Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Johan P. Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Short History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Per Se

Chapter 1 (‘Introduction’) provides a short history of the discovery and rediscovery of health inequalities, as well as a short history and typology of the welfare state, and lays out the paradox that this book tries to explain: the persistence of health inequalities in even the most universal and generous European welfare states. It argues that micro-level studies alone cannot resolve this paradox, and that macro-level studies are needed to identify the determinants of health inequalities as seen at the population level. This will also make it easier to put health inequalities into a broader perspective, for example, that of social inequality per se. This chapter ends with an extensive preview of the main conclusions of the book.

Entropy Law, Social Sustainability, and Development Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-41
Author(s):  
Ramprasad Sengupta
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Short History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

Chapter 1 introduces the concept and intuitive explanation of entropy law and shows how it plays a unifying role in the sustainability of the processes of development—economic, social, and environmental. It points out that the speed of extraction of resources and their uses in the finite planetary ecosystem have become unsustainable today. This is due to the speed of extraction exceeding the capacity of resource regeneration as well as the absorption of waste generated from the extraction and usage of resources, resulting in a state of increasing disorder. The chapter further points out that the combining of social and environmental sustainability with the process of economic growth would require the development of a social investment perspective for the economy along the lines of welfare statism. Thus it outlines a short history of welfare statism since the days of the Swedish welfare state in the last century in order to understand the changing compulsions of sustainability over time.

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.

scholarly journals Levelling up: Global examples of reducing health inequalities

2021 ◽  
pp. 140349482110224
Author(s):  
Clare Bambra
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Health Care Access ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
Care Access ◽  
The Social ◽  
The 1950S

There are significant inequalities in health by socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, gender, neighbourhood deprivation and other axes of social inequality. Reducing these health inequalities and improving health equity is arguably the ‘holy grail’ of public health. This article engages with this quest by presenting and analysing historical examples of when sizeable population-level reductions in health inequalities have been achieved. Five global examples are presented ranging from the 1950s to the 2000s: the Nordic social democratic welfare states from the 1950s to the 1970s; the Civil Rights Acts and War on Poverty in 1960s USA; democratisation in Brazil in the 1980s; German reunification in the 1990s; and the English health inequalities strategy in the 2000s. Welfare state expansion, improved health care access, and enhanced political incorporation are identified as three commonly held ‘levellers’ whereby health inequalities can be reduced – at scale. The article concludes by arguing that ‘levelling up’ population health through reducing health inequalities requires the long-term enactment of macro-level policies that aggressively target the social determinants of health.

Pandora’s Blocks

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-30
Author(s):  
Jack Parkin
Keyword(s):  
Short History ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Technical Functions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Many

Chapter 1 opens the lid on Bitcoin so that all of its attributes, problems, and connotations come spilling out. At the same time, it pulls these disparate strands back into focus by outlining the many discrepancies examined in subsequent chapters. So while in some ways the chapter acts like a primer for cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and their political economies, the material laid out works to set up the book’s underlying argument: asymmetric concentrations of power inevitably form though processes of algorithmic decentralisation. In the process, a short history of Bitcoin introduces some of its key stakeholders as well as some of its core technical functions.

The Critique of Commodification

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Christoph Hermann
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
History Of ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Welfare State

The chapter traces the intellectual history of the term “commodification” and presents major arguments against commodification from different strands of literature. Commodification was introduced into academic discourse in the 1970s by Marxist scholars who analyzed the transformation of culture, the emergence and spread of capitalism, as well as the nature of the welfare state. The term was then picked up by non-Marxist academics in various disciplines, usually to criticize certain kinds of monetary exchange or specific markets rather than capitalism per se. The chapter identifies three major strands of literature with distinctive arguments against commodification: the moral, pragmatic, and materialist critiques. It argues that only the materialist critique is able to see that commodification threatens the livelihood of people and the environment. After discussing differences between the three approaches, the chapter points to an important commonality: all critics of commodification believe that commodification has gone too far in recent decades.

The American Welfare State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Klosko
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Early History ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Political Justification ◽  
History Of

Background on the American welfare state. What we mean by welfare states; early history of American welfare state; causal factors in regard to how it developed, and the American welfare state in comparative perspective. We also look at the role of political justification in the development of American welfare programs.

scholarly journals Welfare Chauvinism, Populist Radical Right Parties and Health Inequalities Comment on "A Scoping Review of Populist Radical Right Parties’ Influence on Welfare Policy and its Implications for Population Health in Europe"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Bambra ◽  
Julia Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
Short Commentary ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
State Contraction ◽  
The Impact

In this short commentary, we examine the implications of the welfare chauvinism of the populist radical right (PRR) for health inequalities by examining the international evidence about the impact of previous periods of welfare state contraction on population health and health inequalities. We argue that parties from various political traditions have in fact long engaged in stigmatisation of welfare recipients to justify welfare state retrenchment, a technique that the PRR have now ‘weaponised.’ We conclude by reflecting on implications of the rise of the PRR for the future of welfare states and health inequalities in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Social inequality, the welfare state, and successful ageing

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Clemens Tesch-Römer ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Suresh I. S. Rattan ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Successful Ageing ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Life Courses ◽  
The Welfare State

Social inequality is one of the major challenges for successful ageing, and the welfare state may alleviate some of the unjust and unfair allocations of resources within a population. Socio-economic differences between individuals permeate life courses from conception to death. The concept of ‘inequality’ points to vertical differences between individuals in connection with unevenly distributed access to goods and resources of value, such as education, prestige, income, and wealth. The disposal of valued resources draws the line between those who have and those who have not. Important facets of social inequality are education, income, wealth, gender, and race. Considering diversity and inequality in a population, welfare states reveal themselves as central actors in shaping requirements for successful ageing.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document