scholarly journals Care Triangle or Care Diamond? The Case of Childcare and Eldercare in Serbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-345
Author(s):  
Natalija Perišić ◽  
Marina Pantelić

Overall changes in political, social and economic spheres in Serbia, along with ongoing demographic processes, have affected various policies and all aspects of people’s lives, including system(s) of care. While care became an important analytical concept and category of social policy analysis internationally, it has not been systematically applied in the analysis of the Serbian welfare state. Incorporation of care in welfare state analysis is much needed as its organisation in the national context reveals a lot about the nature of the welfare state, changes in its socio-institutional arrangements and, most importantly, the effects of provision. This article thus aims to outline the evolution of childcare and eldercare policies in Serbia over the last decade, employing the concept of the care diamond developed by Shahra Razavi, which allows examining the “architecture” through which the care is provided: families/ households, markets, the state and the voluntary sector. By analysing the prevalent care policy “architecture” for children and the elderly in Serbia and the roles of different sectors in that respect, as well as by identifying similarities and differences in the provision of childcare and eldercare in the national context, the article exposes developments and current state in childcare and eldercare provision in Serbia. The analysis indicates the profound role of the informal sphere in both care systems in Serbia, childcare and eldercare. Some differences between the two care domains could also be noted. These relate to the configuration of welfare sectors involved in care provision, revealing the modified shape of the care diamond in the case of childcare. That is, while all four sectors are involved in providing care in the case of eldercare forming an eldercare diamond, this is not the case with childcare. In the latter case, the voluntary, nonprofit sector does not exist as a care provider in Serbia, with childcare “architecture” having a shape of a care triangle. In light of this evidence, the role of families and the voluntary, nonprofit sector should be taken into account in future planning and funding of policies as well as in their implementation. Key words: care, childcare, eldercare, care diamond, policy, provision, Serbia

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK DRAKEFORD

This article considers the current state of help with funeral expenses in Britain. It argues that assistance has been progressively and deliberately eroded to the point where the famous ‘from the cradle to the grave’ protection of the welfare state has been removed from increasing numbers of poor people. The article sets these developments within the context of the contemporary British funeral industry, with emphasis upon its treatment of less-well-off consumers. The changing nature of social security provision for funeral expenses is traced in detail, including the actions of the incoming 1997 Labour government. This article investigates the public health role of local authorities in the case of burials, concluding that such services are insufficiently robust to meet the new weight placed upon them. The article ends with a consideration of the impact which these different changes produce in the lives of individuals upon whom they have an effect.


Author(s):  
Luise Li Langergaard

The article explores the central role of the entrepreneur in neoliberalism. It demonstrates how a displacement and a broadening of the concept of the entrepreneur occur in the neoliberal interpretation of the entrepreneur compared to Schumpeter’s economic innovation theory. From being a specific economic figure with a particular delimited function the entrepreneur is reinterpreted as, on the one hand, a particular type of subject, the entrepreneur of the self, and on the other, an ism, entrepreneurialism, which permeates individuals, society, and institutions. Entrepreneurialism is discussed as a movement of the economic into previously non-economic domains, such as the welfare state and society. Social entrepreneurship is an example of this in relation to solutions to social welfare problems. This can, on the one hand, be understood as an extension of the neoliberal understanding of the entrepreneur, but it also, in certain interpretations, resists the neoliberal understanding of economy and society.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troels Fage Hedegaard

This article explores whether and how the neo-liberal ideology has adapted to the Nordic welfare model by studying the attitudes of voters and grass-roots members of the Danish party Liberal Alliance towards the welfare state. This inquiry into one of the key issues for the neo-liberal ideology is inspired by theory on how an ideology will adapt to its context. The expectation outlined in the article is for the neo-liberals of this party to favour features that make the Nordic welfare model distinctive – extensive governmental responsibility, especially for children and the elderly, and a universalistic approach to providing welfare. I have explored this question using a mixed-methods approach, where I analyse a survey of voters and interviews with grass-roots members of the party. Combined this shows that the neo-liberals in Liberal Alliance do support a role for the welfare state that extends beyond a minimum welfare state, especially for the care of children, but they view old age and retirement mostly as a problem each individual must deal with. Regarding the universalistic approach to providing welfare, the neo-liberals seem torn between two different tendencies, one being a perception of a fair way to provide welfare and the other the idea of a selective welfare state as a neo-liberal core idea, which leads to ambivalent attitudes. I argue that this results in a form of the neo-liberal ideology that has adapted to the Nordic welfare model.


1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Boismenu ◽  
Pascale Dufour

AbstractThis article underlines three principles of reference that renew discourse on and comprehension of the role of the state in social protection towards unemployed people. At a certain level of abstraction, those principles of reference are present in many countries. They lead to label and to understand situations in different terms of which we were familiar during the Welfare State apogee. At the same time, they permit and open up to various political orientations and mechanisms of implementation. This dualism is emphasized. Four countries are referenced for this discussion: Canada, France, Germany and Sweden. The study considers the way in which problems are stated in their principles and the implementation of programmes. Policies and programmes implemented reveal logics of intervention which suggest different ways to consider the articulation between the « integrated area » and the « excluded area » of the society.


2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUGH BOCHEL ◽  
ANDREW DEFTY

The post-war ‘consensus’ on welfare was based largely in the perceived agreement of leading politicians of Conservative and Labour parties on the role of the mixed economy and the welfare state. However, from the late 1970s economic and demographic pressures and ideological challenges, particularly from the New Right, led to cuts in spending on welfare, increased private involvement and an emphasis on more individualistic and selectivist approaches to provision. Recently some scholars have begun to discuss the emergence of a ‘new liberal consensus’ around welfare provision. Drawing upon interviews with 10 per cent of the House of Commons, this article examines the extent to which a new political consensus upon welfare can be identified. In addition to analysing responses to questions on welfare issues, it considers the extent to which MPs themselves believe there to be some degree of consensus in approaches to welfare. It also considers whether any consensus exists merely in the political language used in relation to welfare issues, or whether there is a more substantive convergence.


Author(s):  
David Feltenius

The aim of this chapter is to analyze subnational government in Sweden from a multilevel governance (MLG) perspective. This is done by considering subnational government in relation to (a) the welfare state and (b) the European Union (EU). Firstly, it is concluded that Sweden’s formal status as a member of the EU since 1995 has created an additional political level of importance to subnational government. Secondly, it is concluded that MLG is also relevant to consider in a national context. This is evident through negotiations between central and local government concerning welfare policy, such as health care and policy targeting the elderly.


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