scholarly journals Lost in Transition? Employment and Family Change for Mid-Life Men

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Callister
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Newspaper Article ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Disability Benefit ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Social Expectation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

Under the provocative title ‘Useless, jobless men – the social blight of our age’?, a May 2010 British newspaper article posed the question as to whether the UK benefits system has produced an ‘emasculated’ generation of men who can find neither work nor a wife. Informed by a review of international literature, we use census, HLFS and benefit data to explore these issues within a New Zealand context. We demonstrate how a group of mid life males on the margins of work and family life have emerged in New Zealand and show how this has been drivenbyanumberofchangesinlabourmarkets,particularlyinrelationtothelowskilled; inmarriagemarkets;andthroughtheworkingsof the benefit system. Although our research suggests that the size of this marginalised group is relatively small, the men we are concerned about are at the heart of a number of difficult contemporary policy issues such as the rise in disability benefit receipt and incarceration. Historically, low skilled males were a major focus of policy ­ the breadwinner model ­ which focussed on reinforcing the social expectation that men’s role was in work and married. We suggest there now needs to be a renewed policy focus on this group. However rather than attempting to return the world to the 1950s, the task for policy makers is to consider how best to create policy settings that are effective for the contemporary structure of work and family life.

scholarly journals Military Veterans and Welfare Reform: Bridging Two Policy Worlds through Qualitative Longitudinal Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Lisa Scullion ◽  
Katy Jones ◽  
Peter Dwyer ◽  
Celia Hynes ◽  
Philip Martin
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Military Veterans ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Veterans Affairs ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

There has been an increasing focus in the UK on the support provided to the Armed Forces community, with the publication of the Armed Forces Covenant (2011), the Strategy for our Veterans (2018) and the first ever Office for Veterans’ Affairs (2019). There is also an important body of research – including longitudinal research – focusing on transitions from military to civilian life, much of which is quantitative. At the same time, the UK has witnessed a period of unprecedented welfare reform. However, research focused on veterans’ interactions with the social security system has been largely absent. This article draws on the authors’ experiences of undertaking qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to address this knowledge gap. We reflect on how QLR was essential in engaging policy makers enabling the research to bridge the two parallel policy worlds of veterans’ support and welfare reform, leading to significant policy and practice impact.

scholarly journals Beyond ‘Juggling’ and ‘Flexibility’: Classed and Gendered Experiences of Combining Employment and Motherhood

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Interview Research ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk

This paper proposes that there is a need to push beyond the popular discourses of ‘flexibility’ and ‘work-life balance’. Developing a feminist-Bourdieuian approach and drawing on three illustrative case studies from my interview research with 27 mothers in the UK, I show the importance of maintaining a focus on class and gender inequalities. In the first part of the paper the concepts of capitals, dependencies and habitus which shaped, and were shaped by, this interview research are discussed. An analysis of three women's accounts of their experiences across work and family life is then used to illustrate that although these women all used terms such as ‘flexibility’ and ‘juggling’ in describing their work, the experience of that work was crucially influenced by their histories and current positioning. Tracing each of these women's trajectories from school, attention is focused on the influence of differential access to capitals and relations of dependency in the emergence of their dispositions toward work. Overall, the paper points to the significance of examining the classed and gendered dimensions of women's experiences of employment and motherhood.

Not Enough Money: The Resources and Choices of the Motoring Poor

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Froud ◽  
Sukhdev Johal ◽  
Adam Leaver ◽  
Karel Williams
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Car Ownership ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Road ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
The Social ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Uk

This paper helps to develop the social aspect of a new agenda for automobile research through focusing on motoring expenditure in the UK by poor households. It moves the social exclusion debate on by going back to Rowntree's 1901 survey, which established that poverty entailed not having enough resources to meet the needs of the household. Rowntree's analysis of primary and secondary poverty is updated here through the focus on the resources and choices of poor households, which incur significant motoring costs as the price of participation. Statistical sources and interviews in Inner and Outer London are used to explore these issues and the analysis shows that the story is one of constraint, sacrifice and precariousness. Car ownership imposes large costs on poor households, which limit other consumption opportunities. Labour market participation may depend on such sacrifices where public transport and local employment opportunities are limited. This locks poor households into a precarious cycle whereby the car is necessary to get to work and the job is necessary to keep the car on the road. Using Rowntree by analogy, the paper argues that, as well as improving public transport provision policy makers must also recognise the problem of poverty.

Introduction: Or, Why Fat is a Paranoid Issue

Paranoia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Freeman ◽  
Jason Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Ready Meal ◽  
The Uk ◽  
At Will

Over the past few years, a new and deadly epidemic has stalked the land. Britain and the US, just like much of the rest of the world, are getting fat. Around 60 per cent of adults in the UK are heavier than they should be. It’s a similar story in the US, where two-thirds of adults are overweight or extremely overweight (obese). That’s a pretty shocking statistic, but we all know that keeping in shape when you’re trying to balance the demands of work and family life is tough. Who’s got time to get to the gym? Who has the energy to do more than heat up a ready meal after ten hours in the office? Besides, we all get bigger as we get older, don’t we? It’s a metabolism thing—isn’t it? But if you think the statistics for adults are alarming, wait till you find out how our kids are faring. In 2003, 27 per cent of children under 11 in England were either overweight or obese. In the US, where different methods to measure obesity are used, nearly 20 per cent of children aged 6 to 11 were classified as overweight or obese in 2004. The numbers have almost doubled in a decade. How did so many children get to be overweight before they’ve even reached the ripe old age of 11? How do you become overweight when so much of your day is taken up with charging round a playground or park, when you can’t drive, and when you’re not free—like the rest of us—to stuff your face at will with chocolate, crisps, and alcohol? The answer, of course, is a complex one. If adults are eating much less healthily than they used to, so are their kids. Instead of spending their evenings playing outside, children now have the delights of multi-channel television, computer games, and the Internet to choose from. And then there’s the fact that increasing numbers of us just won’t let our children outside on their own. Back in the mid 1970s, we were 6 years old.

Coordination Points: A Hidden Factor in Reconciling Work and Family Life

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE SKINNER
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Depth Interviews

Despite improvements in childcare provision since the implementation of the National Childcare Strategy in England in 1998, little is known about the practicalities of managing childcare and employment from a parental perspective. It is not recognised that dependent children have to be physically transported from home to the place of care-education, and if transported by the parent the latter usually also has to travel to their workplace in a different location. This article discusses the complexity involved in coordinating these events, the barriers posed to maternal employment, and the strategies used by working parents to overcome the difficulties. It presents an analysis of qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 40 mothers in a middle-sized city in England. The analysis exposes the additional work involved in temporally, spatially and physically coordinating childcare, education and work. It indicates that early education related to children's ages might have a greater influence on coordination difficulties, and therefore maternal employment, than the numbers of children in a family per se. The article argues that policy makers need to have a greater regard for the time and space dimensions attached to coordination, the coordination support provided by fathers and others (as opposed to childcare), transport issues and the need for fully integrated early years provision in all neighbourhoods.

scholarly journals The Impact of Socio-Historical Context on Identity: An Analysis of Ngāi Tamarāwaho Identity in the Colonisation Era

Te Kaharoa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Derby
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Common Trends ◽  
The Third ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Waitangi Tribunal ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the influence that socio-historical context has on the identity of a group. The identity of the hapū (tribe) Ngāi Tamarāwaho is examined to demonstrate the impact that specific phenomena associated with colonisation had on hapū identity, and the major focus of this chapter is the interplay between Ngāi Tamarāwaho and the phenomenon of colonisation. This article concentrates specifically on hapū identity during the colonisation era, which, in the context of this article, commenced with the arrival of Pākehā (British) settlers in New Zealand in 1814, and concluded with the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975. For comparative purposes, parallels are drawn with other indigenous groups globally to highlight similarities between the colonisation experiences of these groups and those of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, and to illustrate common trends that occur as a result of colonisation and its associated phenomena. The first section in this article discusses the need to consider socio-historical context in research pertaining to identity, and provides examples of research that has been conducted to this effect. The second section establishes the social context of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, and the third section outlines the historical context. Following this is an analyis of the effects of aspects of colonisation on Ngāi Tamarāwaho identity, and this article concludes by discussing ways in which the hapū revived and reasserted their identity

Religion, regulation, consumption

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lever ◽  
Johan Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Arabic Word ◽  
Social Scale ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Graduate Seminars ◽  
Different Levels

This book explores the emergence and expansion of global kosher and halal markets with a particular focus on the UK and Denmark. Kosher is a Hebrew term meaning “fit” or “proper” while halal is an Arabic word that literally means “permissible” or “lawful”. This is the first book of its kind to explore kosher and halal comparatively at different levels of the social scale such as individual consumption, the marketplace, religious organisations and the state. Within the last two decades or so, kosher and halal markets have become global in scope and states, manufacturers, restaurants, shops, certifiers and consumers around the world are faced with ever stricter and more complex kosher and halal requirements. The book is based on extended periods of research carried out in the UK and Denmark where kosher and halal are of particular significance. The research question in this book is: What are the consequences of globalising kosher and halal markets? This book argues that the similarities and differences between kosher and halal consumption, production and regulation in different national contexts are not well understood. We further argue that to better understand global kosher and halal markets these should be explored at different levels of the social scale. The book will be appropriate for students in a variety of upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate seminars as well as academics of food (science), sociology/anthropology, religion, globalisation, politics, economics, business/management as well as companies that are or want to be kosher/halal certified. It will also be of interest to religious organisations and policy makers.

The family in the view of Israeli adolescents in foster care

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-221
Author(s):  
Michal Mahat-Shamir ◽  
Bilha Davidson Arad ◽  
Guy Shilo ◽  
Ronit Adler ◽  
Ronit D Leichtentritt
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Young People ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Family Of Origin ◽  
Family System ◽  
Genetic System ◽  
Social Expectation ◽  
Biological Parents ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family

Summary This qualitative study explores the unique views about the family system held by adolescents who have spent years in foster care in Israel. This inductive study is among the few to address the unheard views held, and the salient challenges faced, by adolescents who have not grown up in their biological parents’ home, with a focus on their view of the family. Findings Participants’ demonstrated conflicting, polarizing perceptions of the family: (a) family is a genetic system: blood is thicker than water; (b) the family system is constructed and limited by terminology; and (c) communication is essential to family life. Applications While the first two themes highlighted the participants’ family of origin as their “true family” the last theme emphasized on the foster family as their “true” family system. Synthesis between these views could not be achieved as informants embraced the social expectation perceiving the family as one. Raising social and professional awareness about the difficulties these young people face partly because of an exclusive social view of the family lies in the sphere of interest and the social work professional expertise.

scholarly journals Working while incapable to work? Changing concepts of permitted work in the UK disability benefit system

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Gulland
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Disability Benefits ◽  
Disability Benefit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Social Security Policy ◽  
Second World

This article focusses on the borderland between "work" and "not work" in UK disability benefit systems. People who claim disability benefits often have to prove that they are "incapable of work" in order to qualify. The idea of incapacity for work requires an understanding of the meaning of the term "work," a concept which has a common sense simplicity but which is much more difficult to define in practice. UK disability benefit systems have developed the notion of "permitted work" to allow people to do small amounts of paid work while retaining entitlement to benefit. This concept of "permitted work" has its roots in the early twentieth century when claimants were sometimes entitled to disability benefits if any work that they did was considered to be sufficiently trivial to not count as "work." Policy on this changed over time, with particular developments after the Second World War, as rehabilitation and therapy became the key focus of permitted work rules. Current developments in UK social security policy treat almost everyone as a potential worker, changing the way in which permitted work operates. This article uses archive material on appeals against refusals of benefit, policy documents and case law to consider the social meanings of these moving boundaries of permitted work. Disability benefits are not value neutral: they are measures of social control which divide benefit claimants into those who are required to participate in the labour market and those who are exempted from this requirement.

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