Universality or Selectivity in Income Support to Older People? A comparative assessment of the issues

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHEILA SHAVER

This article reviews the issues involved in policy choices with respect to universality and selectivity in income support to older people. It considers four questions: the practical meaning of universality and selectivity in the income support systems of various countries, the effectiveness of universal and selective arrangements in the alleviation of poverty among this group, the role of universal and selective arrangements in redistributing income among elderly people and the relative generosity of universal and selective arrangements. The article draws on data from the ‘second wave’ of the Luxembourg Income Study for six countries: Australia, (West) Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, concerning the incomes of elderly couples and single (non-married) women. It concludes that while selective income support arrangements achieve greater redistribution in favour of low income elderly people for the same expenditure than do universal ones, selective arrangements do not necessarily perform better in other respects, and, in particular, are associated with low levels of benefit income.

1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald E. Gelfand

Services for older people in many countries now appear to have strong similarities. There are, however, important differences in the directions and emphases of these services. This article examines factors related to differing trends in the development of services in the United States and West Germany, two countries that currently have major economic, social, and political commonalities. The differing historical development of these two countries is traced and related to the structure of services for the elderly, the role of professionals in developing these services, and the relative emphases on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Predictions of future trends in services for older persons in the two countries are also explored.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932110115
Author(s):  
Benoît Dupont ◽  
Thomas Holt

This volume highlights the central role of the human factor in cybercrime and the need to develop a more interdisciplinary research agenda to understand better the constant evolution of online harms and craft more effective responses. The term “human factor” is understood very broadly and encompasses individual, institutional, and societal dimensions. It covers individual human behaviors and the social structures that enable collective action by groups and communities of various sizes, as well as the different types of institutional assemblages that shape societal responses. This volume is organized around three general themes whose complementary perspectives allow us to map the complex interplay between offenders, machines, and victims, moving beyond static typologies to offer a more dynamic analysis of the cybercrime ecology and its underlying behaviors. The contributions use quantitative and qualitative methodologies and bring together researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, and Canada.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1528-1551 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAIRE PRESTON ◽  
STEPHEN MOORE

ABSTRACTThe drive to deliver services addressing loneliness in older people by telephone and online makes it increasingly relevant to consider how the mode of communication affects the way people interact with services and the capacity of services to meet their needs. This paper is based on the qualitative strand of a larger mixed-methods study of a national phoneline tackling loneliness in older people in the United Kingdom. The research comprised thematic analysis of four focus groups with staff and 42 semi-structured interviews with callers. It explored the associations between telephone-delivery, how individuals used the services and how the services were able to respond. To understand these associations, it was useful to identify some constituent characteristics of telephone communication in this context: namely its availability, reach and non-visual nature. This enabled various insights and comparison with other communication media. For example, the availability of the services attracted people seeking frequent emotional support but this presented challenges to staff. More positively, the ability of the services to connect disparate individuals enabled them to form different kinds of satisfying relationships. The evolution of mixed communication forms, such as internet-based voice communication and smartphone-based visual communication, makes analysis at the level of a technology's characteristics useful. Such a cross-cutting perspective can inform both the design of interventions and assessment of their suitability for different manifestations of loneliness.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139
Author(s):  
Monika Jean Ulrich Myers ◽  
Michael Wilson

Foucault’s theory of state social control contrasts societal responses to leprosy, where deviants are exiled from society but promised freedom from social demands, and the plague, where deviants are controlled and surveyed within society but receive some state assistance in exchange for their cooperation.In this paper, I analyze how low-income fathers in the United States simultaneously experience social control consistent with leprosy and social control consistent with the plague but do not receive the social benefits that Foucault associates with either status.Through interviews with 57 low-income fathers, I investigate the role of state surveillance in their family lives through child support enforcement, the criminal justice system, and child protective services.Because they did not receive any benefits from compliance with this surveillance, they resisted it, primarily by dropping “off the radar.”Men justified their resistance in four ways: they had their own material needs, they did not want the child, they did not want to separate from their child’s mother or compliance was unnecessary.This resistance is consistent with Foucault’s distinction between leprosy and the plague.They believed that they did not receive the social benefits accorded to plague victims, so they attempted to be treated like lepers, excluded from social benefits but with no social demands or surveillance.


1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-360 ◽  

The January 14, 1960, meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was preceded by a meeting of representatives of the organization's eighteen members and of the United States and Canada to examine the resolutions adopted by a special economic conference. At this meeting, which ended with approval of a move sponsored by the United States that was designed to reorganize economic cooperation and transform the organization, it was decided, and subsequently approved by the OEEC Council and the United States and Canada, that: 1) four experts, representing respectively North America, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the European Economic Community (EEC) and other European nations, would prepare a report on the transformation of OEEC for consideration by senior officials of twenty countries, namely, the OEEC nations and the United States and Canada, at a meeting scheduled for April 19, 1960; 2) a preparatory meeting of representatives of the same twenty nations would be held in a month's time, when decisions would be taken to appoint a permanent chairman, a secretariat, and working parties to look into outstanding trade problems; and 3) a group, consisting of Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom, and a representative of EEC, would be informally set up to coordinate aid policies to underdeveloped countries. The outcome of the discussions was regarded as paving the way for a new Atlantic economic grouping, composed of the members of OEEC plus the United States and Canada, which would give priority to consideration of the problems between the two rival European economic groups, EEC and EFTA. Other matters discussed by the Council were the removal of discriminatory measures against imports from the dollar zone and the increase in assistance to underdeveloped countries.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (02) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
R. A. Dick ◽  
J. E. Laframboise

This paper utilizes available data on existing icebreaking ships to compile a review of the design features that influence ship performance. The data were extracted from a recently completed review of the state of the art of Arctic ship technology and include icebreaking ships from Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, and West Germany. It is the aim of this paper to offer guidance in the initial stages of icebreaker design and thereby give confidence to the designer in the selection of dimensions, hull shape and propulsion.


Author(s):  
Stuart Poyntz

The history of youth and media culture can be examined by tracing the relationships between the production, representation, circulation, and consumption of media, technology, and cultural texts aimed at youth markets and audiences. The historical development of youth relates to larger socioeconomic, cultural, and political conditions, including the role of mass reproduction and changes in the conditions of distance that shape youth lives. Youth and mass media first melded together in the West, owing to developments in the United States and the United Kingdom. The histories of media and youth culture in other countries, however, capture differences in youth media relationships. In the contemporary period, the use of YouTube in the West and WeChat in China illuminates the globalization of youth cultures and the ongoing role of a central paradox integral to young people’s entanglements with media around the world: the key media structures that shape and contour youth lives are also the very sites where youth continue to navigate authentic meaning and experience and imagine their own futures.


Author(s):  
Giacomo Luciani

This chapter looks at the role of oil in the political economy and the international relations of the Middle East. Oil is commonly considered a political commodity. Because of its pivotal importance as a primary source of energy, governments are concerned with its continued availability and seek to minimize import dependence. Historically, interest in oil — especially in the United Kingdom and the United States — strongly influenced attitudes towards the Middle East and the formation of the state system in the region, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Oil also affects the power balance within the region. The polarization in the region between oil-rich and oil-poor states is thus an essential tool of analysis. The parallel distinction between rentier and non-rentier states helps to explain how oil affects the domestic political development of the oil-rich states and influences their regional relations.


Author(s):  
Shane O’Hanlon ◽  
Margot Gosney

Increasing life expectancy has led to a higher incidence and prevalence of cancer in older people, with the largest increase in the 75 and over age group. This group is much more likely to develop cancer than younger people. The incidence rate is higher for older males and varies by cancer type. The rate begins to decline in the 85 and over age group, however mortality continues to rise with age. Older people with cancer are undertreated compared to younger people. Overall survival rates are improving, but there is a widening gap in outcomes between younger and older people. The United Kingdom has poorer outcomes than the United States and other European countries. This chapter discusses recent trends in cancer epidemiology and outlines modern approaches towards assessment and care, including consideration of frailty and comprehensive geriatric assessment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-425
Author(s):  
Yishan Shen ◽  
Eunjin Seo ◽  
Dorothy Clare Walt ◽  
Su Yeong Kim

This study focused on early adolescents’ stress of language brokering and examined the moderating role of family cumulative risk in the relation of language brokering to adjustment problems. Data came from self-reports of 604 low-income Mexican American adolescent language brokers (54% female; [Formula: see text]= 12.4; SD = 0.97; 75% born in the United States) and their parents (99% foreign-born) in central Texas. Path analyses revealed that brokering stress, but not frequency, was positively associated with adolescents’ adjustment problems, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and delinquency. We also found that the relation between stress of brokering for mothers and adolescents’ depressive symptoms was stronger among families with a high cumulative risk. Further, with a high cumulative risk, adolescents exhibited delinquent behaviors regardless of the levels of stress from translating for fathers. Current findings underscore the importance of examining family contexts in assessing the consequences of language brokering for Mexican American early adolescents’ well-being.


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