scholarly journals Challenges and Risks of Individualisation in The Netherlands

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudie Knijn
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Economic Independence

This article evaluates recent transformations in social policy that reflect the tendency towards individualisation in The Netherlands. Such transformations have taken place in old age pensions, widows' pensions, social assistance and taxation, and in respect of child support following divorce. Interestingly most reforms have not resulted in ‘full individualisation’, but rather have taken into account the fact that people, in particular women, are not or cannot be assumed to be full-time adult workers. Such a ‘moderate individualisation’, however, is not without risks for women's economic independence, especially when the developments of the Dutch ‘life course perspective’ on social security are considered.

scholarly journals Joint Family and Work Trajectories and Multidimensional Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Comolli ◽  
L. Bernardi ◽  
M. Voorpostel
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Family And Work ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Family Trajectories

AbstractInformed by the life course perspective, this paper investigates whether and how employment and family trajectories are jointly associated with subjective, relational and financial wellbeing later in life. We draw on data from the Swiss Household Panel which combines biographical retrospective information on work, partnership and childbearing trajectories with 19 annual waves containing a number of wellbeing indicators as well as detailed socio-demographic and social origin information. We use sequence analysis to identify the main family and work trajectories for men and women aged 20–50 years old. We use OLS regression models to assess the association between those trajectories and their interdependency with wellbeing. Results reveal a joint association between work and family trajectories and wellbeing at older age, even net of social origin and pre-trajectory resources. For women, but not for men, the association is also not fully explained by proximate (current family and work status) determinants of wellbeing. Women’s stable full-time employment combined with traditional family trajectories yields a subjective wellbeing premium, whereas childlessness and absence of a stable partnership over the life course is associated with lower levels of financial and subjective wellbeing after 50 especially in combination with a trajectory of weak labour market involvement. Relational wellbeing is not associated with employment trajectories, and only weakly linked to family trajectories among men.

scholarly journals Improving Literacy Skills A Call to Action

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Canadian Education Association
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Literacy Development ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Call To Action

A anadian Agenda for Literacy must take a life course perspective, addressing factors from before birth to old age that positively impact literacy development and that are amenable to public policy action. The agenda should include policies aimed at (a) improving literacy skills and (b) ensuring that literacy skills are required and valued in both social and economic contexts.

scholarly journals The Life Course Construction of Inequalities in Health and Wealth in Old Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Michel Oris ◽  
Marie Baeriswyl ◽  
Andreas Ihle
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Cumulative Processes ◽  
The Life Course

AbstractIn this contribution, we will mobilize the interdisciplinary life course paradigm to consider the processes through which individual heterogeneity in health and wealth is constructed all along life, from the cradle to old age. Considering altogether historical, family and individual times, the life course perspective has been developed in sociology, (lifespan) psychology and epidemiology, and has framed many important studies during the last four decades. The theory of cumulative disadvantage is for sure the most popular in social sciences, explaining how little inter-individual differences early in life expand all along life to reach maximal amplitude among the “young old” (before the selection by differential mortality at very old age). In lifespan psychology, the theory of cognitive reserve (educational level being a proxy) and its continuation, the theory of use or disuse (of cognition during adult life) have more or less the same explanatory power, cognition being a decisive precondition for active ageing and quality of life in old age. However, in spite of the success of those theoretical bodies, a prominent figure in the field, Glen Elder, recently observed that there is surprisingly little evidence for cumulative processes and that a wide variety of model specifications remain completely untested. This finding makes even more important a critical review of the literature which summarize several robust evidences, but also discuss contradictory results and suggest promising research tracks. This exercise considers the life course construction of inequalities in the distribution of objective resources older adults have (or not) “to live the life they own value” (to quote A. Sen 2001). But it is also crucial to consider the subjective component that is inherent to the understanding of well-being.

scholarly journals Portrayal of Life Stages on Swedish Municipal Media: A Life Course Perspective

Vista ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 93-115
Author(s):  
Wenqian Xu
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Older People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Stage Grouping ◽  
Media Portrayal

Media portrayal of older adults is an expression of social realities and expectations, and the image of ageing has significant implications for intergenerational relations. A life course perspective is suggested for viewing old age as the final stage of successive lifespan development and investigating the social meaning of old age through comparisons of life stages. This article focuses on the visual portrayal of citizens at a particular life stage (infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age) in Swedish municipal new media. It aims to examine the ways that the municipality visually portrayed citizens at different life stages, as well as the media portrayal of older people that was produced from a life course perspective. This study is based on document analysis of municipal guidelines for visual language and other pertinent documents, as well as in- depth visual analysis of six representative Facebook photos published by the municipality in 2018. This article finds that the municipality has designated diversity and inclusiveness (including age) as two vital communication goals, in addition to applying a life-stage grouping technique to audience analysis. Visual analysis reveals that the visual portrayal of citizens is communicated using a set of traits attributed to the life stages represented. Specifically, these findings suggest that the particular visual components serve to categorize older people as a vulnerable group, while perpetuating age stereotypes and ageist perceptions in society.

scholarly journals Taking a life Course Perspective on Social Assistance use in Canada: A different approach

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cooke ◽  
Amber Gazso
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Parcours De Vie ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract In this paper we argue that a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada can offer a more nuanced theoretical understanding of both individuals’ experiences and the importance of social structure, than more traditional sociological or economic approaches to welfare use. We also propose that examining social assistance use in this way does not require longitudinal quantitative or qualitative data, as is sometimes suggested, but that cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data can be interpreted through a life course lens. We demonstrate this by examining the covariates of social assistance receipt using cross-sectional quantitative data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, and by analysing qualitative interviews with recipients about the process of beginning and barriers to ending benefit receipt. These analyses show not only how the cross-sectional data can easily be considered from the perspective of the life course, but also how this perspective provides a more satisfactory understanding of how social assistance polices can be thought of as both providing resources that are important in individual decision-making and as shaping lives. Résumé d’article Dans cet article, nous montrerons que le paradigme du parcours de vie sur le bien être social au Canada peut offrir une compréhension théorique plus nuancée des expériences des individus avec ces programmes qu’une approche traditionnelle sociologique et économique face à l’usage du bien être social, tout en reliant cet usage à de plus larges structures sociales. Nous proposons aussi qu’examiner l’assistance sociale de cette façon ne requiert pas de données longitudinales quantitatives ou qualitatives, tel qu’il l’est parfois suggéré, mais que des données quantitatives et qualitatives qui se croisent peuvent être interprétées à travers la loupe de la durée d’une vie. Nous démontrons ceci en examinant les covariantes de la réception à l’assistance sociale, covariantes agencées en se servant des données quantitatives sectionnelles tirées du Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu (EDTR) et en analysant les interviews qualitatives des bénéficiaires à propos de leurs démarches initiales et leurs obstacles jusqu’à la réception finale de leurs bénéfices. Ces analyses montrent non seulement que des données sectionnelles qui se croisent peuvent être facilement considérées du point de vue de la perspective du cours d’une vie, mais aussi comment cette perspective fournit une compréhension plus satisfaisante de la façon dont on peut voir la double importance des politiques qui offrent des ressources aux individus et qui changent leur vie.

scholarly journals PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS IN BULGARIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Simeon Simeonov
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Decentralized System ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
The Social

Social policy as a set of principles, legal norms, activities and institutions, aimed at creating conditions that ensure the quality of life of the citizens of a country, is an expression of the social relations between the state and its citizens. Social policy determines safety (social, health, economic) and security of the individuals in society.Social policy should be seen as an activity that guarantees the security of those affected by the risks of labour, family and life. In a broader sense, social policy regulates a very broad range of social relationships that relate to employment, income, education, and others. Social security can therefore be seen as the main objective of social policy. In modern concepts, social security is perceived as a system of public rules, institutions and social payments that enable the dignified exitense of every person, who in an unusual state of vitality. Social security can therefore be seen as a set of measures to protect people in an unusual situation. Forms of social security: social security coverage; social assistance; social provision.Apart from thier nature, purpose and funding, social security and social assistance differ according to the principles of organization and management. Social assistance is a decentralized system, and social security can be centralized or decentralized depending on the principles adopted. Through these forms of social security, people receive material security for their existence on the basis of common and unified rules. In any case, however, not always will the indigent be covered by these forms of social security, regardless of their social protection needs. It is possible that even socially protected persons may be in need because of the low income recevied by this system. In such cases the intervention of social assistance is needed as a means of “plugging the holes”. For the sake of clarity, social security can be defined as the first defense net, and social assistance as the second defense net, i.e. social assistance must take on the part of the population which, for one or other reason, does not fall from or land either from the upper levels of the social protection system or when the level of this protection has been insufficient or it provides social protection from the last instance.

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