercare has transformed care in Nordic welfare states which have a strong tradition of public care provision. Macro-level research on care policies has mainly focused on public institutions, national policies, and marketization. The financialization of eldercare has not received much scholarly attention, and existing studies mostly focus on the UK. The financialization of eldercare refers to the ways in which care is both a site of profit extraction and financial engineering. The Nordic system is relatively universal, and, with rapidly ageing demographics, there is a secured demand for eldercare services. …