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Objectives: In this article, we analyze the sociodemographic and employment characteristics that increase the likelihood of receiving support from the government or a family member in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. Methodology: we use a multinomial logistic regression model, and the conditional probabilities of each outcome category are calculated using data from the Telephone Survey on COVID-19 and the Labor Market of June 2020. Results: The results show the statistical and positive relevance of the gender variable in both types of support. Whereas education (high school and higher) shows a negative relationship in the probability of receiving government support and is not a significant variable for family support. For the latter type of support, it is found that access to health services through work and having employment are significant and negative variables. Conclusions: Government support was scarce and hardly contributed to mitigating the effects of the pandemic; however, it was focused on vulnerable individuals. The social security and protection system requires profound changes to reverse the inequity, with special attention to gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study explores the intersection of the 'gig' economy and welfare state in Australia, exploring how ride-share work has provided a pathway into paid work for three traditionally disadvantaged groups: individuals with disability, with caring responsibilities, or aged 45 and over. It examines these workers' motivations for the work and explores how the welfare system shapes their experiences. The study finds push factors, such as past labour market discrimination and limited alternatives, and pull factors, like the relative flexibility of the work, which allows for the accommodation of planned and unplanned absences, are driving individuals into the 'gig' economy. The authors identify a duality about these experiences. On the one hand, the work represents a de facto form of 'workfare'. On the other, the welfare system is cushioning the work's job and income insecurity, providing individuals with flexibility and security unavailable elsewhere, an unintended policy outcome the authors label 'accidental flexicurity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology / Shehui is the property of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This scoping review explores key aspects arising from recent research on child sexual exploitation (CSE) within the European context. CSE represents a form of sexual violence occurring across all regions and countries, impacting the most vulnerable children and adolescents. The exploiter or exploiters respond to the victim's unmet basic needs and lead them to believe that they are engaging in a consensual exchange and relationship. This social issue affects between 1% and 2.5% of European boys and girls, with these figures being notably higher among specific high-risk groups. Preventing situations of CSE, identifying them and intervening effectively with their victims is only possible if Europe acknowledges and addresses the reality of this serious issue of personal and social vulnerability that affects a significant number of boys and girls within our borders. It has been invisible for far too long. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sozial Extra is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: This study analyzed the association between transitions into informal caregiving, inside and outside their own household, and changes in network size, quality, and composition among older adults (≥50 years) in four different welfare systems in Europe. Methods: Data from waves 4, 6, and 8 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe was used and included up to 110,823 participants (aged ≥50 years) from 12 countries. Participants were asked about informal caregiving inside and outside the household and their network size, quality (emotional closeness, contact frequency), and composition (family, friends, men, women). Adjusted linear and Poisson fixed effects regression analyses were conducted. Results: Participants transitioning into any caregiving (inside or outside the household) had a larger network. More women and family members were found among all those transitioning into caregiving, but only outside caregiving was associated with more men and friends in the network. Transitioning into caregiving outside was associated with reduced network closeness and contact. Changes among caregivers outside were similar in all welfare states but were more pronounced among caregivers inside the household of Eastern Europe. Conclusion: Different patterns of changes in network size, quality, and composition were found among adults transitioning into caregiving inside and outside the household. All parameters changed among caregivers outside the household. However, the welfare system played a key role in the network changes among inside household caregivers. Thus, the micro as well as the macro context of caregiving is important for the support network of informal caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international literature has long established the importance of health issues presented by children entrusted to Child Protection and Welfare Service (Aide Sociale à l'Enfance –ASE, in France). This study examined the health of children entrusted to the ASE in Vendée (a French administrative region) in order to better understand and address their health needs. A retrospective study of all children (623 out of 920) aged 0–18 years placed in foster care or an institution during 2019 was carried out. The data collection was based on the information in the medical form completed by the doctor during the annual health check. More than one quarter of the children had a written or spoken language disorder, 32% of children did not have a normal body mass index for their age, 10% of children suffered from enuresis, 4% from encopresis, and sleep disorders were observed in 29% of the study population. Furthermore, 51% of the children expressed psychological distress by internalizing or externalizing it, and 6% of children over 6 years of age had already run away or put themselves in danger. The results of our study are congruent with the international literature and confirm that children and adolescents in out-of-home care (foster care, residential care) have significantly higher healthcare needs than their peers. The findings also suggest several areas for improving the healthcare of children and adolescents entrusted to the care of the child protection and welfare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The welfare system and the future of retirement is one of the issues that has become a complicated issue due to its relationship with the growing population of retirees and the elderly and the influence of social, economic, political-legal, technological and environmental developments. In this paper, the drivers and uncertainties affecting the future of pension funds and drawing the probable, possible and desirable futures of these funds have been analyzed. Method: In terms of methodology, in the current study, integrated foresight was used to select methods. The interview was conducted with a group of 30 experts using the "judgmental" and "snowball" targeted sampling methods. Findings: In the first step, 70 drivers affecting the future of pension funds were identified and after initial refinement, the list of drivers was localized and by removing similar drivers and having little connection with the future environment of Iran, the final list of 47 drivers (Technology 11, Social 8, environmental 4, economic 15, political-institutional 9 driver) were selected in order to analyze cross effects and measure importance and uncertainty. Conclusion: According to the results of the research, the future of pension funds of Cooperation, Labor and Welfare Ministry is affected by four critical uncertainties including the influence of old generations in governance, the process of privatization of government jobs, the political nature of the government and sanctions. After logic giving to scenarios and eliminating incompatible and similar scenarios, there will be six scenarios: reconstruction after economic war, interaction and construction, brinkmanship, heroic flexibility, available victory and compromise and transition. The explanation of the challenges and opportunities in the six scenarios indicates that the challenges are: the aging of the population and the gradual increase in pension pressure, medical expenses and disability, the increase in climatic migrations and its direct impact on the reduction of the income of the villagers and nomads fund, the direct effect of drought on migration to cities, the increase of informal jobs in at least four scenarios will have an increasing and negative trend in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will give an overview of the entire fundamental, social rights and freedoms fixed on the Albanian Constitution. Part of the article will be focused on the comparative study on the reform of social assistance legislation from 90ties till now and the transformations which affected mostly the target of vulnerable people and victims of violence. Through a comparative study of social assistance laws, the evaluations of the achieved results of their implementation, the paper aims to achieve some reflections and critical opinions on what need to be improved and how the stakeholder should act to fulfill their duties. In Albania [World Bank (2018)], the economic aid scheme constitutes 25% of social aid and this occupies 1.35% of GDP. In 2019, 73.5% of Economic aid beneficiaries represent 30% of the poorest part of the population (ISTAT). The World Bank notes that the treatment with economic aid of approximately 9% of the population in the country, with poverty levels at 30.8% of the population, requires an emergency intervention with long-term social policies. INSTAT data shows that, women are more at risk of living in poverty than men at the level of 23.8% versus 22.2%. The victims of domestic violence as beneficiaries benefits only 0.2% of Economic Aid funds, which constitutes 0.5% of the total EA fund for 2020. As long as the law connects the right to monetary compensation with the status of a victim of domestic violence, obtained by a final court decision without paying attention to the socioeconomic situation, the levels of poverty will be higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the third distribution has become a new issue for common prosperity. There are still controversial or deviant understanding on the concept and function of the third allocation, and inadequate disclosure of the third allocation mechanism. Comparing existing views, this article argues that the third distribution is driven by moral emotions and carried out in the form of social self-help and mutual assistance. Charity is a special form with publicity and openness of the third distribution, and giving is a part of charity. While the third distribution is a basic social welfare system that meets human moral needs and diversified social service needs, it also has limitations such as instability, negative externality and governance failures. The third distribution follows the socialized mechanism “social identity-social interaction-social integration-social norms”, which is different from the individualism mechanism. This paper proposes to break down the industrial and institutional barriers, to innovate social governance mechanisms to promote the linkage between the third distribution subjects and resources integration, to develop social policies specially in the family policy and voluntary service policy, to improve charity laws as well as charity education and the construction of industry norms and credit system, to pay more attention to theoretical and open research on the third distribution and the combination of tradition and modernity, to strengthen interdisciplinary exchanges and mutual learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The number of food banks (charitable outlets of emergency food parcels) and the volume of food distributed by them increased multi-fold in the United Kingdom (UK) since 2010. The overwhelming majority of users of food banks are severely food insecure. Since food insecurity implies a nutritionally inadequate diet, and poor dietary intake has been linked to a number of diseases and chronic conditions, the rise in the number of people using food banks is a phenomenon of significant importance for public health. However, there is a shortage of robust, causal statistical analyses of drivers of food bank use, hindering social and political action on alleviating severe food insecurity. Methods A panel dataset of 325 local authorities in England was constructed, spanning 9 years (2011/12–2019/20). The dataset included information about the volume of parcels and the number of food banks in the Trussell Trust network, as well as economy-related, welfare system-related and housing-related variables. A quasi-experimental approach was employed in the form of a ‘first differencing’ ecological model, predicting the number of food parcels distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network. This neutralised bias from omitting time-constant unobserved confounders. Results Seven predictors in the model were statistically significant, including four related to the welfare system: the value of the main out-of-work benefit; the roll-out of Universal Credit; benefit sanctions; and the ‘bedroom tax’ in social housing. Of the remaining three significant predictors, one regarded the ‘supply’ side (the number of food banks in the area) and two regarded the ‘demand’ side (the proportion of working age population on out-of-work benefits; the proportion of working age population who were unemployed). Conclusion The structure of the welfare system has been partly responsible for driving food bank use in the UK since 2011. Severe food insecurity could be alleviated by reforming aspects of the benefit system that have been evidenced to be implicated in the rise in food bank use. More broadly, the findings provide support for ‘Health and Health Equity in All Policies’ approach to policymaking.

This study examined financial distress, conflict management, and co-parenting support among 254 couples receiving child welfare services. Using an actor-partner interdependence model, this study tested the indirect association between couples' financial distress and their perceptions of co-parenting support through the use of positive conflict management strategies. Indirect actor effects were found for both mothers and fathers such that financial distress was associated with reports of less positive conflict management behaviors, and in turn less co-parenting support. When mothers reported that they and their partner engaged in less positive conflict management behaviors, they were more likely to be perceived as less supportive by their co-parent. Model results did not differ for married versus unmarried couples. For couples experiencing financial distress, findings imply that how effectively couples experiencing financial distress manage conflict in their relationship could potentially spillover and influence how well they support each other in co-parenting their children. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the direction of the relationship between civic participation and well-being has evidenced that civic participation is a promoter of well-being among older adults in Europe. Accordingly, the objective of the present study is to identify and analyze the differences between European welfare systems regarding both civic participation and well-being. For this purpose, a logistic multilevel regression analysis was performed as an empirical strategy, using the cross-sectional data from the 9 waves of the European Social Survey (2002–2018). Significant differences in well-being were observed, with Anglo-Saxon elders being the healthiest, and the Nordic the happiest and most satisfied with their lives. In contrast, Eastern European seniors reported the lowest levels of well-being. Also, Nordic countries are the most civically engaged, followed by the Continental and Anglo-Saxon, while Mediterranean and Eastern countries engage the least. However, the impact of civic participation on well-being is strongest for the Mediterranean countries, while its impact on satisfaction and happiness is weakest for the Nordic countries. The 3 models of the multilevel analysis indicate that civic participation has a positive impact on health, happiness and life satisfaction, and that this effect is quite robust. Also, by adding country-level macro variables to the model, it is possible to reduce the random effects and hence to better explain these international differences. Concisely, the impact of civic participation on the well-being of the elderly differs across nations and should therefore be considered by policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes how gender equality influences the participation of European senior citizens in a range of volunteering activities (Social Awareness, Professional and Political, Education, and Religion). The main contribution is the simultaneous consideration of different levels of data aggregation: individual, national and welfare system. This allows conclusions to be drawn on the effects of variables linked to sociodemographic characteristics, gender equality and welfare systems. The empirical estimation utilised microdata from the World Values Survey (2005/09 and 2010/14) and the United Nations Development Programme. Results suggest that the European senior citizens appear to believe that they are more equal than the official statistics of their countries indicate. Men are more likely to participate in professional and education activities; women are more likely to be involved in religious organisations. Welfare systems influence volunteering behaviours. The promotion of macro-policies for gender equality could be important for increasing participation in non-profit organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of food banks (charitable outlets of emergency food parcels) and the volume of food distributed by them increased multi-fold in the United Kingdom (UK) since 2010. The overwhelming majority of users of food banks are severely food insecure. Since food insecurity implies a nutritionally inadequate diet, and poor dietary intake has been linked to a number of diseases and chronic conditions, the rise in the number of people using food banks is a phenomenon of significant importance for public health. However, there is a shortage of robust, causal statistical analyses of drivers of food bank use, hindering social and political action on alleviating severe food insecurity.Methods: A panel dataset of 325 local authorities in England was constructed, spanning 9 years (2011/12-2019/20). The dataset included information about the volume of parcels and the number of food banks in the Trussell Trust network, as well as economy-related, welfare system-related and housing-related variables. A quasi-experimental approach was employed in the form of a 'first differencing' ecological model, predicting the number of food parcels distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network. This neutralised bias from omitting time-constant unobserved confounders.Results: Seven predictors in the model were statistically significant, including four related to the welfare system: the value of the main out-of-work benefit; the roll-out of Universal Credit; benefit sanctions; and the 'bedroom tax' in social housing. Of the remaining three significant predictors, one regarded the 'supply' side (the number of food banks in the area) and two regarded the 'demand' side (the proportion of working age population on out-of-work benefits; the proportion of working age population who were unemployed).Conclusion: The structure of the welfare system has been partly responsible for driving food bank use in the UK since 2011. Severe food insecurity could be alleviated by reforming aspects of the benefit system that have been evidenced to be implicated in the rise in food bank use. More broadly, the findings provide support for 'Health and Health Equity in All Policies' approach to policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public perception of poverty is assumed to have a significant effect on the legitimacy and viability of welfare policies. The paper compares the public perceptions of poverty in the United States and in East-Central Europe and tests whether they reflect the individualism–structuralism dimension. It examines attributions for poverty in a preselected county in each area. Primary data collection is carried out using the methods of systematic data collection. These methods first certify a certain level of cultural competence in the field of interest, then provide reliable results with the use of a significantly smaller sample than mainstream social science methods. The paper concludes that the structural and individual explanations of poverty are endorsed to the same extent in both countries. Public perception of poverty does not reflect the differences of the welfare systems. The distinction between the two examined areas is sharpest with respect to health and health care-related items, to the family size, and to the role of friends. Policy makers need to be aware that it is vital to keep their minds open to both individualism and structuralism when working out anti-poverty strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes whether the belief that immigrants represent a threat to welfare sustainability relates to citizens' willingness to pay taxes. We approach this question using individual-level data from the 4th and 5th waves of the European Values Study (EVS). We find lower levels of tax morale among citizens who believe that immigrants are a strain on the welfare system. This suggests the possibility that the belief that immigration erodes the welfare system could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Moreover, our results reveal substantial cross-regional heterogeneity and that prejudices play a role in belief formation, issues that deserve the attention of scholars and politicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slovenia and Montenegro have a common past; however, they have also experienced diverse developments in the field of social policy over the last three decades. The social policy of the two countries is based on a Yugoslav welfare model, and yet the positions of the two countries were quite rather different even as part of Federal Yugoslavia, with Slovenia being one of the most developed territories within the federation, while Montenegro was one of the least developed. In this article, we will describe the position and main challenges of the transition of the two countries from 1990 in relation to the developments and changes in the core fields of social policy, such as the labour market and social assistance, family policy and old age policy. The emphasis will be on linking the diverse starting points, the process of transition and the direction of developments, within the framework of path dependent changes in the two welfare systems, as well as a discussion of the relevant structural pressures, such as the economic and social situation of the two countries and ways of coping with these pressures that were employed. In the conclusion, the changes within the individual fields of social policy will also be discussed in relation to the prevalent discourses of the neoliberal transformation of modern welfare states, along with the development of social investment perspectives within social policy as a whole.

Since some decades professionalism is profoundly changed and traditional approaches have now become insufficient to understand its developments, as mono-dimensional. During the 20th century many professions have been employed within organizational contexts, causing a bureaucratization and standardization of many professional activities. Organizations have become one of the main places in which professional practices take place and professionalism can no longer be considered a «third logic», different from market and bureaucracy (Freidson 2001). Pervasiveness of organizations in professional sphere has also led to the conceptualization of a new kind of «occupational professionalism» (Evetts 2006, 2011, 2014). The paper proposes a systemic perspective to the professions analysis within the organizational contexts, according to which the professional competence plays a pivotal role. The study focuses on social field and particularly on local systems of measures against poverty, providing the findings of a case-study conducted in Italy. Professional competences assumes a key role, as their exercise is currently affecting the redefinition of contents and strategies of social interventions, in the delicate balance between the consolidated settings (locally developed in heterogeneous way) and the orientation towards the administrative re-centralization at national level, within a common community framework.

. This essay investigates connections between informal practices and formal documents, in order to reflect on quality assessment tools in the Italian welfare system. The aim of this paper is to compare results carried out from ethnographic researches on mental health and on childcare in vulnerable families. The analysis explores writings describing medical treatments and focuses on rehabilitation processes related to the final inclusion in civil society. Associations and cooperatives constitute the services sector and undertake a strategic role in the experimentation of co-working methods empowering relationships. The anthropological perspective questions institutional methods of constructing individual memories, bringing out the risks of reductionism linked to the classification system of the disadvantage, the disease and the deviance. The ethnographic approach suggests to improve quality tabs by dialogues and collective discussions, involving social actors included in the healthcare processes. Introducing research in medical and social institutions strengthens observation skills of social experts and underlines the value of the social work. Despite the quantitative character of monitoring system, the implementation of assessment quality tools encourages to reconsider informal aspects of rehabilitation practices.

Modern economies rely on economic growth for stability and prosperity. Further, periods of stagnation and recession are currently associated with poor health and wellbeing outcomes for citizens. However, 50 years of research indicates that this state of dependency is ecologically unsustainable. It is therefore critical that we better understand the growth dependency of our economies and welfare systems, and how to overcome it. In this paper we first offer a working definition of growth dependency, clarifying its core dimensions. Next, taking the UK's adult social care sector as a case study, we argue that growth dependencies emerge in the welfare state as a result of three distinct dynamics: 1) growth in manifest needs; 2) labour productivity growth; 3) the pursuit of economic rents. Lastly, we propose a novel, sector-led framework for identifying, analysing and transforming growth dependencies. We make the case that the growth dependency of the welfare state is not inevitable, but is instead the product of specific social, economic and structural factors that can be disrupted and transformed, if we can find the political will to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article analyzes the turn to the emotional in advice literature on aging and its reception in the 1950s–1960s. "Positive emotions" were proclaimed a decisive factor in remaining healthy while old and being a productive member of the society. Yet, a close reading of the multiple narratives of aging written by a retired professional propagandist Tatiana Ivanova (1898–1968) reveals a tension between the prescribed "positive emotions" and feelings of sadness and uselessness caused by retirement, unfulfilled promises of the Soviet welfare system and particularly health problems that did not quite fit with the approved repertoire of an aging communist. This article seeks to enrich our understanding of late Soviet subjectivity by focusing not on just "speaking" or "thinking" but also "feeling" Soviet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies the concept of frames of reference to contemporary work and welfare dynamics by focusing on the growing relevance of company welfare in Italy after the 2008 crisis. The analysis considers how this occurred along three phases: in the first, a path-breaking case, Luxottica, demonstrates the potential of company welfare; then, Renzi's government promotes company welfare through tax breaks; finally, trade unions try to affect the diffusion of company welfare, displaying contrasting ideologies as well as pragmatic joint solutions in the process. Overall, two contiguous sub-frames – consultative unitarism and collaborative pluralism – offer the mainstream justification to the events and the policy debate around them, a debate in which the industrial relations scholarship played a key role. However, a critical interpretation is present too, suggesting that the relevance of company welfare is driven by the mobilisation of a political and economic elite and results in few cases of positive employment relations alongside broad social and economic imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Shenzhen University Humanities & Social Sciences is the property of Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities & Social Sciences) Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)