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In the standard formulation, the Marxist theory of the state implies that socialism requires revolution: Reformist social policy generates capital flight and capital flight undermines reform. I show that this mechanism, while plausible, turns out to have little empirical merit. State theory correctly points to an "accumulation" function whereby capitalist states depend on revenue and must therefore worry about the reforms that undermine profitability. But this accumulation function has been overwhelmed, historically, by a more powerful "legitimation" function: Popular social expenditures in rich capitalist democracies tend to grow and only rarely decline, even during the so-called neoliberal period. This article considers both sides of this debate. First, I propose (and predict) a path to socialism by way of mushrooming social policy. And second, I argue that if revolution is the only hope for socialism, then socialism is off the table; the revolution must be betrayed.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in local childcare policy that have taken place between the years 2008 and 2016 in the city of Jyväskylä, Finland, and to study how the local gender contract for women is being reshaped via these transformations in local policy.


Design/methodology/approach
Case study was applied as a research strategy. Local and national level statistics were used to explore the use of childcare services. Documents regarding the decision-making and administration of childcare in the city were analysed to distinguish the local policy changes during the time period. These documents include city budgets and records from the two municipal boards that have held the administrative responsibility of local childcare policy. The analysis of the data was conducted by using document analysis and feminist content analysis as a methodological framework.


Findings
The results show that the overall development in local childcare policy has been towards cutbacks in childcare services and benefits, and towards the marketisation of childcare services. The city has also implemented new, locally specific childcare policies, which constitute a hybrid form of marketisation and neofamilism. Together these developments are creating a new local gender contract, which goes beyond the past previous traditional or modern models. This new local gender contract for women is defined as that of "entrepreneurial homemaker".


Originality/value
This paper contributes to the research on local social policy by identifying the role of local childcare policy in reshaping the gender contract in a Nordic context. This paper advances the theorisation of the concept of gender contract by introducing the "entrepreneurial homemaker" model of gender contract.

The main aim of the report is to emphasise the need for strategic visions for Australia to embrace and incorporate a social dimension if they are to be both balanced and relevant. It argues that economic progress does not occur in a social vacuum and focuses on the longer-term role of social goals and policies in the context of a re-invigorated and vibrant economy. Economic performance is important in determining the material standards which the population is able to enjoy, but many social goals are achievable in their own terms, irrespective of economic constraints. Others will assist, not impede, economic progress. Social policy, like all areas of government policy, is a means toward an end, and the ultimate objective of all social policies is the achievement, or at least the enhancement, of social justice. A balanced approach to development must thus combine economic progress with social justice, as must any future vision for national performance.

Mandatory education systems form a central pillar of modern social policy sectors. For two of the countries in North America, the expansion of mass public schooling followed similar trajectories. Despite surface-level similarities, there are important differences in the two countries that require explanation. Without national intervention, the Canadian provinces have instituted similar policies fashioning a de facto national education policy framework. State and local education policy, however, demonstrates major variations that Washington has been unable to smooth out. These outcomes confound conventional institutional or societal approaches. This article calls first for a synthesis of macro-level institutional and societal factors. To unravel the sector-specific attributes, the interactive effects of meso-level policy choices must be assessed. By dividing a sector into its individual dimensions, these effects can be appreciated and coupled with the institutional and societal forces outlined above to account for the distinctive features of Canadian and American mandatory education.

PART I. Framework -- Chapter 1. The meaning of culture and the call for policies of cultural development -- Chapter 2. Cultural theories and Policies -- PART 2. Field explorations -- Chapter 3. What to do. Cultural and symbolic components of place-based policy for migrants' inclusion -- Chapter 4. Innovation and institutions: Reframing policies and the culture of local administration -- Chapter 5. Economic policies as a driver of cultural development -- Chapter 6.The dialectic between demand and supply in welfare domain. How does policies can survive in context of high personality intensity -- Chapter 7. How, where and when culture matters. A meta-analysis of the case studies -- Chapter 8. Conclusions: culture and the need to re-politicize policy making -- PART 3. Discussion.-Chapter 9. Commentary.

There has already been much discussion and critique of the New Public Management, and the impact of auditing and inspection on professional work in schools, hospitals, local government and the police. This study, by a qualitative sociologist, uses interpretive methods to examine this new form of regulation from the inside. Based on interviews with inspectors, quality assurance managers, and auditors, as well as with professionals struggling with red tape, it offers a critical and insightful account of organisational change. The author includes vivid accounts of how quality assurance procedures and systems work in practice, conveying a sense of what is practically involved in the work of counting, measuring and managing quality, and the everyday frustrations of professionals dealing with ever-increasing amounts of paper work and red tape. This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about the rise of this new bureaucracy and the contemporary state of the professions. It is intended to support courses on quality assurance and the New Public Management in public administration and management. It also provides an accessible introduction for students in socio-legal studies, sociology and social policy about the effects of neo-liberalism on public sector work

Already in the 1980s, Black feminists contributed to political debates on the Dutch welfare state. Their intersectional analyses of social citizenship were directly based on the lived experiences of Black women in the Netherlands. However, then and now, these contributions have been largely overlooked in both Dutch politics and welfare state research, leading to social policies that do not correspond with the lived experiences of all women. Through archive research, and using the analytical framework of political claims-making, this article sheds light on the social rights claims of the Surinamese-Dutch feminist organization Ashanti that was active between 1980 and 1987. Their Black feminist perspectives provide important insights into the underlying mechanisms of in- and exclusion of the Dutch welfare state, from the standpoints of Dutch citizens and families that did not necessarily fit the picture of the "imagined citizens" for whom the Dutch welfare state was built.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse whether social capital inequalities are smaller in more extensive welfare states.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses data from European/World Values Surveys.FindingsNo effect of welfare stateness on social capital inequality is found.Research limitations/implicationsAn extension of the analysis with a broader range of welfare states might show effect.Originality/valueThis is the first time in literature that the relationship between welfare stateness and social capital inequality is empirically studied.