Author: Julia Lynch Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1139454951 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 201
Book Description
This book asks why some countries devote the lion's share of their social policy resources to the elderly, while others have a more balanced repertoire of social spending. Far from being the outcome of demands for welfare spending by powerful age-based groups in society, the 'age' of welfare is an unintended consequence of the way that social programs are set up. The way that politicians use welfare state spending to compete for votes, along either programmatic or particularistic lines, locks these early institutional choices into place. So while society is changing - aging, divorcing, moving in and out of the labor force over the life course in new ways - social policies do not evolve to catch up. The result, in occupational welfare states like Italy, the United States, and Japan, is social spending that favors the elderly and leaves working-aged adults and children largely to fend for themselves.
Author: Jill Quadagno Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 9780226699233 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 284
Book Description
Why did the United States lag behind Germany, Britain, and Sweden in adopting a national plan for the elderly? When the Social Security Act was finally enacted in 1935, why did it depend on a class-based double standard? Why is old age welfare in the United States still less comprehensive than its European counterparts? In this sophisticated analytical chronicle of one hundred years of American welfare history, Jill Quadagno explores the curious birth of old age assistance in the United States. Grounded in historical research and informed by social science theory, the study reveals how public assistance grew from colonial-era poor laws, locally financed and administered, into a massive federal bureaucracy.
Author: Anne Marie Guillemard Publisher: University of Delaware Press ISBN: 9780874135947 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
"This book brings an innovative conceptual framework of analysis that can be transferred to other areas of social politics or public policies at large."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Anne Marie Guillemard Publisher: London ; Beverly Hills, Calif. : Sage Publications ISBN: 9780803997592 Category : Aged Languages : en Pages : 265
Book Description
The modern welfare state is above all a welfare state for the elderly. An overwhelming proportion of its services and benefits go to them. The current crisis of the welfare state is also, therefore, a crisis of policy concerned with the aged. The essays in this volume examine not only interventions by governments on behalf of the old, but the very basis and history of the welfare state itself. From a variety of perspectives ranging from structural functionalism to neomarxism, they examine old age policy in six advanced industrial nations -- the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, West Germany, and France. The essays in Part One deal with the process of making public policy on old age and changes in it during the current economic crisis. Contributions in the second part examine the impact of existing policies on older people. The focus of the essays on social, economic, and political aspects amounts to a new approach in gerontology that has been called by some the political economy of ageing. This book is unique in providing research on the relationship between old age policy and the larger class structure, economy, and state apparatus of more than one country. It will become a classic in the field, and an example of how sociology can be relevant to deal with our current social and economic crisis.' -- "Manuel Castells, University of California at Berkeley"
Author: Axel Börsch-Supan Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3642174728 Category : Family & Relationships Languages : en Pages : 285
Book Description
Our health, our income and our social networks at older ages are the consequence of what has happened to us over the course of our lives. The situation at age 50+ reflects our own decisions as well as many environmental factors, especially interventions by the welfare state. This book explores the richness of 28,000 life histories in thirteen European countries, collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Combining these data with a comprehensive account of European welfare state interventions provides a unique opportunity to answer the important public policy questions of our time – how the welfare state affects people’s incomes, housing, families, retirement, volunteering and health. The overarching theme of the welfare state creates a book of genuinely interdisciplinary analyses, a valuable resource for economists, gerontologists, historians, political scientists, public health analysts, and sociologists alike.
Author: Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Julia Lynch Publisher: ISBN: 9780511221149 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 247
Book Description
This book asks why some countries devote the lion's share of their social policy resources to the elderly, while others have a more balanced repertoire of social spending. Far from being the outcome of demands for welfare spending by powerful age-based groups in society, the 'age' of welfare is an unintended consequence of the way that social programs are set up. The way that politicians use welfare state spending to compete for votes, along either programmatic or particularistic lines, locks these early institutional choices into place. So while society is changing - aging, divorcing, moving in and out of the labor force over the life course in new ways - social policies do not evolve to catch up. The result, in occupational welfare states like Italy, the United States, and Japan, is social spending that favors the elderly and leaves working-aged adults and children largely to fend for themselves.
Author: Torben Iversen Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1009240404 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
A core principle of the welfare state is that everyone pays taxes or contributions in exchange for universal insurance against social risks such as sickness, old age, unemployment, and plain bad luck. This solidarity principle assumes that everyone is a member of a single national insurance pool, and it is commonly explained by poor and asymmetric information, which undermines markets and creates the perception that we are all in the same boat. Living in the midst of an information revolution, this is no longer a satisfactory approach. This book explores, theoretically and empirically, the consequences of 'big data' for the politics of social protection. Torben Iversen and Philipp Rehm argue that more and better data polarize preferences over public insurance and often segment social insurance into smaller, more homogenous, and less redistributive pools, using cases studies of health and unemployment insurance and statistical analyses of life insurance, credit markets, and public opinion.
Author: David Garland Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199672660 Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE Languages : en Pages : 177
Book Description
This 'Very Short Introduction' discusses the necessity of welfare states in modern capitalist societies. Situating social policy in an historical, sociological, and comparative perspective, David Garland brings a new understanding to familiar debates, policies, and institutions.
Author: Derek Gill Publisher: SUNY Press ISBN: 9780791417652 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 350
Book Description
The essays in this book describe the situation of the elderly today, taking into account the major political, economic, and social variations of service provided in a variety of countries. Although the welfare state exists in all developed and developing countries, its content and administration varies substantially. The editors first develop a framework of concepts and perspectives that establish links between eldercare, distributive justice, and the welfare state. This is followed by analyses of the services provided to the elderly in selected countries. Finally, the editors show how and in what ways the concepts developed earlier in the introduction--equity, uniformity, public accountability, individualism, collectivism, institutional or residual welfare state orientation, "high" or "low" wage economy--apply to and explain the differences in care of the elderly.
Author: Julia Lynch
Author: Jill Quadagno
Author: Anne Marie Guillemard
Author: Anne Marie Guillemard
Author: John Myles
Author: Axel Börsch-Supan
Author: Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Julia Lynch
Author: Torben Iversen
Author: David Garland
Author: Derek Gill