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Purpose: In recent decades, Europe has seen a steady increase in psychiatric diagnoses, which, besides affecting the population in many ways, also challenges the organization of welfare. This paper explores how welfare classification processes impact the contemporary production of mental (ill) health and social inequality in the German welfare state. Methods: Based on comprehensive ethnographic research in the public mental healthcare landscape in Berlin between 2011 and 2017, this paper discusses in detail the case of a mandatory prescription of a psychosocial rehabilitation measure for Ms Reisch, a psychiatric service user and ethnographic research partner. The analysis draws on the methodological approach of praxeography to examine how this case challenges the social determinants of mental health framework and the conceptual work of the sociology of inequality on which the categories of welfare are largely built. Results: The paper highlights the essentializing properties of social categories, whether in the sociology of inequality or in social and mental health policy. It also demonstrates the strength of praxeography to expose how multiple welfare categorization processes shape experiences and events of dis/ability in practice, potentially contradicting the stated intentions of social policy. Conclusion: The results suggest that the attachment of categories to people in public welfare needs to be changed to make public administration more flexible to responding to the situated processes that bring about differentiations of equal and unequal in practice. The paper, therefore, encourages social inquiry into the potentialities of a post-categorical social policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California is currently grappling with a severe homeless crisis, with Los Angeles and particularly Skid Row, harboring the largest homeless population in the nation. The escalating prevalence of homelessness necessitates evidence-based practices for effective intervention. Despite extensive research on homeless services, the issue's complexity leaves us without a definitive solution for addressing the diverse needs of homeless individuals. The spectrum of approaches, ranging from stringent criminalization to supportive services, poses a challenge for agencies dedicated to serving this population, requiring them to navigate conflicting ideologies. This study delves into the impact of collaborations between opposing service providers on homeless services, drawing insights from interviews with homeless service workers in Skid Row, Los Angeles. Situated within the institutional logics framework, the research theoretically explores how institutions with conflicting ideologies can collaborate. Furthermore, the study introduces the concept of adjacent logics as a novel way to understand collaboration amidst conflicting ideologies. This study contributes to our understanding of homeless services and provides a nuanced framework for comprehending collaboration in the face of conflicting ideologies. This study addresses a critical gap in our knowledge, offering insights that can inform scholars and practitioners on collaborative strategies and reforms to benefit individuals experiencing homelessness and similar interacting populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late nineteenth century, state actions have aimed at alleviating poverty and inequality involved in the development of capitalism. For the particular case of Argentina, we have highlighted in other works some attributes of the state's interventions on vulnerable populations over the last decades. These attributes include their mass character, that is, the large number of programs and subjects receiving them (De Sena, 2011); their lifetime coverage, where at each stage of life (from pregnancy to old age) there is a subsidy for the poor subject; and reciprocity, that is to say, receiving aid in the form of a lifetime subsidy in response to conditions of poverty always has a conditionality, a "task" or "activity" that the person who receives it must carry out. This article outlines the narratives that the recipients themselves of social policies produce and that imply their practices of feeling regarding hope. Sixty-four interviews were conducted in the districts of La Matanza and the City of Buenos Aires between 2014 and 2019; the interviews include their stories and their hopes regarding the future of their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence maximization problem that has caused great attention in social network analysis aims at selecting a small set of influential spreaders so that the information cascade triggered by the seed set is maximized. The majority of the existing works mainly focus on developing single-stage seeding strategies that would ignite all the seeds before the influence spread. However, it cannot depict the scenarios of the practical, where ones would like to make further decisions based on observed activation. In this paper, we investigate the policies for the intractable sequential influence maximization problem. A Q-learning-driven discrete differential evolution algorithm based on the reinforcement Q-learning model, which is treated as a parameter controller to adaptively adjust the parameters during the evolution of the algorithm, is proposed. The policy distributes the seeding actions over the spreading process by estimating the latest node status of the network dynamically. Extensive simulations are conducted on six social networks of the practical, and the findings demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm compared with the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postnatal depression (PND) is estimated to affect approximately 17% of mothers, and if left untreated can have negative health consequences, not only for the mother but for the family unit. Homelessness is a multifaceted concept which also has negative health consequences and is often termed a stressful life event. Exploring the literature which links these two factors may promote the implementation of policies which work to address both these health issues. The aim of this scoping review was to determine the breadth and nature of the literature investigating the quantitative relationship between PND and homelessness in women living in high-income countries. Comprehensive searches were performed in June 2020 in MEDLINE, PsychInfo, Embase, Social Policy and Practice and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. Grey literature was also searched, including unpublished studies, dissertations, conference proceedings and reports by the UK charities. Twelve studies met the eligibility criteria. There are few well-controlled longitudinal studies and a high level of variability between studies in terms of the definitions used for homelessness and in the screening tools to detect PND symptoms. Future research would benefit from undertaking waves of prospective data collection, using a well-defined concept of homelessness and implementing validated tools for measuring PND. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article features an interview with Professor Etannibi Alemika, a renowned criminologist in West Africa, discussing organized crime in the region. Organized crime was not widely recognized in Nigeria until the 1980s, primarily due to the international drug trade. Today, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and cybercrime are the most prevalent forms of organized crime in West Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly impact these activities, but evolving technologies have influenced their nature. The concept of organized crime has shed light on the severity of certain crimes and their implications for the economy and society in West Africa. However, individual crimes are still more commonly addressed than the concept of organized crime itself. Corruption is also a transnational crime in Africa, with corrupt officials often laundering money in other countries. The article explores the issue of organized crime in Africa, particularly focusing on corruption and its impact on poverty, unemployment, and other forms of organized crime such as human trafficking and drug trafficking. It highlights the lack of attention given to corruption as organized crime by external sponsors and emphasizes the need for African policymakers to prioritize the financial sector. The article also stresses the importance of understanding local perspectives and distinguishing between subsistence livelihood activities and organized crime. It suggests that evidence-based policy approaches should incorporate economic and social policies to discourage people from engaging in illicit activities. Additionally, it suggests that regional approaches may be beneficial depending on the specific market and destination of illicit products. [Extracted from the article]

Although studies show that the increasing number of women in the legislature has led to greater representation in social policies, it is often unclear whether the effect is significant for quota-elected women and other legislators. In this study, we examine the case of Taiwan, where quotas have been implemented on one tier in a mixed electoral system. We compiled a data set from over 20 years of records to investigate how quotas affect the initiation and passage of legislation concerning welfare, health, and education issues. Using a difference-in-differences approach coupled with instrumental variable design, we find that gender quotas influence quota-elected women profoundly in initiating welfare and education issues. Moreover, quotas increase the probability of quota-elected women enacting further education issues into law. A related pattern could not be observed for non-quota-elected women throughout the legislative process. Moreover, the findings reveal no spillover effect of quotas on these issues for elected men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are considered as social and economic safety nets for their elderly parents in many developing countries, including Nigeria. This perception is driven by the fact that state-sponsored welfare systems are almost non-existent thereby placing parents as the sole care providers for their young children, and grown children as the sole care providers for their older parents. What this may mean for older people without children is that they are left with inadequate material support which could affect their well-being and life satisfaction. This study examines the adequacy of material support systems for childless older adults in southeast Nigeria with the aim to inform policy and social work interventions to ensure adequate support for the older adults. Twelve childless older adults aged 75 and older partook in the in-depth interview. The collected data was analyzed thematically. Except for the government support system, childless older adults receive material support from the networks of family, community, and churches. However, the support available from these networks seems to be inadequate and irregular. The study recommends for the political will by government to ensure that the newly approved national policy on ageing benefits older adults. Social workers are highly needed to ensure that other necessary programmes are established, and also strengthen the systems that support older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solidarity is a fundamental concept in social sciences, explaining the motivation for collective action and understanding how social cohesion institutions are structured. Its conceptualization, however, is often taken for granted in solidarity economy literature. This article investigates its emergence in solidarity economy organizations and the transformation through practices and discourse in public policies. We conducted a qualitative single-case study of COOPERCENTRAL VR, a family farming cooperative center with 13 organizations in Brazil. In conclusion, we demonstrate the paths of solidarity in the construction of a new socioeconomic reality and the role of the relationship between civil society and governments in forming and maintaining this process. The organization is indicated as an essential factor in bonding subjects and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Latin America, it is recognised that social movements have a relevant role in changing social policies on abortion and marriage; however, little is known about the operating conditions accounting for the causal implication. Resorting to a qualitative comparative analysis of 24 Mexican policies, this research explores the conditions taken from moral policy literature. Drawing on extensive data, it argues three causal patterns, where influential movements are a necessary but no sufficient, (1) influential movements require a context full of "legal opportunities"—favourable legal precedents and Court intervention; (2) if they only find favourable legal precedents, conservative actors influence must be scarce, and (3) in cases where the Congress is conservative, the Court intervention, and the minimum conservative influence are required for movements to achieve legal changes on abortion and marriage. The novelty of this article consists of a new model that explains the conditions that play a relevant role in analysing abortion and equal marriage policy changes; in addition, valuable inputs are included for the benefit of the interested parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a replicable process for coproducing a theory of 'thriving', or more broadly 'wellbeing', in partnership with stakeholders to inform an area of policy. Coproduction promotes effectiveness, practicality, and legitimacy of wellbeing policies by combining insights from people with lived experience of that policy, the practitioners who implement it, and technical experts with relevant area specific knowledge. We illustrate our methodology using a case study of a coproduction exercise between wellbeing researchers and practitioners and users of Turn2us, a UK-based anti-poverty charity. We report both the process developed for this collaboration and the bespoke theory and measures of thriving in financial hardship that emerged from it. We emphasise the interplay between different types of inputs: quantitative and qualitative data, academic theories of wellbeing and lived experience, and formal and informal insights. Our experience demonstrates the value of contextualising wellbeing for practical contexts, serving as an important complement to top-down approaches relying on standardised theories and metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes shaming attempts in the European Parliament (EP) over a long period. Drawing on existing literature on shaming and stigmatization in International Relations, as well as on studies on blame avoidance (Public administration), this paper explores the extent to which (and how) shaming attempts were used in day-to-day European policymaking. The paper first shows how the word 'shame' has been employed by key policymakers in different policy areas. Data analyzed include EP speech acts (mainly debates) from 1994 to 2014. The second part of the paper consists of an interpretative and contextualizing qualitative analysis, exploring in-depth social and economic policy areas. This paper shows that, in these policy areas, shaming attempts have often served as an ideological tool, or have become entangled in turf wars between supranational institutions and Member States. The in-depth study also illustrates the circumstances under which shaming attempts have led to compliance, non-compliance or shame backlashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we test four theoretical explanations for Green party affinity in the European Union and demonstrate that all four have significant, independent influence. We find that religion—particularly of the orthodox, practicing, Christian variety—clearly suppresses Green support, except perhaps among committed Protestants. Social structure also accounts for some backing as well, with Green parties attracting younger, well-educated citizens with comfortable social standing, who live in less densely populated areas. Even greater influence comes from a New Politics division between materialist and post-materialist voters. Post-materialists, who not only prioritize the environment over the economy but also support progressive social policies, are most likely to feel close to Green parties. So do those favoring European integration and welcoming immigrants—in short, "cosmopolitans." In Eastern Europe, where the supply of Green parties is limited, supporters generally resemble the pan-European profile, but are concentrated among those breaking with materialist and traditionalist social norms: they are "moderns" who reject many of the political and social conventions of their post-communist societies. In that sense, they look a lot more "West European" than many of their national compatriots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that in Denmark during the past 150 years, moral elites have been central in settling paradoxes within social policy by developing 'classifications' of citizens and sectors: who are deserving of help and what sector (public or third) should provide care. Contrary to widely held beliefs, historically, there is no logical or practical connection between 'more deserving' and 'state support'. Theoretically, the article integrates elite scholarship and cultural sociology in developing a concept of moral elites' power from—their sources of moral authority—and power to, the way that they have used their power to classify citizens and sectors. Empirically, the Danish moral elite and its involvement in social policy are analyzed based on secondary as well as primary historical sources. Findings: The development of the Danish moral elite has roots in the administrators of the nineteenth-century absolutist state: the clergy, medical doctors, and lawyers. Educational resources and state affiliation continue to be central to moral elite status. Economists have ascended to the top of the moral elite, while clergymen have dropped out. Three major classifications were developed during the period. 'Help to self-help' (late nineteenth century): deserving poor should receive help from private charity, while the public system should deter and discipline. 'Rights' (mid-twentieth century): the state should care for all, philanthropy mostly considered stigmatizing. 'Workfare' (late twentieth century to present): citizens are considered deserving as long as they are 'active', and sectors are considered equal in providing for citizens as long as they reach the economistic goal of activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the policies of school autonomy in Australian public education from the Karmel report in 1973 to the present day. The key focus is on the social justice implications of this reform. It tracks the tensions between policy moves to both grant schools greater autonomy and rein in this autonomy with the increasing instatement of external forms of regulation. Utilising Nancy Fraser's concepts of dis-embedding and re-embedding markets, we track key policy moments in three Australian states (Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales) along with federal interventions. We draw attention to the redistributive and representative justice implications arising from these policy moments as occurring within a consistent trajectory towards a market agenda and argue that future policy needs to consider the effect of past policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary society is presented as a model of other sociality demanding extraordinary methods of research in the cognitive space of uncertainty. This article aims at analyzing a heterologous paradigm of postnon-classical social philosophical discourse and how it applies to the socio-philosophical context of modernity by using cognitive and heuristic capabilities of social heterology which explain the uncertainty principle of social cognition in other sociality. The diversity of the other sociality is characterized by structural non-linearity, disequilibrium, rupture, decentralism, and lack of a unified systematic principle. In their research, authors highlighted the two different approaches to analyzing the social structure: the classical ontological and post-non-classical heterologous one. Philosophical and scientific sources of European and Russian traditions were used to suggest new revolutionary post-non-classical methods and social paradigms emphasizing the heterogeneous pattern of contemporary, unexpected and even unpredictable society. Transition to social heterogeneity is attributed to the uncertainty principle in extraordinary processes of social self-development. The authors' position is that the heterologous dimension of sociality approaches the complete understanding of social life's contradictions of a modern human not only in a cognitive perspective but also in a practical one to define humanistic social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of identifying the impact of parking policy on the economy of road transport focusing on the conditions of the European Union. The aim of the article is to identify the impact of insufficient parking and the impact of EU social policy governing the work of drivers on the economy of the road transport sector. In terms of structure, the paper contains the identification of costs in road freight transport. The authors point to the fact that in Central Europe, the problems with cost calculation persist to this day. The authors conclude that a significant proportion of costs are fixed costs, which are related to the time use of the vehicle. The authors also define problems with vehicle parking. Authors point out that as the number of vehicles grows, there is not enough infrastructure to build. In the next part of article, the authors identify the need for the number of parking spaces and propose a methodology for determining their capacity. They also identify the impact of insufficient parking spaces on the economy of transport companies. In the discussion, the authors also discuss the impact of social law restrictions on the economy of a transport company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Group Recommendation (SGR) is a critical task to recommend items to a group of users in social network platforms, such as Meetup, Douban, Mofengwo, etc. Recently, many state-of-the-art works have addressed the group decision making with pre-defined aggregation strategies or neural-based methods. The main challenge is how to capture the intra-interaction and inter-association among users, groups, and items. In term of this issue, we propose an Intra- and inter-association attention network with Policy learning for Social Group Recommendation (IP-SGR). Specifically, for intra-interaction attention model, we capture the preference of user pair agreement with the representation of their co-interaction items, while a gate filtering component is utilized to aggregate the group agreement with the member representations of the group. In addition, to capture the inter-association representation of groups and items, we present inter-group attention network and inter-item prototype learning model, respectively. Finally, we propose a reinforcement learning-based model to obtain the positive and negative reward for social group recommendation. Extensive experiments on three real-world datasets demonstrate our proposed IP-SGR model significantly outperforms several state-of-the-art methods in terms of HR and NDCG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While few would advocate that policy decisions be based solely on interest group influence or political pandering, few would also agree that decisions be based solely on evidence from randomized trials devoid of context or attention to stakeholder concerns. Yet, this is the implicit tension that has emerged between scholars, who privilege rigorously established research evidence as the primary legitimate basis for policy decision-making, and their critics, who advocate for a broader evidence boundary. However, the policy literature has hitherto failed to suggest an appropriate means of processing various forms of evidence to inform the policy decision-making process. This challenge is especially apparent in public hearings, a frequently used participatory medium where a great variety of evidence is presented. In this paper, we aim to reevaluate the value of public hearings as a means of collecting evidence by exploring 189 testimonies across six public hearings on single-payer healthcare in New York State. At the same time, we evaluate and categorize the types of evidence invoked in public hearings and compare this against what might "count" as evidence from an EBP perspective. Results highlight nine types of "evidence", along two dimensions: observation span and form of knowledge. We find that applying a narrow boundary of research evidence, only one of nine types of evidence fit that classification: problem-based research. We conclude by suggesting that policy scholars expand their consideration of what types of evidence claims are useful to policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the associations of a country's macroeconomic and social policy indicators and diverse household characteristics with joint-income-wealth-poverty (JIWP) among households with members aged 50 years and over in 18 European countries and Israel. A multidimensional approach was used to integrate income and wealth by defining four groups of households: twice-poor, economically vulnerable (poor only by wealth), protected poor (poor only by income), and non-poor. JIWP was examined for two wealth concepts—the 'net-worth' and the 'liquid-wealth'. Using the sixth wave of the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement (SHARE), we employed multilevel multinomial models to study JIWP across countries. JIWP varied widely across countries, with both country's features and household characteristics shaping the picture of poverty. GDP per capita was negatively associated with JIWP. Total (gross) social expenditure and public social expenditure per capita were negatively associated with risk of JIWP. Greater minimum guaranteed income among working age households and higher replacement rate of pensions among elderly households were also negatively associated with JIWP. Higher public expenditure on health and better quality of the healthcare system decreased the risk of JIWP, but heavier reliance on private financing of the healthcare increased it. Implications for research and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico ranks among the OECD countries with the highest prevalence of teenage pregnancies, exhibiting a fertility rate of 70.6 births for every 1000 adolescents. Mexican adolescents with a history of pregnancy are twice as likely to lag behind in their studies as those who have not been pregnant. Research on adolescent maternity and its explanatory mechanisms is required as a basis for implementing policies and programs that effectively curb teenage pregnancy-related behaviors, prevent educational gaps, and reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Based on quasi-experimental methodology and a non-recursive structural equation model with instrumental variables, this paper analyzed the intergenerational transmission of teenage pregnancy from mothers to daughters, as well as the relationship between teenage pregnancy and educational attainment. Using data from the 2009 National Survey of Demographic Dynamics in Mexico, our estimated model indicated a unidirectional relationship from teenage pregnancy to educational attainment. An association was observed between teenage pregnancy and an increased probability of a moderate or severe educational gap (≥ 1 year) by 21% ± 5 and a severe educational gap (≥ 2 years) by 33% ± 8. Adolescents whose mothers reported teenage pregnancy at < 15 years of age were approximately 84% more likely to experience teenage pregnancy themselves than other adolescents. Relevant explanatory mechanisms included low socioeconomic status and a low level of education in the household. Mexico needs to formulate, implement, and expand comprehensive and early prevention strategies as well as teenage pregnancy care throughout its most vulnerable regions. Efforts should be made at the individual, family, and community levels; incorporate alliances with teenage networks; actively engage parents, teachers, and health care providers; and reinforce educational initiatives on sexual and reproductive health for adolescents. It would be convenient for the Government to implement public policies that emphasize the results obtained. There is no better instrument than to show the evidence of the gradual deterioration of human capital in Mexico associated with adolescent pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important gap in the literature is the analysis of the role of effective knowledge concerning use of contraceptive methods in the intergenerational reproduction of adolescent pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries. Using data from the 2014 Mexico National Survey of Demographic Dynamics, we conducted a retrospective cohort and complete case analysis of women aged ≤ 19 years cohabitating with their mothers and who self-reported having had sexual intercourse at the moment of the survey (n = 5143). We estimated instrumental variable probit models (IV-probit) to assess the association between effective knowledge concerning the use of contraceptive methods and adolescent pregnancy. We stratified our models according to parental history of adolescent pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancy prevalence in our sample was 58.7%. The IV-probit model showed that mothers with a history of adolescent pregnancy were 12.1 percentage points more likely to have daughters who experience adolescent pregnancy. In addition, daughters with effective knowledge concerning the use of contraceptive methods were 1.3 percentage points less likely to experience an adolescent pregnancy. Our findings carry relevant implications for policies seeking to reduce adolescent pregnancy. They highlight the need for policies and programs that tackle the intergenerational transmission of sexual and reproductive behaviors by increasing the information available to adolescents and enhancing their effective knowledge about the use of contraceptive methods. Identifying population groups at higher risk of adolescent pregnancy can contribute to the design of successful reproductive health policies in Mexico and other low- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a unique or common measure of energy poverty is very limited for the true classification of a household being in energy poverty. Thus, this study proposes a composite indicator, whose weights will be determined from the estimation of two relationships using a robust and stable methodology based on information theory. This work considers two regression models, where the two dependent variables are the gross domestic product and greenhouse gas, and the 12 energy poverty explanatory variables are based on those proposed by Recalde et al. (Energy Pol 133:110869, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.07.005), for the period 2008–2018. Hence, the study presents a more comprehensive measurement with additional dimensions, weights, and indicators. Probably most important, in addition to the discussed proposal with a specific choice of models and variables, this work reveals a promising methodology that can be replicated in any other theoretical configuration. This approach is suitable for the discussion and design of new energy, environmental and social policies. Findings can be used to assess in advance the effectiveness of energy poverty measures, turning the model into a valuable policy tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates why, in two different political and institutional contexts, leftist governing parties became agents of empowered inclusion, boosting the capacity of subordinate social actors to shape the agenda of politics and allowing them to push social policy in an inclusionary direction. To explain how and why this happened, it highlights the ambiguous nature of party-society linkages. While societal ties are necessary for sustained significant progress in social and political inclusion, they can also block the later consolidation of achievements. This happens as some groups, once included, block further inclusion. We build our theoretical argument about the two-sided nature of party-society linkages using comparative evidence from Bolivia and Uruguay—two countries where progress toward empowered inclusion has been especially notable in the past two decades. The article contributes to existing scholarship on social and political inclusion by calling for greater attention to the critical but, at times, ambiguous role that the social bases of parties play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal financial aid policies for higher education may be classified based on their "for-purchase" and "post-purchase" natures. The former include grants, loans, and workstudy and intend to help students finance or afford college attendance, persistence, and graduation. Post-purchase policies are designed to minimize financial burdens associated with having invested in college attendance and are granted as tax incentives/expenditures. One of these expenditures is the IRS's Student Loan Interest Deduction (SLID)—which offers up to $2500 as an adjustment for taxable income based on having paid interest on student loans and has an annual cost of $12.81 billion—about 45.7% of the Pell grant cost. Despite this high cost, SLID has remained virtually unstudied. Accordingly, the study's purpose is to assess how (in)effective SLID may be in reaching lower-income taxpayers. To address this purpose, we relied on an innovative analytic framework "multilevel modelling with spatial interaction effects" that allowed controlling for contextual and systemic observed and unobserved factors that may both affect college participation and may be related with SLID disbursements over and above income prospects. Data sources included the IRS, ACS, FBI, IPEDS, and the NPSAS:2015–2016. Findings revealed that SLID is regressive at the top, wealthier taxpayers and students attending more expensive colleges realize higher tax benefits than lower income taxpayers and students. Indeed, 75% of community college students were found to not be eligible to receive SLID—data and replication code (https://cutt.ly/COyfdKC) are provided. Is this the best use of this multibillion tax incentive? Is SLID designed to exclude the poorest, neediest students? A policy similar to Education Credits, focused on outstanding debt rather than on interest, that targets below-poverty line students with up to $5000 in debt, would represent a true commitment, and better use of public funds, to close socioeconomic gaps, by helping those more prone to default. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing current socio-economic crises strains public budgets and may threaten fiscal sustainability. Particularly in the welfare sector, where high expenditures meet poor controllability, efficient resource usage is essential to ensure future governments’ capability to act while alleviating current problems. Consequently, this paper asks: why are some countries more efficient in translating social expenditure into welfare outcomes? To answer this question, it is argued that efficiency is a matter of institutional structures and their vertical policy-process integration (VPI): efficiency depends on institutional structures’ capability to (1) ensure policymakers’ responsibility and to (2) provide coordinated feedback, thus pushing for considerate and informed resource use. Analysing the effect of VPI on the relationship between welfare efforts and social outcomes in 21 OECD countries over three decades, the results show that VPI can not only turn ‘less’ into ‘more’, but it also compensates for performance losses in the face of spending cuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does increased integration to the global economy affect patterns of social provision at the local level? This study investigates the impact of economic openness on the subnational variation of welfare provision in China. Examining welfare expansion as a political response to provincial economic integration, I analyze how the effect of globalization on welfare expansion is conditioned by the threat of social unrest. Using a panel dataset on 31 provinces in China from 2001 to 2015, I find that provinces with open economies and higher threat of social unrest provide broader social insurance coverage. On the other hand, provinces with similar levels of economic openness but with lower levels of social unrest are associated with lower levels of coverage. These findings suggest that provincial governments may be more likely to utilize social policy instruments to compensate for the social costs of globalization, particularly in cases where exposure to the international market leads to increased social instability and discontent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban informal settlements have, over the years, been centres of conflicting development debates, yet, for people with low socio-economic status, these are areas of opportunities. However, the "peripheral" nature of these locations has far-reaching implications on how people in these areas participate in decision-making processes that affect them. Lately, the effects of climate-related events have also added another layer of socio-economic, political, and environmental challenge to the dynamics of life in the marginal areas of the urban setting. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine how people in marginal informal settlements of Lilongwe City respond to climate-related events and interact with the wider ecosystem of development stakeholders. The major thesis of the paper is that while critical policymakers ignore these peripheral voices in the provision of basic services, an enhanced support to these informal settlements can prove positive if efforts are harnessed to mitigate the effects of climate-related events and urban marginality and amplify marginal voices to change social policies for the good of all. This paper uses the case of Lilongwe City where three informal settlements of Mtandire, Kaliyeka, and Kawale form part of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Republic of Korea, social distancing policies relied on voluntary participation by citizens and exhibited short-term changes. In this situation, the effects of such policies varied depending on each community's capacity to comply. Here, we collected subway ridership data for 294 stations on nine Seoul Metro lines and aggregated the data for each station to the 184 smallest administrative areas. We found that the mean percent change in subway ridership was fitted by an additive model of the log-transformed percent ratio of the restaurant industry (estimated degrees of freedom (EDF) = 3.24, P < 0.001), the Deprivation Index (DI) (EDF = 3.66, P = 0.015), and the proportion of essential workers (β = − 0.10 (95% confidence interval − 0.15 to − 0.05, P < 0.001). We found a distinct decrease in subway ridership only in the least deprived areas, suggesting that social distancing is costly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the well-being measurement is constantly increasing worldwide, especially due to the Stiglitz Commission suggestions, which opened several questions about its assessment and theoretical framework. This paper focuses on the Italian scenario due to the central role given to this topic by the Italian Parliament, which introduces equitable and sustainable well-being among the objectives of the government's economic and social policy. Significant differences exist among the proposed Italian well-being indices in terms of theoretical approach, statistical rigour and aims. We propose a detailed outline of these indices useful for policy-makers, practitioners, economists and statistics scholars, with the awareness that for a good analysis, a complete and conscious description of the data is the starting point to further improve their usefulness, to maximise their advantages and to cut down their limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of how the Jordanian government has responded and continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It utilizes the interpretive policy analysis approach through document analysis. The analysis showed that Jordan created social protection policies to assist people who lost their jobs or whose work was suspended due to the coronavirus. The economic policies build solidarity and facilitate the private sector's recovery. The health care measures firmly applied included lockdown, wearing masks, and restrictions on gatherings and public events. Jordan uses hard power and imposes sanctions on any violation that threatens the lives of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norway's handling of COVID-19 has been seen as a success. Vulnerable groups among young and elderly people, have however, not been part of this success. Their interests have been defocused in two ways. First, they have not been prioritized in the big picture, because the precautionary principle and health concerns, in particular the capacity questions, have dominated. Second, the more specific social policy measures have been indirect and not particular targeted vulnerable children, youths and old people, and had negative effects for them, such as social isolation and lack of daily support and services, resulting in increasing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals hold beliefs about what causes poverty, and those beliefs have been theorized to explain policy preferences and ultimately cross-country variations in welfare states. However, there has been little empirical work on the effects of poverty attributions on welfare state attitudes. We seek to fill this gap by making use of Eurobarometer data from 27 European countries in the years 2009, 2010 and 2014 to explore the effects of poverty attributions on judgments about economic inequality as well as preferences regarding the welfare state. Relying on a four-type typology of poverty attribution which includes individual fate, individual blame, social fate and social blame as potential explanations for poverty, our analyses show that these poverty attributions are associated with judgments about inequality and broadly defined support for the welfare state, but have little or no effect on more concrete policy proposals such as unemployment benefits or increase of social welfare at the expense of higher taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benevolent sexism takes a subjectively positive view of women in traditional gender roles, revering them as gentle, nurturing, and in need of protection by men. While studies show that people who express attitudes of benevolent sexism are willing to restrict women's choices at an individual level, limited research exists on the impact of benevolent sexism in social policy. Using a single-case study method and benevolent sexism as a conceptual framework, I examined the introduction, passage, and legal defense of Texas House Bill 2 (TX HB2), a targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) law. HB2 was passed by the Texas legislature in 2013 and ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2016 case of Whole Woman's Health et al. v. Hellerstedt. Primary source legislative and court documents were analyzed to explore whether and how benevolent sexism ideologies were reflected in the introduction, passage, and legal defense of HB2 as a TRAP law. Four themes emerged: The State has the Right to Protect Women, Women Need Protection from "Bad Players," Women are Emotional, and Women are Mothers/Vessels. Results confirm that language consistent with benevolent sexism was used in the context of policy making to justify restricting women's access to pre-viability abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic instability, social changes, and new social policies place economic insecurity high on the scholarly and political agenda. We contribute to these debates by proposing a new multidimensional, intertemporal measure of economic insecurity that accounts for both its multiplicity and its dynamism. First, we develop three theory-driven, multidimensional measures of economic insecurity. Principal Components Analysis validates the measure. Second, we develop a dynamic approach to insecurity, using longitudinal data and a newly revised headcount method. Third, we then use our new measures to analyze the distribution of insecurity in Europe. Our analysis shows that insecurity is widespread across Europe, even in low-inequality, encompassing welfare states. Moreover, it extends across income groups and occupational classes, reaching into the middle classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate age-related differences in social spending preference in an Asian context, drawing on a random survey of more than 1000 adults in Hong Kong in 2013. Contrary to popular belief, older adults in Hong Kong hold a negative view toward welfare spending, especially when it is directed toward the poor population. In contrast, descriptive statistics reveal that younger people tend to support increased spending on welfare assistance. The findings in this study provide evidence that reciprocity and solidarity in intergenerational relationships are present in Hong Kong. This demonstrates the nature of shifting social values held by different generations in a dynamic and demographically pressured Asian context. Amidst rising intergenerational conflict in different contexts in Asia, this study has profound implications for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the authors analyze the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of inequalities and socio-economic vulnerabilities. We argue that the current pandemic has been looked at mainly through the lens of biology, leaving sociological blind spots in the response to this pandemic that have had adverse effects. We conclude with the suggestion that apart from recommendations from health sciences, policy makers must also take into account local societal structures in order to design effective policies to control the contagion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the characteristics of a government, which are defined in terms of the quality, size, and function of the government, influence the quality of life of its citizens by applying fuzzy-set analysis on data from OECD countries. The results show that the quality of life is enhanced when the quality of the government, or its policy effectiveness, is maintained at a certain level, while an increase in government size, spending, and intervention has a negative impact. Compared to when the government is actively involved in producing public goods, when the government's quality and size are at a certain optimal level, it is observed that the quality of life is enhanced when the economy is stabilized by a market mechanism and security is guaranteed both internally and externally. Therefore, this result indicates that without economic and social stability, the expansion of social policy is unlikely to have a positive impact on improving the quality of life as intended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since spring 2020, the human world seems to be exceptionally silent due to mobility reduction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To better measure the real-time decline of human mobility and changes in socio-economic activities in a timely manner, we constructed a silent index (SI) based on Google's mobility data. We systematically investigated the relations between SI, new COVID-19 cases, government policy, and the level of economic development. Results showed a drastic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on increasing SI. The impact of COVID-19 on human mobility varied significantly by country and place. Bi-directional dynamic relationships between SI and the new COVID-19 cases were detected, with a lagging period of one to two weeks. The travel restriction and social policies could immediately affect SI in one week; however, could not effectively sustain in the long run. SI may reflect the disturbing impact of disasters or catastrophic events on the activities related to the global or national economy. Underdeveloped countries are more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social policy scholarship assumes that left-wing governments favour a stronger public provision of services, while right-wing politics promote privatization, largely as a matter of ideology. Yet the findings on Canadian provinces' market-based housing instruments suggest that alternative views are possible. Left-leaning governments introduced private delivery mechanisms for economic as well as non-economic reasons. The archival research and thematic analysis of interview responses with key actors (n = 56) suggest that the introduction of housing allowances in the policy toolbox largely results from bureaucratic initiatives, regardless of the party in power. Rather than political forces or advocacy by power interests, this policy change is mostly driven by considerations of equity and efficiency on the part of officials 'muddling through'. The concept is revisited in the final discussion, where important strands of the privatization literature are challenged, as well as the political assumptions associated with the notion of users' freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible for the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has spread to populations throughout the continental United States. Most state and local governments have adopted some level of "social distancing" policy, but infections have continued to spread despite these efforts. Absent a vaccine, authorities have few other tools by which to mitigate further spread of the virus. This begs the question of how effective social policy really is at reducing new infections that, left alone, could potentially overwhelm the existing hospitalization capacity of many states. We developed a mathematical model that captures correlations between some state-level "social distancing" policies and infection kinetics for all U.S. states, and use it to illustrate the link between social policy decisions, disease dynamics, and an effective reproduction number that changes over time, for case studies of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington states. In general, our findings indicate that the potential for second waves of infection, which result after reopening states without an increase to immunity, can be mitigated by a return of social distancing policies as soon as possible after the waves are detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies are designed to have an impact on particular societies, yet policy-oriented computer models and simulations often focus more on articulating the policies to be applied than on realistically rendering the cultural dynamics of the target society. This approach can lead to policy assessments that ignore crucial social contextual factors. For example, by leaving out distinctive moral and normative dimensions of cultural contexts in artificial societies, estimations of downstream policy effectiveness fail to account for dynamics that are fundamental in human life and central to many public policy challenges. In this paper, we supply evidence that incorporating morally salient dimensions of a culture is critically important for producing relevant and accurate evaluations of social policy when using multi-agent artificial intelligence models and simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary sector and non-profit studies require theoretical frameworks facilitating better understandings of what occurs on the ground. Following Lipsky's (Street-level bureaucracy: dilemmas of the individual in public service, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1980) formulation of street-level bureaucracies, scholars have emphasized workplace hierarchies, reproducing dichotomous 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' conceptualizations of practice which can obscure the full complexity of practitioners' workplace relationships. In this paper, we offer a thematic model of (collective) action that centres the 'division of labour' across, and relations between, professional niches that are differentiated by their 'helping' orientations, workplace tasks, and responsibilities to service users rather than their organizational status or salaries. We mobilize qualitative research undertaken in the penal voluntary sectors of Canada and England to highlight the mutually constitutive efforts of frontline and management work with criminalized service users. Drawing on and extending Alinsky's 'river dilemma', we conceptualize practice in the (penal) voluntary sector as organized according to the differing choices practitioners make about whom to 'help' and how to intervene, which have consequences for social policy, service delivery, and advocacy work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning has been increasingly used for making informed public policy decisions, however, its application in the area of social protection in developing societies has been largely overlooked. We have employed unsupervised machine learning K-means clustering technique for exploring a big data that comprised of 88 attributes and 570 instances for better targeting of households that are in urgent need of welfare from the government. The clusters formed showed common patterns relating to insecurities in terms of loss of income and property, unemployment, disasters and disease etc. faced by households in each cluster. We found that households falling in rural areas jurisdictions face severe insecurities compared to other localities and are in urgent need of social protection interventions. We concluded that by employing K-means clustering unsupervised machine learning approach big data (even if it is limited) can be explored effectively for better targeting of social protection interventions for both developing and smart societies. The unsupervised machine learning technique presented in this study is an efficient approach because it can be used by societies that are facing data constraints and can achieve optimal results for increasing the welfare of poor by using the said approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift to digital learning, spurred by the pandemic, will likely lead to the adoption of educational games into classrooms as a way to replace traditional learning activities. This will be a challenge because of a lack of training on the use of games for learning and the difficulty of finding good learning games. The 2019 SRCD Social Policy Report on digital games identifies policy areas that could address these challenges. Further, Ke's (Educ Technol Res Dev 64:219–244, 2016) systematic review of games research provides insights into how teachers can use games for learning and which types of educational games are effective. Leveraging the report and the review, policies for the digital shift are suggested that will help guide the adoption of games into classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology clearly influences the decision-making behaviour of individuals, groups, and organisations. In particular, social media and Web 2.0 technologies can affect the rationality and effectiveness of the policy cycle in the public sector. This growing influence deserves to be analysed. This work aims to understand how the influence of social media in the different phases of the policy cycle is perceived by mayors, the main decision-makers in local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing patterns of social relations in modern times have weakened the bonds of family life and the capacity of this institution to perform its functions essential to human development. Conventional analyses of the impact of family policies tend to focus on the extent to which these measures help to reconcile work and family life, advance gender equality, boost fertility rates and provide financial supports for families. This paper makes a case for broadening the analytic perspective to include the impact of policies on family functioning. This family-sensitive analytic lens focuses on outcomes that strengthen the bonds of family life and the capacity to perform the basic functions of procreation, socialization of the young, care for dependent members, emotional companionship and mutual support over the life course. The family- sensitive lens encourages policymakers to consider alternative consequences of social programs and normative issues regarding their impact on family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tax and benefit systems play an important role in determining work incentives at both the extensive and the intensive margin of labour supply. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive comparative analysis of work incentives in Europe. Our analysis makes use of microsimulation techniques and representative household surveys from all 27 EU countries and the UK to compare the distribution of short- and long-term participation tax rates and marginal effective tax rates across population subgroups. We focus on people currently in work and characterise the population facing low work incentives in each country. Our results highlight the large variation in the distribution of work incentives across European countries, explained not only by differences in the design of tax-benefit systems, but also by the characteristics of the labour force across countries. Unemployment insurance benefits contribute substantially to short-term participation tax rates and explain on average a 20 percentage point difference between work incentives of short- versus long-term unemployment. Our analysis further highlights the need to use microdata to study differences across countries in terms of the population subgroups facing low incentives to work with the aim to inform the policy debate on potential reforms to make work pay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a queer theoretical reflection on the emergence of lesbian, gay, and queer (LGQ) youth as subjects of policy attention in Australia in the late twentieth century. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which specific forms of social, bureaucratic, and organizational recognition have given shape to LGQ youth as categorical policy objects. To this end, this article critically interrogates social policy related to the provision of funding for LGQ youth support during the 1980s and 1990s in two Australian states: New South Wales and Western Australia. More specifically, it focuses on some of the ways in which LGQ youth have been discursively shaped and materially supported in three different organizations, two of which continue to be strongly associated with support of LGQ youth in Australia. This study of the emergence of these organizations, resourced by three different sectors—the state, the church, and the LGQ community itself—necessarily draws on ephemeral resources, reflecting the conditions of possibility in which this work was being enacted. We conclude with an analysis of the necessity for situating policy recognitions within specific contexts to examine the implications for LGQ youth as the subjects such recognitions simultaneously seek to constitute and serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the means through which social benefits are delivered—either through a direct government program, or through a tax expenditure program—affects how citizens view social welfare programs and their beneficiaries. Attitudes toward social spending in the United States are strongly conditioned by both racial considerations and perceptions of the deservingness of recipients. We argue that the political cues given by spending conducted through the tax code differ from those given by direct spending in a way that both de-racializes spending attitudes and changes the lens through which citizens evaluate the deservingness of beneficiaries. Through a series of survey experiments, we demonstrate that social benefits delivered through the tax code are less likely to activate racialized thinking than similar or identical benefits delivered directly. This is true, at least in part, because recipients of tax expenditures are perceived as more deserving than recipients of otherwise identical direct spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]