scholarly journals Individual or Structural Inequality? Access and Barriers in Welfare Services for Women Who Sell Sex

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-318
Author(s):  
Anette Brunovskis ◽  
May-Len Skilbrei
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Welfare State

It is often taken for granted that women who sell sex are vulnerable, that welfare services can and should alleviate this vulnerability, and as such, being defined as ‘vulnerable’ can be beneficial and associated with special rights that would otherwise be inaccessible. At the same time, ongoing debates have demonstrated that establishing individuals and groups as vulnerable tends to mask structural factors in inequality and has negative consequences, among them an idea that the path to ‘non-vulnerability’ lies in changing the ‘afflicted’ individuals or groups, not in structures or in addressing unequal access to resources. In this article, we take this as a starting point and discuss challenges for the welfare state in meeting the varied and often complex needs of sex sellers. Based on qualitative research with service providers in specialised social and health services in Norway, we examine access and barriers to services among female sex sellers as well as how vulnerability is understood and shapes what services are available. An important feature of modern prostitution in Norway, as in the rest of Western Europe, is that sex sellers are predominantly migrants with varying migration status and corresponding rights to services. This has influenced the options available to address prostitution as a phenomenon within the welfare state and measures that have previously been helpful for domestic women in prostitution are not easily replicated for the current target population. A starting point in a theoretical understanding that considers vulnerability to be a human predicament (rather than the exception to the rule or a deficit in individuals or groups) allows for a discussion that highlights the centrality of structural conditions rather than a need for change in the individual. In order to understand the limitations of the welfare state in addressing modern prostitution as such, it is highly relevant to look at the structural origin of vulnerabilities that may look individual.

Feminism, Punishment and the Potential of Empowerment

1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
pp. 75-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laureen Snider
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Dominant Ideologies ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Welfare State

AbstractThis paper argues that understanding the potential roles law and the state can play as transformative tools in counter-hegemonic feminist struggle requires that they be historically and structurally situated and contextualized, for both can be and have been facilitative as well as repressive. The paper examines, first, the negative consequences of using criminal law and the criminal justice system as instruments of reform, arguing that criminal law lacks transformative potential because of its particular role vis-à-vis the welfare state, dominant ideologies, and the struggle for change. Rights struggles are examined next, and it is argued that feminists should engage with law only under certain specified conditions to advance particular aims. The paper suggests some legal dead ends feminists should avoid, then examines alternative strategies which, it is argued, have the potential to empower and thereby to produce real and lasting improvements in women's lives.

Controlling Public Spending and Striving for Efficiency

2021 ◽  
pp. 34-54
Author(s):  
Mårten Blix ◽  
Henrik Jordahl
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Delicate Balance ◽  
Changing Trends ◽  
Public Sector Efficiency ◽  
The Welfare State

Extensive welfare services require corresponding revenue. Large spending commitments imply that Sweden’s public sector finances are particularly sensitive to changing trends in demography and hours worked. A particular concern is that productivity growth in labour-intensive services is relatively difficult to uphold, the so-called Baumol effect. Increasing costs and spending pose a severe risk to the welfare state, but a risk that should be possible to handle. Though Sweden’s public finances remain among the strongest in the OECD, it will be a delicate balance to increase spending on welfare services at the desired rate. A continued focus on improving public sector efficiency will need to be coupled by a suitable balance between tax-funded services and parts that people will have to pay for privately.

Anatomy of Welfare Reforms 1970–2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-94
Author(s):  
Mårten Blix ◽  
Henrik Jordahl
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Personal Assistance ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Critical Policy ◽  
Welfare Reforms ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter summarizes the main events and reforms in Swedish welfare services 1970–2019 and explains the rise of private involvement and for-profit firms. Throughout these years, the country rapidly expanded the scope and generosity of the welfare state and in many instances had difficulties in meeting strong demand, especially for childcare services. In particular, the chapter charts the rise of private production shares in health care, elderly care, preschools and schools, as well as personal assistance for the disabled. The chapter is thematic in order to make the major trends accessible outside of Sweden. For the interested reader, critical policy decisions and legislation are provided in tables and figures. A birds-eye timeline showcases the major reforms, most of which were initiated at the local (municipal) level rather than from the national government. Underneath the transformation of the welfare state, there has been an ongoing political battle. The chapter explains why those in favour of privatizing welfare services have been more successful in that battle. In particular, there is a discussion of why the large and powerful Social Democrats have not reversed the development.

Decommodification and the Workfare State

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Holden
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Competition State ◽  
State Welfare ◽  
The Welfare State

Two related concepts have been used to understand the welfare state – ‘decommodification’ and the ‘workfare’ or the ‘competition’ state, as it relates to processes of ‘recommodification’. I show how these related literatures may be integrated in order to enhance our understanding of current labour market policies. Applying these concepts to an analysis of the ideas and policies of New Labour leads to the conclusion that state welfare services are being reconfigured to serve more effectively the needs of the market, through a process of ‘administrative recommodification’.

scholarly journals The Paradigmatic Struggle for Legitimacy of the Danish Welfare State regarding the Provision of Welfare Services – Taking care of vulnerable children and youths as a core problem

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Storm Pedersen ◽  
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff ◽  
Anna Lyneborg Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Moral Blindness ◽  
Core Problem ◽  
The Welfare State ◽  
Taking Care

The Danish welfare state constitutes a paradigmatic case of the welfare struggle of modern welfare states. Taking care of vulnerable children and youths is used as a case study here, to illustrate the efforts of the welfare state to acquire legitimacy as a body of public administration. That is, the efforts to close the gap between the welfare state´s ideology of doing what is ‘good’ for its citizens and doing this in practice. In this article, we analyze this struggle for legitimacy of the Danish welfare state with illustrations based on the case study. We present the concepts of biopower and moral blindness, in order to test the legitimacy of the welfare state´s provision of welfare services at the beginning of this century. We propose a new paradigm to improve the welfare state´s legitimacy. Our case is considered critical.

scholarly journals DIGITAL ECONOMY AS A FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SOCIAL STATE

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
Alla Silenko ◽  
Vira Bezrodna ◽  
Olga Nikogosyan
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
The State ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Welfare State

The digital economy is becoming a development trend in most modern countries, the basis for sustainable economic growth and living standards of the population. In this regard, it seems relevant to consider the significance of the impact of the digital economy on the welfare state. The purpose of the article is to study the influence of the digital economy on the quality and living conditions of citizens in a welfare state. Methodology. The study is based on a systemic approach, within which the digital economy has been viewed as an external phenomenon (input) that has been able to affect the welfare state system (output). Results. The hypothesis of the study that the digital economy improves the quality and living conditions of citizens in a welfare state was partially confirmed. However, it became clear that in addition to positive, the digital economy has negative consequences for people. For example, the digital economy improves the ability to solve many social problems, but at the same time creates new problems. For example, it creates new jobs, new professions, as a result of which workers in traditional professions become unclaimed. The digital economy not only solves and creates problems, but also exposes them. So, it has clearly outlined the problem of social inequality in Ukraine. Undoubtedly, the digitalization of public social services makes life easier for people, but only if they are prepared for this process. Digital illiteracy of the population, characteristic of countries lagging behind in technological development, including Ukraine, is an obstacle to the introduction of digitalization into the social sphere. At the same time, the state is not ready for the active introduction of digital technologies into the system of social policy yet due to the lack of necessary resources. Digitalization will not improve people’s lives until the state has funds for social policy. And yet, some measures are being taken in this direction.

The professional development of social work in Poland after 1989

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Pawlas-Czyz ◽  
Lars Evertsson ◽  
Marek Perlinski
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The State ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Welfare State

The close connection to the welfare state has been favourable for the development of many welfare professions. But the state does not always act as an ally. It can push professions in a direction they do not want to go. This happened to the social work profession in Poland where the social work profession claimed jurisdiction for working with children and families with complex needs, but the state chose to give jurisdiction to a new profession – the family assistants. In this chapter, it is argued that this type of jurisdictional dispute should be framed within a political framework, analysing welfare policies as a structuring link between state and professional jurisdiction. The “fate” of the social work profession in Poland reflects a lack of bargaining capacity vis-à-vis the state to tie social policies concerning social work with children and families to their jurisdiction.

scholarly journals Die Halbierung der Bürgerlichkeit

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (160) ◽  
pp. 325-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin Siri
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Third ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Welfare State

This article discusses the diagnosis of a rising 'neo-bourgeois' movement. Three different dimensions of 'Bürgerlichkeit' can be distinguished. The first is the historical idea of 'Bürgerlichkeit' as the starting point of all social theory. The second is the empirical rise of 'Bürgerlichkeit' as a strongly loaded concept in the self-description of mass medial actors, who deny the rights of the ‘underclass’ and the merit of the welfare state. The third is the idea of 'Bürgerlichkeit' in the Marxist sense of bourgeois, which is often used by the critiques of the mentioned discourse. A constructivist analysis shows that what has been recently discussed as the rise of a neo-bourgeois movement, can be described more precisely as a mass media phenomenon which does not necessarily find its correspondence in the social structure.

scholarly journals Mauno Koivisto Lecture: 2014 The Nordic welfare model and welfare services – Can we maintain acceptable standards?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Torben M. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Income Elasticity ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
The Public ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Lower Productivity ◽  
Welfare Model ◽  
The Welfare State

A key feature of the Nordic welfare model is provision of welfare services like care, education and health. They are individual entitlements, and collectively financed. It is a prerequisite that contemporary standards of services are provided; thus the public solution is not a second rate solution used only by those who cannot afford better solutions. Can the Nordic welfare model meet this objective in the future? Increasing productivity and wealth challenge this. Services tend to have lower productivity growth and thus to become more expensive (Baumol’s cost disease), but also to have a high income elasticity, and thus demands rise alongside improved material living standards (Wagner effects). The same implies to leisure, implying that tax bases may be eroded. In short, expenditures are on an upward drift and revenues on a downward trend, challenging the financial viability of the welfare model. This seems to leave a conundrum for the welfare state in the sense that the success of the model in improving living standards tends to undermine the possibility of attaining key objectives of the welfare state. It is argued that although the welfare state will be financially strained, these challenges can be met without jeopardizing its fundamental objectives.

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