Search

Domestic violence is widely recognised as a global issue and a fundamental human rights violation. Internationally, it is often addressed through human rights frameworks that emphasise victim-centered interventions. In the United States, a distinct policy trajectory focused on criminalisation has developed. Drawing from untapped sources, including 1977–1978 congressional debates, this study reveals the emergence of an “epidemic discourse” on domestic violence. This discourse, guided by the epidemic metaphor, depicted domestic violence as a contagious social problem transmitted by children mimicking spousal violence. The metaphor gained traction in Congressional debates by aligning with statistics, magnifying the issue's scale. However, it inadvertently shifted attention from victim support to preventive and punitive strategies aimed at isolating perpetrators while maintaining, through the notion of risk factors, individual responsibility for a woman having become a victim. Notably, the U.S. has since exported many of its punitive policies globally, influencing other nations’ approaches to domestic violence. The findings underscore the subtle yet significant role metaphors can play in policymaking and in shaping public perceptions of emerging social problems. This analysis, with its focus on unsuccessful legislative bills and debates, enhances our understanding of discursive processes that shape social problem construction, leading to unforeseen dynamics within policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With high incidences of poverty and a depressed economy as well as limited political will, it will be difficult to guarantee the socio-economic rights of children in Zimbabwe. Children struggle to get access to basic services such as health care, basic education, clean water and proper sanitation. This study critically reviews the implementation or lack thereof, of the key socio-economic rights as enunciated in the constitution and child-sensitive policies in Zimbabwe. Through document analysis, the study offers a nuanced examination of social policy implementation in the country. This paper advances the argument that poverty and inequality in Zimbabwe have worsened the lives of children who are subjected to inadequate food, lack access to proper heath facilities and proper shelter among other social amenities. Using a human security framework, the paper foregrounds the need for deliberate policies which respond to the needs of the underprivileged children. The paper concludes that a multifaceted and multi-stakeholder approach will ensure that no child is left behind as envisioned by the agenda of the sustainable development goals. It recommends that the government should implement various policies which guarantee the protection of children in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the provision of mental health support to the victims of the 2023 earthquake in Syria and Turkey by social workers. The recommendations are applicable to countries in which professional social work lacks recognition and have global implications for both policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests that putting the enhancement of capability to aspire and capability for voice centre stage of the design and implementation of social policies would entail a deep-seated transformation of such policies. Based on the receiver-doer-judge framework we explore what conditions are to be fulfilled to implement such a transformation, emphasising how the expansion of objective opportunity and entitlement sets should go hand in hand with an increased subjective sense of opportunity and entitlement. We then turn to examine what such transformed institutions would imply in terms of enhancing individual aspirations and capabilities on the one hand and increasing capacity for collective action and social change on the other one, emphasising the key role of capability for voice in both respects. We show how institutions and policies transformed in such a way would differ from dominant approaches to social policies such as social investment, which endorse a more adaptive approach to social policy. It is also suggested how Freire, Dewey and Khader's ideas could be useful reference points towards the design and implementation of such transformed institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article complements literature on advisory councils, and in particular their involvement in the policymaking process. The author examines the AC roles by referring to the concept of the roles set. In addition to ACs conventional roles of providing opinions and advice, there are other roles, which are classified as roles prescription and roles performed. The first were identified from examining the legal basis of ACs, while the roles performed were discovered by empirical research that was carried out among members of 78 ACs established in 16 Polish cities. It was found that all the ACs that were studied had developed additional roles to the roles that they had been prescribed; and that the fewer roles are prescribed the more other roles the AC generates. It was also observed that the fewer roles ACs play on the basis of statutes, the more roles are transferred to them by local authorities, which shows the important regulatory role of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy transformation is a classic theme in policy analysis. Policy models have emphasized the role of actors, coalitions, leadership, and ideas in agenda-setting, the circulation of policy frameworks and solutions, and different mechanisms of gradual institutional change that accumulate in policy trajectories. We sustain that oscillating and incremental policy trajectories also produce policy change during policy implementation, triggered by political competition and partisan politics, the embeddedness of policy communities, and multilevel effects. This theorizing is built from the recent trajectories of social assistance and housing policies in São Paulo. Both trajectories followed incremental processes of expansion and diversification, although with sectoral specificities. These cases show that cumulative positive public policy change may happen even in the face of institutional conditions that the literature considers far from ideal – an extremely fragmented party system, decentralized federalism, and weak bureaucracies and state capacities. Competitive partisan politics reinforced the creation and reanimation of policy innovations under multilevel regulation. Networks of bureaucrats and civil society activists within the relevant policy communities enabled policy replication and reanimation by entering and exiting local administrations depending on their ideological colors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of efforts to mass higher education, China introduced state-sponsored student loans around the turn of the century, a progressive social policy reflecting the country's move toward increased marketization and decentralization in delivering educational services. The loan scheme, open to low-income students, is a voluntary policy transfer that draws on lessons from abroad. Unexpectedly, it stalled soon after implementation. Subsequent local experimentation brought it back on track. This article uses the Dolowitz and Marsh policy transfer framework to identify and explain the unsuccessful transfer. It also uses Heilmann's model to examine the local experimentation that brought about institutional change nationwide. The article argues that policy transfer, in conjunction with policy experimentation, provides practical frameworks for capturing the subtleties of China's hierarchical governance and the different complications experienced throughout the policy process. The article thus contributes to the integration of policy transfer and experimentation as a broader toolbox for policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first keyword, Welfare State, sets out to problematise the term itself. The welfare state is a national construct, a 'national social state' as Etienne Balibar calls it. Thus, transnational or global migration is often construed as a disruptive force, potentially destabilising the welfare state and the nation. This keyword entry critically examines common conceptions of what the welfare state should provide. It delineates some of the ways that migrants (and, more broadly foreign nationals who are not themselves necessarily migrants) are excluded or partially included, with a focus on contemporary EU social policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of social preferences and uncertainty for air travel demand, by linking experimentally validated measures of social preferences and uncertainty index to passenger data for 36 European countries from 2019 to 2022. The empirical analysis separates the effects of government restrictions from that of social preferences, while considering the impact of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic event. The results highlight the importance of accounting for the individuals' social preferences when implementing aviation-related policy measures. The findings also reveal that uncertainty can trigger unexpected behaviour from the passengers, resulting in the ineffectiveness of public policies during times of crisis. • The importance of social preferences and uncertainty for passenger demand is evaluated. • Focus on international flights within Europe from 2019 to 2022. • A unique dataset merging passenger data with experimentally validated measures is used. • The effectiveness of air travel-related policies depends on the social traits of the populations. • Uncertainty triggers unexpected effects on air travel demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased private provision of publicly funded health and social care over the last 75 years has been one of the most contentious topics in UK public policy. In the last decades, health and social care policies in England have consistently promoted the outsourcing of public services to private for‐profit and non‐profit companies with the assumption that private sector involvement will reduce costs and improve service quality and access. However, it is not clear why outsourcing often fails to improve quality of care, and which of the underlying assumptions behind marketising care are not supported by research. This article provides an analysis of key policy and regulatory documents preceding or accompanying outsourcing policies in England (e.g., policy document relating to the 2012 and 2022 Health and Social Care Acts and the 2014 Care Act), and peer‐reviewed research on the impact of outsourcing within the NHS, adult's social care, and children's social care. We find that more regulation and market oversight appear to be associated with less poor outcomes and slower growth of for‐profit provision. However, evidence on the NHS suggests that marketisation does not seem to achieve the intended objectives of outsourcing, even when accompanied with heavy regulation and oversight. Our analysis suggests that there is little evidence to show that the profit motive can be successfully tamed by public commissioners. This article concludes with how policymakers should address, or readdress, the underlying assumptions behind the outsourcing of care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there have been some studies of counterfactual analysis in history and other academic disciplines, there are very few studies in social policy and health policy. This paper explores a major critical juncture and counterfactual in the creation of the NHS. In particular, it explores the critical juncture of the discussion in the Labour Cabinet involving Bevan's proposal for nationalising the hospitals and Morrison's alternative proposal based on local government, and the counterfactual of Prime Minister Attlee summing up in favour of Morrison. It reviews the literature on the criteria for counterfactuals, and justifies the focus on the Cabinet Discussion, as this was a considered option which, with minimum change, might have led to significantly different outcomes. We consider how such an event could have come about, how credible that alternative was, and what its implications might have been. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the relationship between social policy reforms and issue salience in public opinion? Extensive research analyses policy feedbacks on policy preferences and the influence of policy preferences on policy change. Scant research, however, considers the link between reforms and issue salience – i.e., the perception of importance citizens attach to a topic. We address this gap in the literature through the comparative study of the salience of the 'pension issue'. Drawing on a novel dataset covering 2010–2020 and 28 European countries, we argue that the passage of pension reforms shapes pension salience. Multilevel fixed effects models indicate that pension reforms that include either contracting or expansionary provisions are positively related to pension salience. In contrast, expansionary and contracting reforms, by themselves, are not robustly associated with pension salience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractRecognizing the negative effects of concentrated poverty on access to quality housing and neighborhood investment, governments have pursued poverty deconcentration policies such as mixed-income housing, which promotes neighborhood social mix to improve housing and neighborhood conditions. This study evaluated the effects of HOPE VI, an influential mixed-income housing policy in the U.S., on the housing context of surrounding neighborhoods using quasi-experimental methods and geocoded indicators from 1990–2016. We matched HOPE VI and control census tracts, then used a flexible conditional difference-in-differences method to estimate average treatment effects on the treated, accounting for differing treatment start dates and durations. Results demonstrate that HOPE VI increased housing values and rents, decreased vacancy rates, and decreased the age of housing relative to control tracts. There were no significant effects on homeownership rates. Impacts were strongest in neighborhoods that were high poverty, high vacancy, and predominantly Black prior to grant receipt. Results suggest that HOPE VI changed broader neighborhood housing contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent literature on platform work and the welfare state has stressed that, despite being affected by high‐income insecurity, platform workers cannot easily access social protection. However, it is unclear why platform workers encounter such barriers. This article offers an inductive and empirically based theoretical framework to investigate the obstacles faced by platform workers. It shows that the barriers experienced by platform workers depend on the eligibility criteria, the assessment criteria and the trade‐off between taxation and social protection. The article substantiates these claims by offering both a policy analysis of formal arrangements and a qualitative analysis of the lived experiences of welfare of 101 platform workers in Italy, Sweden and the UK during COVID‐19. The research found that, while many platform workers attempted to access social protection during COVID‐19, platform workers' access to social protection was affected by their positionality as outsiders, which clashes with the eligibility criteria (in Sweden and Italy); by the irregular nature of platform work, which contrasts with the rigidity of the assessment criteria (in the UK, Italy and Sweden); and by the implicit trade‐off experienced by platform workers between minimising taxation and accessing to social protection (in the UK and Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Charitable giving is often seen as a flexible and efficient way to address societal issues. However, it has also been criticised for having the potential to undermine governmental responsibility for providing public services and leading to concentrations of power. Across three studies, we investigated whether high social class is linked to viewing charitable giving favourably and as fulfilling an important function in society. We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2; United Kingdom and Netherlands; N = 1613) and experimental (Study 3; United Kingdom; N = 400) evidence that high social class is linked to more favourable views of charitable giving. Social class, however, was not associated with preferences for policies aimed at promoting charitable giving over systemic policies when targeting specific social issues. These findings suggest that social class influences general attitudes towards philanthropy but does not consistently guide preferences for specific policies addressing social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the association between school-level achievement and the relative health of the social environment in which children are embedded, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how behavioural, social, physical, and socio-emotional contexts may holistically impact learning. While research has recognised how specific aspects of a child’s environment can impact learning, what is less understood is how multiple facets of socioecological conditions may holistically contribute to learning advantages or disadvantages. To address this, we combine seven years and over 9,000 observations of school-level achievement scores from the U.S. state of Alabama with a comprehensive scale of “socioecological health” – a measure that includes multiple indicators such as nutrition access, housing quality, neighbourhood violence, social supports, income inequality, and mental health access. We then employ a three-level hierarchical linear modelling approach to assess the association between socioecological health and school achievement. Results suggest that (1) higher levels of socioecological health are associated with higher levels of school achievement; (2) effects are strongest for older students and rural students; and (3) healthy behaviours, social supports, and positive physical environment correspond with higher school achievement. These results highlight the breadth to which social and environmental determinants may influence learning opportunities and underscores the need for a more holistic and inclusive approach to educational leadership and social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to social policy literature, people utilize five criteria – Control, Attitude, Reciprocity, Identity, Need – to distinguish the deserving from the undeserving. Most studies rely on proxy variables rather than measuring deservingness criteria directly. We propose and validate a new instrument – the Migrant Deservingness Scale – that captures these criteria. We analyze data from an online survey in seven European countries, the U.S., and Colombia (N = 13,645) to test the scale's dimensionality and validity. Findings indicate that all criteria can be captured with the scale, and that they are linked with host nationals' sociodemographic characteristics and anti-migrant attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social policy relates to a variety of social phenomena. Over recent decades, it has attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of academic disciplines as well as that of national and international organizations. This study applied the bibliometric approach to identify and analyse articles present in the Web of Science database, published in the English language, containing the term social policy in the title, abstract, or author keywords. Bibliometric networks and analyses were conducted using bibliometrix and VOSviewer software. The results show that the publication trend of articles on social policy varied over time and in association with social phenomena; for instance, an increase in publications occurred in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. COVID-19, environmental issues, migration, and austerity were the main social policy topics being addressed in more recent investigations. This paper advances our knowledge about the research trends on the topic of social policy. This analysis included all articles published until the end of 2023 and can thus be considered to be up to date at the time of publication. It highlights the latest topics social policy has become interested in and the range of research disciplines it is associated with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vast scholarship shows that social movements can play pivotal roles in bringing about policies that benefit marginalized groups. However, the role of social movements in entrenching those policies--ensuring they take root--remains insufficiently studied. We set a research agenda for the study of how social movements shape policy entrenchment by calling attention to three commonly used strategies--occupying state bureaucracies, engaging in pressure and persuasion tactics, and building alliances with political parties--and analyzing the relationships among them. We illustrate these strategies through short case studies of social movements that achieved significant change benefitting marginalized groups in Latin America: the health movement in Brazil, the unemployed workers' movements in Argentina, and peasant and indigenous movements in Bolivia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The United States government has implemented various social policies (e.g., Medicare) to support children and families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). An emerging body of research seems to indicate that many of these programs are being underutilized by Latinx families even though they are sorely needed. Latinx families are often framed as undeserving, taking advantage of social policies, and as a criminal threat to the United States (Baranauskas & Stowell, 2022). Drawing on cultural stress theory (Salas-Wright & Schwartz, 2019), the present study explores how the deficit framing of Latinx families influences how they navigate social policies. Method: This study draws on data from four qualitative projects across Oregon and California that explored the experiences of Latinx families accessing services to support their families. Results: Findings indicate that Latinx families experience multiple stressors when navigating social policies or programs (e.g., shame/fear and racism) for their families. These stressors discourage Latinx families from accessing social programs, which exacerbates disparities in the health, development, and learning of Latinx children and families. Conclusions: Findings from this study can further inform advocacy efforts to create meaningful systemic changes that reduce inequities and call out discrimination/racism within our policy system. Public Significance Statement: The demonization and stigmatization of Latinx communities impact access to social service programs that have a positive impact on children's learning and development and families' well-being. This is due not to a lack of need but to the fear, shame, and stress that comes along with this demonization and stigmatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review essay takes stock of the recent literature about the role of ideas in social policy, with a particular focus on a key issue in social policy research: the changing interactions between states and markets over time. Specifically, our aim is to examine how the ideational literature discusses and explains prominent contemporary social policy evolutions: the rise of social investment and the financialization and technocratization of the welfare state. This is done based on the scholarship on state/market interactions and the role of ideas in social policy, and by utilizing key insights of scholars of ideational influences on state/market interactions. The article ends with a short agenda for future research on ideas and discourses as a crucial factor in the evolution of the welfare state as a key space in which states and markets interact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative social policy research continues to face considerable methodological challenges. Scholars particularly struggle to capture sub-national policy variation in comparatively reliable ways, including subjective perceptions of local policies. Local-level variation increases the need for conceptual and methodological attention to comparability across differing national, cultural, and linguistic settings. The article outlines a conceptually grounded approach relying on the 3MC (multinational, multicultural, multiregional) method to measure and compare individual perceptions of local policies cross-nationally. Often applied in cross-national survey research, a 3MC approach can help address methodological challenges inherent in comparative policy research and improve cross-national studies of local policy differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing care dependencies among the elderly due to population ageing in Europe challenge the labour-market participation of informal caregivers. While familiarized care regimes incentivize family caregiving by providing many cash-for-care-benefits, resulting in reduced labour supply, defamiliarized care regimes allocate more public spending to care infrastructure, alleviating the care responsibilities placed on family members. At the same time, care provision on the micro-level is distributed unequally across gender, age, and socioeconomic status. The question then emerges: Does the labour-market participation of informal caregivers vary between and within countries depending on the social-expenditure policy of welfare states? To answer this research question, a multilevel design was used, employing SHARE data and macro-indicators from OECD and Eurostat databases. The results reveal higher probabilities of labour-market participation for informal caregivers in general when social expenditures on formal care infrastructure are higher. However, labour-market participation was observed as being unequally distributed among the heterogeneous group of persons with and without caregiving duties. Women and individuals of lower socioeconomic status did not benefit from social expenditures in the same way as their counterparts, leading to lower levels of labour-market participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Zimbabwe's 'new' dispensation, young people's agency pertaining to the precarious informal sector and livelihoods has so far received limited attention in youth research, youth literature and social policy of the Global South. This article seeks to reduce lacunae in this regard by exploring their lived experiences, situated meanings and agency, basing on Harare City as the heuristic case study. Against prolonged socioeconomic and political crises, spiralling unemployment and poverty, enduring generational divides and accumulating waithood, the 'new' dispensation is yet to deliver on developmental transformation for the benefit of young people. Detached from the general view of young people as passive victims of socioeconomic problems, the article advances them as agentive actors in pursuing livelihood pathways and improving individual and household wellbeing. Improving young people lives should be based on empirical evidence of their diverse situations and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the outcomes of internationalising a course on Nutrition for medical students. Two interventions towards internationalised learning experience included: 1) introducing new readings and activities that invited students to consider geographical and cultural factors of dietary recommendations and 2) asking students to suggest an intervention for a hypothetical patient with a nutritional problem through discussing the assigned case in purposefully mixed groups. Changes were made both in the group that predominantly consisted of home students (N = 18) and the group of international students (N = 21). The interventions encouraged an increase in student awareness of the cultural and geographical contexts of nutrition. Students learnt through sharing diverse knowledge and experience and recognised peer learning experience as useful and enjoyable. The innovation achieved more impact in the group of international students than in the group of home students, in which diversity and previous experience from learning in multicultural groups was low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If policies make politics, can they also make politicians? We argue that being a bureaucrat with discretion over policy benefits can catalyze political ambitions and boost electoral success. As agents of the state rather than parties or interest groups, such bureaucrats wield a broadly accepted political currency. We examine the political careers of Brazilian bureaucrats who issue DAPs, a document granting benefits to small farmers. Leveraging a panel analysis from 2004 to 2020, we show that as bureaucrats issue more DAPs, they are more likely to become candidates, gain votes, and win election. DAP issuers run for office at higher rates than other public-facing bureaucrats with less control over policy benefits, suggesting that discretion is the key political currency, not social status or public contact. Our analysis underscores how the adoption of means-tested social policies can create new sources of political capital and brokerage in areas long dominated by traditional elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of public opinion on welfare policies implement increasingly concrete and complex survey measures that frequently assume relative preferences on the part of respondents. Yet, we lack evidence on whether voters hold such structured attitudes toward welfare policies. We rely on novel survey data from eight West European countries to study horizontal attitudinal constraint in welfare policy preferences. Addressing both logical and relational consistency, we find that most respondents hold structured welfare belief systems and relative preferences about where reform is more important, even when confronted with complex questions and explicit trade-offs. Moreover, by addressing individual-level heterogeneity, we show that differences related to sociodemographic factors and political attitudes are rather minor. Consistent welfare preferences are not exclusive to highly sophisticated individuals. These results have important implications for survey research implementing increasingly complex measures of preferences, such as explicit trade-offs or rating tasks, in social policy as well as in other policy areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Müge Anlı ile Tatlı Sert’, which investigates unresolved criminal cases with interactive audience support, is one the most popular daytime television shows in contemporary Turkey. The neoliberal restructuring of the welfare system in New Turkey posits that providing protection and security against social risks is the sole responsibility of individuals and families. In line with this approach, the show individualizes social problems ready to be resolved by ‘Müge Abla’ (Sister Müge) and her audience. Müge Anlı's image, which conforms to the ideal modern and modest Republican woman, allows her to gain authority, trust, respect, and popularity. The show’s discourses, structure, and communicative strategies are the product of the New Turkey where ‘the sacred family’ is the central political unit and the nation is an extended, happy family reproduced through this show. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractRöpke is considered one of the most prominent Ordoliberal economists. The objective of this work is to analyse the dissemination of Röpke’s works, within Spain, through diverse institutions: Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Revista de Occidente, Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones, CSIC and Fundación Villalonga. Most of these works appeared between 1946 and 1963. From 1976, after the Franco Dictatorship, some of his books were reissued. Grouped by topics, the main lines of argument exposed by Röpke are perceived as: Monetary Policy, Social Policy, International and European Economic Order, and the performance of small and medium-sized companies, within the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, Australia's employment services have enforced mutual obligation compliance as part of a transition to a disciplinary regime of conditional welfare. In recent years, the digitisation of employment services has extended the disciplinary approach to self‐activation. Notably, self‐activation extends mutual obligation requirements so that online reporting is a condition of benefit eligibility, or a digital obligation, enforced by threats to financial security in the form of automated payment suspensions. Guided by recent developments in the conceptualisation of digital welfare to work programs, case study analysis is used to explore the ways the technologies of self‐activation have changed the location of power in mutual obligation compliance decisions. This shift represents a move from street‐level decision making to Robo‐compliance. The article discusses the significance of this shift in the digital administration of disciplinary social policy in employment services. It highlights the need for further empirical research to explore this shift and how it affects individuals whose social security payments depend on interactions with these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractCuts to local authority (LA) budgets are leading to the introduction of ‘Fair and Affordable Care Policies’ by increasing numbers of local authorities in England. This commentary explores the real impact of such policies on Disabled people by drawing on my own experience as a non-practicing social worker, Disability activist and campaigner needing 24-hour support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper investigates the implications of the EU Cohesion Policy instrument Interreg through the implementation of cross-border cooperation projects on social entrepreneurship. Cross-border cooperation projects are implemented in Euroregions and invest in new knowledge and innovative solutions in policy priorities spread over social, environmental, and economic domains. Policy priorities in social and environmental domains overlap fields of play where social entrepreneurs operate. We build on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship and use a quantitative design to investigate the influence of EU-funded cross-border cooperation projects on the number of social enterprises in Luxembourg. We employed a rolling window analysis with ARIMA on a sample of 207 cross-border cooperation projects implemented between 2000 and 2020. We predicted social entrepreneurial activity in Euroregions in Luxembourg using investments through the EU Cohesion Policy in the social, environmental, and economic domains and identified a positive relationship in the social domain. The current study shows that investments in the social domain positively and significantly predict social entrepreneurial activity, supporting the critical role of the EU Cohesion Policy on social entrepreneurship. Our study discusses how social entrepreneurship can benefit from EU cross-border cooperation projects as recipients of potential knowledge spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many democracies, unemployed and low‐income citizens are less willing to vote. Can social policies weaken the link between income and turnout? We study policy feedback leveraging a unique experiment in Finland, which randomly assigned a sizable group of unemployed to receiving an unconditional basic income (BI) for 2 years (2017–19). Combining individual‐level registry and survey data, we show that the intervention has large positive effects on voter turnout. Unconditional BI increases turnout in municipal elections by about 3 percentage points (p.p.), on average, an effect that is concentrated among marginal voters (+ 6–8 p.p.) and persists in national elections after the end of the experiment. Exploring possible mechanisms, our analysis highlights the role of the interpretive effects that follow from unconditionality in the bureaucratic process, including higher levels of political trust and efficacy. We discuss implications for theories of voter turnout and policy feedback, and the design of BI policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loneliness in old age is a multifaceted issue influenced by personal, social, and environmental factors, necessitating a holistic approach. However, most research has predominantly focused on individual-level risk factors, with limited attention given to institutional factors such as social policy. This study investigated how social policies impact loneliness among older adults. Multi-level analysis was conducted using data from the 2017 wave of International Social Survey Programme, involving 6,337 older adults from 23 OECD countries. The analysis revealed that higher public spending on welfare and old-age pensions significantly reduces the likelihood of loneliness among older adults. These findings confirm the protective role of generous social policies in addressing old-age loneliness. They underscore the need for long-term changes in welfare systems to enhance the public response to the significant social risk posed by old-age loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the core of practice for many non-Indigenous Australian social workers is learning how to work in deeply respectful, culturally appropriate ways alongside First Nations Peoples. Larrakia and Warumungu woman, and Northern Territory social work scholar, Dr Christine/Karen King’s (2011) writings provided the impetus for this inquiry. King (2011) invites social workers to critically reflect on their practice and worldviews. Responding to this invitation, 10 non-Indigenous social workers with policy, academic, and/or practice experience conducted a co-operative inquiry into the question “What have we learnt about practising social work in the Northern Territory, Australia?” We explored the uniqueness of the Northern Territory and identified three interwoven themes. The first theme grounds our practice to Place—on Country. Here, we identified the importance of engaging with the diverse histories of the Peoples we work alongside. Second, we reflected on our vulnerability as social workers and explored the limitations of our professional knowledge base for working with First Nations Peoples. The third theme relates to the importance of engaging with First Nations Peoples’ worldviews. We conclude by affirming the importance of social work practice being led by First Nations People on Country.IMPLICATIONS Social workers working in the Northern Territory alongside First Nations Peoples will benefit from engaging with vulnerability, reflexivity, and critical reflection on their values, understandings, language, and unexamined aspects of practice and cultural self.Social workers in the Northern Territory need to commit to ongoing learning and ground their practice with First Nations’ worldviews and wisdom.Social workers working in the Northern Territory alongside First Nations Peoples will benefit from engaging with vulnerability, reflexivity, and critical reflection on their values, understandings, language, and unexamined aspects of practice and cultural self.Social workers in the Northern Territory need to commit to ongoing learning and ground their practice with First Nations’ worldviews and wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is commonly regarded as a successful alternative to neoliberal economic policy and development strategy. But China's social policies, which were adopted at a pivotal global moment of postsocialist transition in the 1990s, bear significant traits one would associate with neoliberal economic policy. This article uses the case of old age pensions to support this claim. Pension reforms of the early 2000s transferred unprecedented costs and risks to Chinese households under a new social insurance scheme. Twenty years later, the inherent flaws in financing healthcare and pensions through employer-financed and individualized social insurance have become apparent. The concluding section discusses Xi Jinping's dominance of Chinese politics and the risks and economic insecurities that have afflicted Chinese society under these neoliberal social policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of class and culture wars over the social purpose of the university, it is time to revisit a pivotal question: to whom is the discipline of geography accountable and for what? In the spirit of looking back to look forward, we wonder to what extent and in what ways historiographies of geography that critically interrogate geographers' statements on the discipline's social mission might help and guide us at this hour? Specifically, we work to extract added value from the so-called relevance debates which animated anglophone geography in the 1970s. Characterising the present historical conjuncture as a Gramscian moment of interregnum when the 'old is dying and the new cannot be born', we tender the provocation that it is the responsibility of geographers to advance the cause of a 'progressive populism'. To prosecute this public mission, it will be necessary to recentre the discipline around the figure of the geographer as scholar policy activist, immersed in and a progenitor of a vigilant, contestatory democracy. We conclude that whilst the relevance debates failed to theorise, codify, professionalise and valorise such an academic identity, these debates did bequeath logics and legacies that can fast track this work now. • Contends that our present 'Gramscian moment' of interregnum demands revisiting geography's public mission. • Critically interrogates Anglophone geography's relevance debates in the 1970s. • Argues for geographers' support of counter-hegemonic/counter-publics to build back differently. • Domesticates the image of the 'Gramscian intellectual' using the idea of scholarly policy activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The criminal status of prostitution has received greater attention from policymakers and advocates in recent years, but systematic policy change has yet to take root in the United States. These efforts have been both motivated and challenged by a strong moral discourse, resulting in policies that are more reflective of ideology than efficacy. While the popularization of sex work through online avenues like social media has altered the traditional concept of sex work, there is an incomplete understanding of public attitudes toward decriminalization in this modern market. Using national data from 519 U.S. adults, the present study applied Moral Foundations Theory to investigate support for sex work decriminalization in three venues (brothel, online, street). Overall, results show lower support for decriminalization of street sex work compared to brothel and online sex work, and that the effects of moral foundations on support for decriminalization are consistent across all venues. Individualizing foundations (i.e. harm, fairness) do not predict support for decriminalization, while binding and liberty foundations explain some variation in support. Implications of the findings speak to the potential barriers to criminal justice reform in this area and the role of moral arguments in this dispute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social housing policies in neoliberal contexts have become residualized. The notions of housing vulnerability and vulnerable populations emerged as a new organizing principle for the housing policy agenda and interventions in many countries. However, there is no cohesive and shared understanding of the characteristics and types of vulnerable households and housing situations, nor the drivers and consequences of different forms of vulnerability. This leads to questions about how to apply the concept to address people's right to housing. This special issue presents research into what housing vulnerability means in different world regions, what structures and systems may be driving it, and the variety of experiences of housing vulnerability. These studies use different theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and empirical contexts to examine factors and initiatives that drive or counter housing vulnerability, fostering a dialogue towards critical housing research and policy agendas that meet our expectations of housing as a human right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite widely recognised effectiveness against the spread of COVID‐19, vaccine hesitancy persists. This systematic literature review aimed to clarify the definition and the operationalisation of the term 'vaccine hesitancy' and disclose the various psychosocial factors underlying this phenomenon. The results of studies conducted in European countries and in the United States after the vaccines became available were taken into account. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analyses statement. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. efinitions and measures of vaccine hesitancy differed across the studies, limiting their comparison. Nonetheless, by drawing on theoretical frameworks, we were able to identify several psychosocial variables in determining vaccine hesitancy. Our findings point to the need for a transdisciplinary approach to understanding the antecedents of vaccine hesitancy. A better understanding of the phenomenon may help to develop interventions and social policies to address a complex challenge such as vaccination hesitancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Sociology focused on critical analysis of the digital welfare state. The digitalisation of welfare policy, institutions and service delivery has led to increased scrutiny, social sorting and surveillance of welfare recipients and other marginalised groups. This collection of papers contributes to current debates about digital welfare using sociological approaches which foreground the role of power relations and human agency in shaping these dynamics. We provide introductory insights into themes explored within the collection, including the connection of digitalisation with 'the social', the role of digital technologies in truth-making, and the importance of humans and their labour in operationalising digital welfare. In addition, we highlight the value of sociological research in revealing the various processes and relationships through which state power is constituted and expressed digitally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how welfare states regimes influence the effect of episodes of fiscal consolidations on the four main components of the welfare state: social investment, pensions, healthcare and labour market insurance. Welfare state regimes are associated with distinct social policy legacies that feedback into political competition by shaping the size and influence of different coalitions of constituents. Using data from 1980 to 2014 in 16 OECD countries, we find that labour market insurance is more vulnerable to consolidations in Liberal regimes, while social investments are more resistant to consolidations in Nordic regimes. In the Continental regime, which overlaps with Social Health Insurance systems, healthcare is more resistant to consolidations. Finally, pensions are more resistant to consolidations in the Southern regime. These findings contribute to the study of the comparative political economy of welfare state retrenchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disability are at heightened risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation (VANE) with policy geared towards responding to and eliminating VANE harm. Yet not all harm experienced by people with disability is captured within the VANE harm. Many people also experience harm in everyday interactions that leave them feeling uncomfortable, devalued, disrespected, threatened or silenced. Our multi‐method study begins with the term 'everyday harm' to describe these subtle, difficult‐to‐define and easily overlooked experiences, with the proviso that a more appropriate vocabulary may emerge from subsequent fieldwork. This article presents the results of a policy review about the representation of everyday harm between people with disability and paid support workers in disability policies. Results show that everyday harm is acknowledged in some disability policies. However, this acknowledgement is neither consistent nor comprehensive and policies do not consider the cumulative impact of everyday harm nor the subjective experience of harm. This review suggests a gap in conceptualising this type of harm and having a vocabulary that people with disability, support workers and organisations can use to acknowledge, name and, ultimately, prevent this form of harm. Empirical research about their experience of everyday harm is needed to address this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary campaigns, six women, the most in history, announced their candidacy for the presidency. Using computational topic modeling and network analysis of 84,000 newspaper articles (2.2 million paragraphs), we analyze how gender and electability was discussed during the Primaries. Results reveal that male candidates, and especially Joe Biden, were frequently compared with the incumbent, Donald Trump, while coverage of female candidates focused directly on social policy. Trump's attack on Biden during the impeachment process produced a lasting effect by promoting discourse topics traditionally dominated by men. This crowded out the topics emphasized by women, such as health care and education. Women candidates' press coverage was also more reactionary than men's. Although explicit reference to gender as a discourse topic has decreased, which suggests growing gender parity within the political process, gendered policy salience emerges transitively in comparison with the incumbent. Transitive policy salience emerges as a key explanatory variable that articulates the indirect path media coverage can lead to the marginalization of women candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand coalition building between national and international actors in the context of an emerging subsystem. In applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework to the case of Uruguay, where a new field of social policy – the National Care System – was introduced in 2015 after a process involving different national actors from academia, civil society, politics, and administration, but also United Nations agencies, the paper explores the role of these international organizations in coalition building, and examines how a dominant coalition of national and international actors shaped the development of the new system. Using interview data and documents, the findings suggest that the involvement of international organizations in the coalition was based on shared beliefs and personal and institutional relationships. While powerful opposing coalitions were absent due to the nascent nature of the subsystem, the dominant coalition was able to influence the policy's introduction based on their beliefs regarding gender equality and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scholarship of Fritz Scharpf has inspired a leading strand in the debate on 'social Europe', but his arguments deserve more critical scrutiny than they have received. In contrast to his thesis about a 'structural asymmetry' that prevents the EU from functioning as a social market economy, national welfare provision has not been systematically undermined by regulatory competition, supranational liberalisation and fiscal rules, whereas there has been more positive integration of social policies than he anticipated. I contend that we can gain a richer theorisation of European welfare governance by challenging Scharpf on his own terms, which entails recovering key elements of his actor-centred institutionalism. From this perspective, I discuss four dimensions along which we should reconsider the relation between European integration and national welfare regimes: the cognitive and normative orientations of decision-making actors, the role of interaction orientations and socialisation, social policymaking as a problem-solving process beyond distributive bargaining, and the bounded legitimation of the EU as a diverse union of welfare states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political parties frequently appeal broadly to different groups of voters with diverse preferences. However, the policy implications of this strategy are not yet understood. On the one hand, governments that appeal broadly may overextend their policy program and be unable to deliver on their promises. On the other hand, broad-appealing governments may focus on presenting different groups of voters with policy packages that are deliverable in order not to be punished by them in future elections. This article tests between these possibilities with data on social policy outputs, comparative manifesto data, and four different measures of government broad-appeals. The empirical analysis demonstrates that there is clear correspondence between what governments say they will do and what they actually do, regardless of how broadly they appeal. This suggests that the broad-appeal strategy does not undermine the democratic mandate theory's vision of how democracy should work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]