Social Assistance

2021 ◽  
pp. 623-640
Author(s):  
Thomas Bahle ◽  
Claus Wendt
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Security System ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
The Welfare State

Social assistance guarantees basic social rights and provides means-tested, residual benefits to persons in need. It is the last safety net of the welfare state. The actual significance of social assistance varies by welfare regime: the more inclusive and generous a social security system, the less important usually is social assistance. In the Nordic countries, for example, with highly developed social security, few persons actually depend on social assistance. By contrast, in most countries with a liberal welfare regime, social assistance is an essential part of the welfare state. Yet in most cases, social assistance is not a viable alternative to inclusive social security. In Southern or Eastern European countries with rudimentary welfare states, social assistance is also patchy, exclusive, and rudimentary. In continental European countries, the situation varies by population group: most systems are more generous to the elderly than to families with children, and in particular to the unemployed. Moreover, in almost all countries social assistance benefits do not actually lift people out of poverty. Social assistance thus provides a basic minimum income for some groups, but does not effectively prevent poverty. In general, social assistance is more effective in countries in which it clearly operates as a last safety net within an otherwise well-developed overall social security system.

scholarly journals Making Socialism within Capitalism

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 168-175
Author(s):  
David Neilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
The Welfare State

Review of Jonathan Boston, Transforming the Welfare State. Techno-welfarism as a solution to Aotearoa New Zealand’s decaying social security system.

The Politics of Welfare in Turkey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erdem Yörük
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter examines the political dynamics that have shaped the transformation of the Turkish welfare system since the 1960s. Over the years, income-based social assistance policies have supplanted employment-based social security policies, while the welfare state has significantly expanded. To explain why and how the Turkish welfare state has expanded during neoliberalism and why social policies have shifted from social security to social assistance, the chapter focuses on the rivalries between mainstream parties and the impact of grassroots politics, as well as the political mechanisms that mediate and transform structural pressures into policies. The chapter illustrates that political efforts to contain the political radicalization of the informal proletariat and to mobilize its electoral support have driven the expansion of social assistance policies during the post-1980 neoliberal period. State authorities now see the informal proletariat as a more significant political threat and source of support than the formal proletariat whose dynamism drove the expansion of the welfare state during the pre-1980 developmentalist period. The chapter provides a historical analysis of the interaction between parliamentary processes and social movements in order to account for the transformation of welfare provision in Turkey. It concludes by locating Turkey in a larger context, in which other emerging markets develop similar welfare states as a response to similar political exigencies.

The Changing Shapes of Latin American Welfare States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyne Huber ◽  
Zoila Ponce de León
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Cash Assistance ◽  
The Welfare State

Latin American welfare states have undergone major changes over the past half century. As of 1980, there were only a handful of countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay) with social policy regimes that covered more than half of their population with some kind of safety net to insure adequate care during their old age and that provided adequate healthcare services. With few exceptions, access to social protection and to healthcare in these countries and others was based on formal employment and contributions from employees and employers. There were very few programs, and those few were poorly funded, for those without formal sector jobs and their dependents. The debt crisis and the ensuing neoliberal reforms then damaged the welfare state in all countries, including these leading nations. Deindustrialization, shrinking of the public sector, and cuts in public expenditures reduced both coverage and quality of transfers and services. Poverty and inequality rose, and the welfare state did little to ameliorate these trends. With the turn of the century, the economic and political situation changed significantly. The commodity boom eased fiscal pressures and made resources available for an increase in public social expenditure. Democracy was more consolidated in the region and civil society had recovered from repression. Left-wing parties began to win elections and take advantage of the fiscal room which allowed for the building of redistributive social programs. The most significant innovation has been expansion of coverage to people in the informal sector and to people with insufficient histories of contributions to social insurance schemes. The overwhelming majority of Latin Americans now have the right to some kind of cash assistance at some point in their lives and to healthcare provided by their governments. In many cases, there have also been real improvements in the generosity of cash assistance, particularly in the case of non-contributory pensions, and in the quality of healthcare services. However, the least progress has been made toward equity. With very few exceptions, new non-contributory programs were added to the traditional contributory ones; severe inequalities continue to exist in the quality of services provided through the new and the traditional programs.

5. Varieties

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Garland
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Developed Country ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
The Welfare State

Every developed country has a distinctive welfare state of its own. Welfare states generally rely on the same basic institutions, but these institutions can operate in different ways. Welfare state programmes are government programmes, but while public authority is necessary to establish, fund, and regulate these programmes, the nature of government involvement varies. Three worlds of welfare have been identified: social democratic; conservative; and liberal. ‘Varieties’ describes the welfare state regimes that developed in Sweden, Germany, and the USA, each of which exemplifies one of these ‘worlds’ of welfare. It goes on to consider briefly the welfare regimes beyond the ‘three worlds’ and how Britain’s welfare regime has changed over time.

scholarly journals Social Change and The Greek Welfare State Crisis (2010-2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Kourachanis
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Social ◽  
Welfare Model

This article attempts to utilize the concept of social change for the study of transformations in the Greek welfare state during the period of the multiple crises it is currently experiencing (2010–2020). This will be done through an analysis of the changes taking place in the Greek social security system, the backbone of social policy in Greece. The main argument is that, although there are fundamental differences in the development of the Greek welfare state compared to the welfare model of Western European countries, in the last decade there has been a convergence towards a neoliberal model of social policy. The elaboration of this claim will examine those theories of social change that attempt to explain the transition from the Keynesian to the neoliberal welfare state both in the period after 1970 and in the period after the Great Recession of 2008. The development of the Greek social security system over time is then examined, with a particular focus on the decade from 2010–2020. This will show that, despite the different context for the development of the social security system in Greece, the reforms imposed by austerity policies in the last decade have led to a convergence with the model of the neoliberal welfare state. The trend towards residualization and privatization of the social security system with a focus solely on the management of extreme poverty can be observed as one of the mechanisms of social change that are being adopted.

The vulnerable life course: poverty and social assistance among middle-aged and older women

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 709-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVY GUNNARSSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
Security Model ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
Life Courses

In Europe, older women are more likely than older men to be living in poverty, and the contrast is directly related to their domestic roles and labour market position during earlier phases of their life courses. Despite Sweden's well-developed social security system, the generalisation applies to its older women. This paper examines the current incomes and life courses of 14 middle-aged and older Swedish women who have periodically had to rely on social assistance. Their circumstances and living conditions are considered in relation to their earlier lives and to the contextual conditions of the country's welfare state. Both life course and feminist perspectives are applied. All the interviewed women had been the main carers of their children, and had worked part-time or in low-paid jobs. Their formal employment histories have been the foundation of their vulnerable economic situation in older age, which the Swedish social security system does little to combat. Unless the bases and assumptions of the social security model are changed, there will continue to be many older women who live a life of poverty or near poverty.

Repairing China's Social Safety Net

2005 ◽  
Vol 104 (683) ◽  
pp. 268-271
Author(s):  
Athar Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Harmonious Society ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
Social Safety Net

Recent years have seen a marked shift away from single-minded emphasis on economic growth toward the development of a ‘harmonious society.’ Progress in improving China's social security system probably will be much quicker over the next 20 years than in the previous 20, but reform will still be piecemeal.

scholarly journals Social Assistance Payments and Food Insecurity in Australia: Evidence from the Household Expenditure Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeromey Temple ◽  
Sue Booth ◽  
Christina Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Household Expenditure Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disability Support ◽  
Food Insecure Households

It is widely understood that households with low economic resources and poor labourmarket attachment are at considerable risk of food insecurity in Australia. However, little is knownabout variations in food insecurity by receipt of specific classes of social assistance payments thatare made through the social security system. Using newly released data from the 2016 HouseholdExpenditure Survey, this paper reports on variations in food insecurity prevalence across a range ofpayment types. We further investigated measures of financial wellbeing reported by food-insecurehouseholds in receipt of social assistance payments. Results showed that individuals in receiptof Newstart allowance (11%), Austudy/Abstudy (14%), the Disability Support Pension (12%),the Carer Payment (11%) and the Parenting Payment (9%) were at significantly higher risk of foodinsecurity compared to those in receipt of the Age Pension (<1%) or no payment at all (1.3%). Resultsfurther indicated that food-insecure households in receipt of social assistance payments enduredsignificant financial stress, with a large proportion co-currently experiencing “fuel” or “energy”poverty. Our results support calls by a range of Australian non-government organisations, politicians,and academics for a comprehensive review of the Australian social security system

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