scholarly journals Social inclusion in the knowledge economy: unions’ strategies and institutional change in the Austrian and German training systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niccolo Durazzi ◽  
Leonard Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Change ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Training System ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Institutional Resources ◽  
Knowledge Economies ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Formation Systems

AbstractAs skill formation systems are increasingly under pressure from de-industrialization and the rise of knowledge economies, their ability to include the low-skilled has been strained. But what determines how skill formation systems adjust to this challenge? By explaining the divergence of two most-similar systems, those of Austria and Germany, the article highlights the key role of trade unions and of the institutional resources and legacies available to them. Where institutional resources are high and legacies positive, as in Austria, unions were crucial in setting an inclusive pathway of reform of the training system. Where, on the contrary, institutional resources are low and legacies negative, as in Germany, unions’ strategies for inclusion failed, paving the way to a dualizing outcome. The article therefore provides a novel analysis of institutional change in skill formation systems, while also offering broader insights on the relationship between coordinated and egalitarian capitalism in post-industrial knowledge-based economies.

scholarly journals Social inclusion and collective skill formation systems: policy and politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110356
Author(s):  
Niccolo Durazzi ◽  
Leonard Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Thematic Review ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Formation Systems

This thematic review essay focuses on the relationship between social inclusion and collective skill formation systems. It briefly surveys foundational literature in comparative political economy and comparative social policy that documented and explained the traditionally socially inclusive nature of these systems. It reviews how the literature conceptualized the current challenges faced by collective skill formation systems in upholding their inclusive nature in the context of the transition to post-industrial societies. It then discusses in detail a recent strand of literature that investigates the policy responses that have been deployed across countries to deal with these challenges. It concludes by providing heuristics that may be useful for researchers who seek to advance the study of the policy and politics of social inclusion in collective skill formation systems.

Social partner involvement in collective skill formation governance. A comparison of Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Emmenegger ◽  
Lina Seitzl
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Systemic Governance ◽  
Partner Involvement ◽  
Formation Systems

Dual vocational education and training (VET) with social partner involvement in its governance can typically be found in collective skill formation systems. This article reviews the diversity of collective skill formation systems with a particular focus on their systemic governance. In particular, we look at the actors involved as well as how the systemic governance is organised in terms of corporatist decision-making bodies. The article shows that there are important cross-national differences. First, the social partners do not always participate in the decision-making at the political-strategic level. Second, social partner involvement is not always on equal terms (parity), with trade unions in some cases being less strongly involved. Third, differences in VET governance are particularly pronounced at the technical-operational level. Empirically, the article focuses on the five prototypical collective skill formation systems Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

scholarly journals Social versus liberal collective skill formation systems? A comparative-historical analysis of the role of trade unions in German and Swiss VET

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Emmenegger ◽  
Lukas Graf ◽  
Alexandra Strebel
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
World War ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World ◽  
Formation Systems

We distinguish between social and liberal collective skill formation systems and demonstrate that the German VET system is a social system with a strong (parity) role for trade unions in its governance. In contrast, unions play a considerably weaker role in the more liberal Swiss system, which privileges employers’ interests. We show that the different position of unions in VET systems has the expected consequences on a range of indicators. We further examine why unions are less important in Switzerland and show how, after the First World War, differences in the institutional environment and power resources of the union movements set Germany and Switzerland on different paths, which are still visible today.

Disappointing poverty trends: is the social investment state to blame?

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Vandenbroucke ◽  
Koen Vleminckx
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
The Eu

Should we explain the disappointing outcomes of the Open Method of Co-ordination on Inclusion by methodological weaknesses or by substantive contradictions in the ‘social investment’ paradigm? To clarify the underlying concepts, we first revisit the original ‘Lisbon inspiration’ and then relate it to the idea of the ‘new welfare state’, as proposed in the literature on new risks in post-industrial societies. We then discuss two explanations for disappointing poverty trends, suggested by critical accounts of the ‘social investment state’: ‘resource competition’ and a ‘re-commodification’. We do not find these explanations convincing per se and conclude that the jury is still out on the ‘social investment state’. However, policy-makers cannot ignore the failure of employment policies to reduce the proportion of children and working-age adults living in jobless households in the EU, and they should not deny the reality of a ‘trilemma of activation’. Finally, we identify policy conditions that may facilitate the complementarity of social investment and social inclusion.

scholarly journals Training Regimes and Skill Formation in France and Germany: An Analysis of Change between 1970 and 2010

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Elbers ◽  
Thijs Bol ◽  
Thomas Albert DiPrete
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
General Education ◽  
School To Work ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Analysis Of Change ◽  
Formation Systems

How do educational systems prepare workers for the labor market? Stratification research has often made a distinction between two ideal-types: “qualificational spaces,” exemplified by Germany with a focus on vocational education, and “organizational spaces,” exemplified by France with a focus on general education. However, most studies that investigated this distinction did so by focusing only on the size of the vocational sector, not on whether graduates with a vocational degree actually link strongly to the labor market. Moreover, they often studied male workers only, ignoring potential gender differences in how school-to-work linkages are established. In this paper, we map the change in education-occupation linkage in France and Germany between 1970 and 2010 using an approach that can distinguish between changes in rates and changes in the structure of school-to-work linkages. Surprisingly, we find that the German vocational system in 1970 was not, on average, substantially more efficient in allocating graduates to specific occupations than the French system. This finding is a major departure from earlier results, and it shows that the differences between 1970's France and Germany, on which the qualificational-organizational distinction is based, are smaller than previously assumed. Partly, this is due to the fact that the female labor force was omitted from earlier analyses. We thus show that ignoring the female workforce has consequences for today's conception of skill formation systems, particularly because a large share of educational expansion is caused by an increase in female enrollment in (higher) education.

scholarly journals Media education as counterpoint to the devastation of public information in Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Nada Torlak ◽  
Momčilo Jokić
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
The Media ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Post Industrial

In modern information and IT society, creativity is elevated to a pedestal as a condition for market success, but also survival. In other words, in post-industrial production, or the entire economy, and certainly media companies, which of course operate according to market principles and are based on information, creativity is the most wanted commodity. In the modern knowledge society, there has been a strong affirmation of the phenomenon of cultural, that is, creative industries that have great importance for the economic, social, political and general development of society. At the same time, changes in the economic, technological and cultural spheres have strongly influenced changes in the media, as an important creative industry. This means that media products (information, videos, pics) and the media are industry, not only because of the rating criteria which dictate the direction of business but also because it is about mass production and consumers. Creativity is an important strategic resource for increasing competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. However, media policy does not encourage the systematic promotion of creativity. Consumerist entertainment industry suppresses and marginalizes authentic, creative cultural practices, replacing them with pseudo-cultural contests. The integration of theoretical knowledge and education into the Serbian media sphere is practically at the zero points with recurrences that seriously undermine the overall development, application of knowledge, modern technological achievements, and the affirmation of democracy and freedom as the basic precondition for the overall prosperity of society.

Building an Interactive E-Lab

2011 ◽  
pp. 217-223
Author(s):  
Kin Cheong Chu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Experimental Data ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Training System ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Remote Locations ◽  
Knowledge Based

There has been an increasing emphasis on enhancing students’ practical experience acquiring from the higher education, focusing not only on the development of academic and intellectual capabilities and subject knowledge, but also on the development of skills to equip students for employability. A practical training system that allows instruments to be monitored and controlled over the Internet leaves plenty of room to be studied. This training system can easily be turned into online experiment that allows students at remote locations to control and obtain real-time measurements or experimental data (Tan & Soh, 2001). Actually, some students like to read books to gain knowledge, while others prefer to understand theories deeper through experiment (Chu, 1999; Whelan, 1997). Both of these knowledge-based and investigative types of learning styles have profound and different effects on the delivery and acceptance of engineering education.

scholarly journals Knowledge Economy Indicators and Their Impact on the Sustainable Competitiveness of the EU Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Širá ◽  
Roman Vavrek ◽  
Ivana Kravčáková Vozárová ◽  
Rastislav Kotulič
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
Topsis Method ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Multi Criteria Evaluation ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Knowledge Economies ◽  
The Eu

In today’s turbulent world influenced by globalization, knowledge is becoming a key factor in the market. Every economy, if it wants to be successful and competitive, must pay more attention to knowledge and its creation, transfer, and preservation. In this respect, it is a key element in ensuring a country’s sustainable position in a competitive environment. Based on this, we set out the main idea of the article as follows: increased emphasis on the factors of a knowledge-based economy affects the growth of the country’s competitiveness, which contributes to its better sustainability. To verify the idea, we used a multi-criteria evaluation of countries by the TOPSIS method and a subsequent regression model. We examined developments in the EU countries over a period of 11 years in selected indicators typical for the knowledge economies, in the area of competitiveness. Finally, we examined the sustainability of EU countries. Based on the findings of these methods, we identified the leading country—Sweden—in the field of knowledge economy, competitiveness, and sustainability.

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