Suchergebnisse

Front Matter -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Contributors -- Preface -- 1. Welfare states in turbulent times -- 2. Demography - once again and still challenging the welfare states -- 3. Self-employment and technology: different models of labor relations -- 4. The perceived dilemma between debt reduction and a fair society: saving for a rainy day without increasing poverty? -- 5. The evolution of welfare attitudes in Europe over the past four decades -- 6. Climate change and its effect on welfare states -- 7. Keynesian economics steering is back - end of liberal economic policy? -- 8. The welfare state and handling health challenges -- 9. Welfare states, growth regimes, and the emergence of the knowledge economy: social policy in turbulent times -- 10. Allies or enemies of the welfare state? Welfare support and critiques from (left-wing) protesters in Europe -- 11. Conflicting demands and financial abilities? -- 12. Effective and fair labour markets: more and focused active labour market policy? -- 13. Mass migration due to climate change? A critique of the security focus on climate mobilities -- 14. The welfare state in turbulent times: a perspective from the United States -- 15. The way welfare states can develop in turbulent times -- Index.

Globalisation, regionalisation, new technology, demography, voters' expectations and re-structuring of societies are expected to influence welfare state development for years to come. This handbook analyses how different welfare state models and regimes will be able to cope with contemporary and future challenges, providing a variety of evidence based tools that make it essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers alike.

"The welfare state is still very much central in people's everyday life. The welfare state is at the same time contested and debated, and has often been argued to be in a crisis not only in the wake of the financial crisis. Welfare and welfare states used to be a national issue and prerogative. Today welfare and welfare states are influenced by national as well as regional and global decisions. However, nation states play a decisive role influenced by national preferences and ideas, and, in recent years, populism and welfare chauvinism. This book provides an overview of the central concepts in the light of a state, market and civil society lenses. It also provides the reader with knowledge on distribution in societies and how this interacts and influences different groups and their position in society. There are also chapters dealing specifically with central sectors in the welfare states such as health, long-term care and education. The book uses a comparative approach as this better enables one to understand one's own country welfare, as well as helping to underline and see the linkages to the impact of global and regional issues on welfare states and their development. Finally, the book presents challenges and future perspectives for welfare states and their development. The book's focus on core concepts and the variety of international welfare state regimes and mechanisms for delivering social policy provides a much-needed introduction to the rapidly changing concept of welfare for students on social policy, social studies, sociology and politics courses."

"The first of the UN Millennium Goals was to reduce extreme poverty and it was in 2014 halved compared to 1990, and now the goal is to eradicate poverty and hunger by 2030. The reduction in poverty is to a high degree the consequence of the rapid economic development in a few countries, especially China, but in many countries around the globe poverty is still high and influencing societies' overall development. It is against this background that this Handbook provides an up to date analysis and overview of the topic from a large variety of theoretical and methodological angles. Organized into four sections, the Handbook provides knowledge on what poverty is, how it has developed, and what type of policies might be able to succeed in reducing poverty. The first section investigates conceptual issues and relates concepts to people's relative position in society and the understanding of justice. The second section shows how poverty has developed. It will combine existing empirical knowledge with regional/national understanding of the issue of poverty. The third section analyses policies and interventions with the aim of reducing or alleviating poverty within a national as well as global context. It will and intends to include a variety of countries and examples. The last section tells us what can be done about poverty, what instruments are available to end poverty as we know it today. This volume will be an invaluable reference book for students and scholars throughout the social sciences, particularly in sociology, social policy, public policy, development studies, international relations and politics"--

"Poverty has dire consequences on the ability to fulfil one's aspirations for life. Poverty has strong implications for social cohesion and societies' abilities to function in harmonious ways. This book presents the readers with the core concepts, latest development and knowledge about policies that work to eliminate absolute poverty. This volume shows what the consequences are for the quality of life of those living in poverty. It describes life for people in poverty in general, but also deals more specifically with children, in-work poverty and the elderly, thus providing a life, generational and global perspective on poverty, including the impact on people's happiness levels. The book also discusses policies aimed at poverty reduction, such as changes to the labour market - including the risk of working poor - and shows that there is a variety of possible instruments available to reduce poverty. These range from direct provision of social security to ensuring education and a better functioning labour market. Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book provides a succinct insight into the concept of poverty, how to measure it, the situation of poverty around the globe as well as different types of possible interventions to cope with poverty. Supporting theory with examples and case studies from a variety of contexts, suggestions for further reading, and a detailed glossary, this text is an essential read for anyone approaching the study of poverty for the first time"--