scholarly journals Welfare states and social inequality: Key issues in contemporary cross-national research on social stratification and mobility

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Cross National

Health inequalities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan P. Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
State Reform ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
National Governments

‘Health inequalities—persistence and change in European welfare states’ studies why frequencies of disease, disability, and premature mortality are higher among people with a lower socioeconomic position, even in countries with advanced welfare states. Drawing upon data from 30 countries covering more than three decades, it provides a comprehensive overview of trends and patterns of health inequalities, showing that these are not only ubiquitous and persistent, but also highly variable and dynamic. It provides a critical assessment of recent research into the explanation of health inequalities, discussing methodological pitfalls, summarizing findings from epidemiological, sociological, economic, and genetic studies, and reviewing nine overarching theories. Based on in-depth studies of the determinants of health inequalities in European countries, it shows that the persistence of health inequalities is due to a combination of mostly favourable changes in social stratification, massive but differential health improvements, and persistence of social inequality in material and non-material living conditions. It discusses why social inequality is so persistent, and whether welfare state reform could contribute to reducing health inequalities, and provides a systematic analysis of the inequitableness of health inequalities according to five theories of justice. It reviews recent attempts by European national governments to reduce health inequalities, showing that it is realistic to expect evidence-based policies to reduce absolute but not relative inequalities in health. This title is written for scientists and advanced students from various disciplines, as well as for public health professionals and policymakers, and is profusely illustrated and referenced.

Cross-National Variation in Socioeconomic Status and Delinquency: A Comparative Study of Adolescents from 26 European Countries

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 677-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Savolainen ◽  
Jukka Savolainen ◽  
Lorine A. Hughes ◽  
Jukka Savolainen ◽  
Lorine A. Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
National Differences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cross National

Abstract This research examined cross-national differences in the association between social class and delinquency. The poverty hypothesis expects socioeconomic disadvantage to exert a causal influence on delinquent behavior. This expectation implies that the individual-level association between family SES and delinquent offending will be attenuated at increased levels of collective social protection. The social selection perspective also assumes a negative relationship between SES and delinquency but explains it away as a spurious consequence of intergenerational transmission of antisocial propensity. In light of comparative research on social stratification, the selection perspective suggests that the association between low parental SES and offspring criminality may be stronger in advanced welfare states due to reduced influence of ascribed characteristics on socioeconomic attainment in these countries. Survey data from 26 European countries (n=78,703) were used to evaluate the validity of these conflicting hypotheses. In support of the selection perspective, results showed that class differences in delinquent offending are larger in more advanced welfare states.

New forms of intra-European migration, labour market dynamics and social inequality in Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Verwiebe ◽  
Laura Wiesböck ◽  
Roland Teitzer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Market Dynamics ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Migration

This article deals mainly with new forms of Intra-European migration, processes of integration and inequality, and the dynamics of emerging transnational labour markets in Europe. We discuss these issues against the background of fundamental changes which have been taking place on the European continent over the past two decades. Drawing on available comparative European data, we examine, in a first step, whether the changes in intra-European migration patterns have been accompanied by a differentiation of the causes of migration. In a second step, we discuss the extent to which new forms of transnational labour markets have been emerging within Europe and their effects on systems of social stratification.

Worldwide shadow education and social inequality: Explaining differences in the socioeconomic gap in access to shadow education across 63 societies

2021 ◽  
pp. 002071522098786
Author(s):  
Steve R Entrich
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Shadow Education ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Cross National

This article examines the cross-national differences in socioeconomic accessibility to shadow education (SE) across 63 societies. Drawing on arguments from two competing theoretical models either emphasizing cross-national cultural, economic, and institutional differences (e.g. model of secondary schooling, scale of SE) or universally working social reproduction mechanisms (e.g. enrichment features of SE), this study provides a novel approach to understanding the role of SE for social inequality. More specifically, while the first model explicitly allows equality in access to SE, the latter suggests that SE fosters inequality under all circumstances. Using data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and official sources, first, the difference in the probability of top in comparison to bottom socioeconomic strata to use SE is predicted separately for all societies, before analyzing what causes the found considerable cross-national variation in the socioeconomic gap in access to SE at the country level. Results indicate that differences in SE access are linked to incentives for high-performing students to use SE. These incentives are especially common in societies with higher educational institutional differentiation (e.g. early or mixed tracking schooling models). In societies with less stratified education systems, access to SE is more equal, wherefore the potential effect of SE to social inequality is dampened. Overall, findings suggest that simple generalizations based on existing theoretical models provide no comprehensive explanation for the connection between SE and inequality. Instead, prominent beliefs about the relationship between SE and inequality are questioned.

Micro-Firms and the Margins of Entrepreneurship

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Bögenhold ◽  
Uwe Fachinger
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Small Business Owners ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Experimental Market ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The One

This paper deals with the margins of entrepreneurship at which small business owners are working almost on their own with no or very few employees, and where some work for low returns and run firms that lack stability and/or prosperous dynamics. However, even the area of ‘entrepreneurship at the margins’ is a wide field, embracing not only the broad margins of entrepreneurship but also the fluid borders between entrepreneurship and the informal sector on the one side and the labour market system on the other. New firms – even those that are ultimately very successful – may be more or less created in an experimental market and product testing phase, in which business founders are still employed or registered as unemployed before becoming self-employed. In such cases, the practical starting-point of an entrepreneurial existence is part of a fluent continuum of different activities closely connected to the entrepreneur's sphere of dependent work as an employee or job-seeking during a period of unemployment. The paper addresses this area of entrepreneurship within an integrated framework, which combines entrepreneurship analysis with labour market research and studies on social stratification and social mobility. It contributes to the debate on entrepreneurship at the margins by combining selected empirical information on the case of Germany with conceptual ideas of a labour market perspective. The integrated approach highlights some key issues and raises further questions about the field of entrepreneurship.

Unemployment Insurance

2021 ◽  
pp. 572-588
Author(s):  
Ola Sjöberg ◽  
Eero Carroll ◽  
Joakim Palme
Keyword(s):  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Labour Supply ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Macroeconomic Stabilization ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Institutional Differences ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Cross National

Unemployment is one of the ‘old risks’ that modern welfare states can be seen to have responded to, but continues to be of great importance in the twenty-first century. Unemployment insurance also appears to be more ridden by political conflicts than other social policy programmes. This chapter describes the evolution of unemployment insurance schemes in eighteen long-standing welfare states. It dates the emergence of the first laws and traces the expansion of the coverage and replacement levels of benefits during the ‘Golden Age’ to more recent periods marked by economic crisis and retrenchment in the quality of unemployment protection. Four models of unemployment insurance are identified: voluntary state-subsidized, targeted, state corporatist, and comprehensive schemes. These models sum up institutional differences that are important for understanding the cross-national variation in a broad set of outcomes—ranging from individual conditions and behaviours, such as poverty and labour supply, to macroeconomic stabilization. The quality of unemployment insurance contributes to explain, among other things, differences in poverty rates over time and among nations.

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