Suchergebnisse

The Dynamic Welfare State accounts for the transition of social programming from governmental to corporate auspices, identifying not only the primary beneficiaries of emerging social markets, but the increasing influence of wealthy individuals and corporations in crafting public policy to meet industry requirements as well. Significantly, the degradation of social services, evident in the poverty trap, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, and the school-to-prison pipeline contributes to public defection from the welfare state.

Machine generated contents note: List of Figures and Tables vi -- Notes on the Contributors vii -- Preface ix -- 1 The Politics of Welfare in Europe -- Peter Taylor-Gooby 1 -- 2 Earning Welfare Citizenship: Welfare State Reform -- in Finland and Sweden -- Virpi Timonen 29 -- 3 Reshaping the Social Policy-Making Framework in France -- Bruno Palier 52 -- 4 Stumbling towards Reform: The German Welfare State -- in the 1990s -- Frank Blnker and Hellmut Wollmann 75 -- 5 Spain, a Via Media of Welfare Development -- Luis Moreno 100 -- 6 Switzerland: Stubborn Institutions in a Changing Society -- Giuliano Bonoli 123 -- 7 Welfare Reform in the UK: the Construction of a Liberal -- Consensus -- Peter Taylor-Gooby 147 -- 8 Polity, Policy-Making and Welfare Futures -- Peter Taylor-Gooby 171 -- Bibliography 189 -- Index 204

In recent decades, so-called universal welfare states have experienced considerable immigration from non-Western countries and, accordingly, rising levels of ethnic diversity. On that basis, scholars have debated how ethnic diversity affects public opinion in recipient societies. The debate is to a significant extent shaped by studies of American public opinion, where public opinion on some issues is widely considered 'racialized', i.e. in part based on attitudes toward racial outgroups. The dissertation examines whether by the same token, political attitudes in universal welfare states can become 'ethnicized', i.e. in part based on attitudes toward ethnic outgroups. The existing literature has tended to focus on the issue of welfare, where the expectation is that ethnic diversity will diminish public support. I outline a theoretical framework which explains why political attitudes can be ethnicized, but also why it is more likely for some issues (such as European integration or crime) than others (such as welfare). The dissertation includes four stand-alone articles illustrating the influence of group identities in political cognition. Compared to the existing literature, they suggest that ethnicization is at once more limited (in that it is unlikely for the most widely discussed issue, welfare) and more pervasive (in that it can arise from local contexts as well as from media). Ethnicization of attitudes is one way in which immigration can influence political life, even when the political agenda ostensibly revolves around something else.

This volume presents research on the recasting of European welfare states from the European Forum on Welfare at the European University Institute in Florence. The chapters include both comparative analyses of topical issues, and in-depth studies of changes in the major European countries.

Suggestions for welfare reform are offered & the welfare debate, from the early 1960s to the present, is reviewed, showing that the Left was largely silenced in the debate by its own loss of confidence in the idea of the welfare state. It is argued that the two most pressing problems in contemporary welfare programs -- inadequate benefits & the demeaning treatment of beneficiaries -- will not be solved by decentralization, universalization, or community participation. Federal income maintenance programs are advocated because they are more equitable & less susceptible to local business pressures & the politics of resentment that is encouraged by regressive state tax policies. It is concluded that welfare reform should begin with the restoration of benefits in the means-tested & unemployment programs that bear directly on labor power & class inequalitites. W. Howard

Examines the far-reaching & often disastrous impacts of the 1996 replacement of the federal Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program & the JOBS (Job Opportunities & Basic Skills) program with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant, which gives federal funds to states to administer their own programs of limited benefits & stringent workfare requirements. This change may force millions of people into the desperate poverty that results from minimum-wage, no-benefit jobs, & will likely displace some higher-paid workers. Corporations see federal disinvolvement in welfare operations as an opportunity to reap the financial benefits of privatization proposals. Such attitudes have created the necessary conditions for the development of oppositional grassroots & legislative efforts, & popular resistance in the form of coalitions of workfare mothers, union members, feminists, low-income women, single parents, senior citizens, & minority groups & community organizations dedicated to obtaining health care, housing, child care, & education for those who need it. B. Wolfe

THE WELFARE STATE IS OFTEN ACCUSED OF BEING COUNTERPRODUCTIVE: AS THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY EXPANDS, PRIVATE MORALITY ATROPHIES. THIS ESSAY SURVEYS PSYCHOLOGICAL FINDINGS FOR EVIDENCE, WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE BROADLY CONSISTENT WITH EITHER OF TWO MODELS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT, EACH BEARING DISTINCT POLICY IMPLICATIONS. THE MODEL OF "MORALLY KEEPING IN PRACTICE" THAT IS IMPLICIT IN THE TERM "MORAL ATROPHY" SUGGESTS THE NEED FOR FREQUENT OPPORTUNITIES TO EXERCISE MORAL SKILLS, WHICH WOULD SEEM INCONSISTENT WITH THE WELFARE STATE. ALTERNATIVELY, THE MODEL OF MORAL CHARACTER-BUILDING FAVORED BY BOTH PHILOSOPHERS AND ORDINARY DISCOURSE WOULD REQUIRE ONLY OCCASIONAL REMINDERS OF ONE'S MORAL PRINCIPLES. ON THIS MODEL, BENEVOLENCE COULD USEFULLY SUPPLEMENT THE WELFARE STATE.