Book Reviews

Rudolf Klein and Phoebe Hall, Caring for Quality in the Caring Services: Options for Future Policy, published for the Centre for Studies in Social Policy by the Bedford Square Press of the National Council of Social Service, London, 1974, Doughty Street Paper No. 2.47 pp. 50p. - Volume 5 Issue 2

In the final chapter of a book dealing with so many fundamental aspects of social administration, there is no need for me to define or defend it as a subject of academic study, or to be over-worried about its boundaries. While we would all agree that ‘The quality of our understanding of current problems depends largely on the broadness of our frame of reference’, we have also had demonstrated to us that understanding of the many different ways in which social policies are being, or could be, implemented depends on our willingness and ability to subject these ways to much more detailed analysis. But whether we are principally concerned with the frame of reference or the practical possibilities of different forms of administration, we are now confident enough in the core, the main focus, of our studies in social policy and administration to welcome the important contribution to be made to almost any aspect of them, by political scientists, economists, sociologists, lawyers and others.

Journal Article Inflation and Priorities: Social Policy and Public Expenditure, 1975 Get access Inflation and Priorities: Social Policy and Public Expenditure, 1975. Edited by R. KLEIN. (London: Centre for Studies in Social Policy, 1975. Pp. 193. £350.) T. Wilson T. Wilson University of Glasgow Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 86, Issue 342, 1 June 1976, Pages 389–391, https://doi.org/10.2307/2230775 Published: 01 June 1976

While social and security policies have always overlapped in complex ways, recent developments in counter-terrorism policy suggest that Western European states, and the United Kingdom more specifically, are accelerating what can be termed the ‘securitisation of social policy’ 1 – namely, the increased submission of social policy actors and their practices to the logics of security and social control. With the PREVENT programme remaining highly controversial, what are the effects of these state practices? Has David Cameron’s project of ‘muscular liberalism’, aimed at integration and community cohesion, been enforced through counter-radicalisation policies? This themed issue examines preventative counter-terrorism policies in the UK and the politics of religion, ethnicity and race they enact. The relation between social policy and critical security studies is explored by an interdisciplinary group of scholars.

South Africa’s social sector has evolved from simple and disjointed nonstate initiatives into a complex set of interventions, institutions, programs and services. The review presented in this paper shows that the development of social policy and institutions in South Africa has been shaped by the political and economic situation both locally and internationally. Like social policy in many other countries around the world, the state was initially reluctant to accept responsibility for the provision of social welfare services; most of the services were provided in a fragmented way by nonstate actors, including the Church. But from the 1920s, the state started to gradually accept the responsibility to provide social services including education, health care, housing and social welfare. Although different South African governments have, from colonial times to the 21st century, consistently rejected the idea of making South Africa a welfare state, the state has, with time, increasingly taken on greater responsibility, not only in terms of regulating all social services but also the provision of all public services in the country. Of all the social services, it is the cash transfer program (social grants) that currently attracts political and public attention in the country. However, it is the provision of education services that has consistently accounted for the largest share of public expenditure since the beginning of the democratic dispensation in 1994. For instance, in the 2022 to 2023 national budget, education services accounted for 20.4 percent of total public expenditures, followed by social development (social welfare) at 16.9 percent, and health care services at 12 percent. Social policy expenditure together accounts for almost half of government expenditure, which is roughly about 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The social policy scholarship in the country has historically focused on social welfare, a situation that gives the impression that social policy is synonymous with social welfare policy. Although this article focuses on the history of social welfare policy in South Africa, it is important to note that social policy is a broader field of public policy that includes education, health care, and social welfare (which in South Africa is also referred to as social development). One of the fundamental features that defines the history of social policy in South Africa is racial discrimination; institutionalized during colonial and apartheid periods, it has continued to shape and reproduce racial disparities in access to social services even thirty years after the fall of apartheid. While the democratic South African government has increasingly accepted and taken greater responsibility to provide social services, social policy in the country is characterized by a persistent tension arising from the commitment to neoliberal principles of fiscal discipline and austerity on one hand and espousing social democratic principles which emphasize the provision of meaningful support to citizens both as a form of social investment, as well as an instrument for addressing the legacies of colonialism and apartheid on the other. Since the dawn of democracy, this tension has been exacerbated by the growing calls to address racial injustices of the past, as evident in the number of protests, against the background of persistently weak economic growth since 2010.

اهداف: کیفیت زندگی، مفهومی پیچیده و چندبعدی است که تحت تأثیر مولفه هایی چون زمان و مکان، ارزش‌های فردی و اجتماعی از سوی متفکران علوم شهری و سایر اندیشمندان علوم مختلف مطرح و مورد پژوهش قرار گرفته است. تحقیق حاضر با هدف بررسی شاخص‌های کیفیت زندگی و سنجش آن در شهر مرکزی زرین دشت (حاجی‌آباد) بر مبنای 4 گروه شاخص‌های اقتصادی، اجتماعی، خدماتی و کالبدی صورت گرفته است. روش: روش تحقیق، در این مقاله توصیفی- تحلیلی و ابزار آن پرسش‌نامه می‌باشد. روایی پرسش‌نامه با استفاده از نظرات متخصصان و پایایی آن با استفاده از محاسبه آلفای کرونباخ (72%) تعیین شد. جامعۀ آماری در این پژوهش7 محله از شهر حاجی‌آباد (20000نفر) می‌باشد که با استفاده از فرمول کوکران 377 نمونه انتخاب گردید و به‌صورت تصادفی در هر محله پرسش‌نامه توزیع شد. تجزیه و تحلیل پرسش‌نامه با استفاده ازآمار توصیفی، همبستگی و رگرسیون چندگانۀ خطی انجام شد و در نهایت از روش آنتروپی شانون جهت وزن‌دهی شاخص‌ها و تکنیک پرومتی جهت رتبه‌بندی محلات به‌کار گرفته شد. یافته‌ها/نتایج: یافته‌های پژوهش نشان داد که در شهر حاجی‌آباد، محلۀ فرهنگیان بالاترین سطح کیفیت زندگی شهری و محلۀ حسین‌آباد، پایین‌ترین سطح کیفیت را در بین محلات دارد. همچنین در بررسی ابعاد چهارگانۀ شاخص کیفیت زندگی همبستگی مستقیم و معناداری وجود داشته و هر یک از این ابعاد همبستگی معناداری با رضایتمندی نهایی از کیفیت زندگی دارند و از بین شاخص‌های کیفیت زندگی، شاخص اقتصادی بیشترین تأثیر را در کیفیت محلات دارد.

Among the long-term factors in developing the country’s economy and its regions is the development of human capital . However , the country’s human capital has a different level of physical and mental development . In this regard , the study of social policy is most relevant to improve the demographic situation in the country . The article considers the main tasks of the demographic development of Kazakhstan in recent years in connection with the level of social policy development . The issue of the effectiveness of social policy is particularly important for Kazakhstan, which is associated with the inevitability of population aging and the rapid increase in the burden on the ablebodied population , as well as a decrease in the number of young people and the number of women at the peak of fertility . This entails a decrease in the population in the future . The purpose of this article is to develop social policy mechanisms to improve the demographic situation in the country . The development of social infrastructure — education , healthcare , culture , sports , and other similar systems — could improve the demographic situation in Kazakhstan. The research method is a systematic and integrated approach that can develop recommendations in social policy to increase the population . The results of the study cover recommendations for social services and the development of social infrastructure . The theoretical significance of the study lies in the use of this material in textbooks , and the practical significance lies in the use of recommendations by authorities .

This research means to know the just target of social health insurance assistance receipients. The just target is urgent so that social insurance is effective. The research is conducted in Purworejo Regency with qualitative-descriptive method. Data are gathered through interview, observation, with informants of social insurance participants program who get PBI-JKN and Jamkesda, and documentary analysis related to social health insurance. The result concludes that social health insurance in Purworejo Regency has been done to the right targets. They are poor community comply with the indicator, reached through PBI-JKN with local central government budget, and poor group through local health insurance (Jamkesda) budget. The participation in local social health insurance refers to validation of PPLS 2011 so that does not fit with current condition. It needs newly data verification 2014-2015 for social assistance and social insurance 2015 through the Ministry of Social Affairs, through Central Data and Information in coordination with BPS. PPLS validation is conducted every six months by Directorate Social Protection and Insurance in coordination with TNP2K so that the information gets the right targets and benefit as social security network.

Annotation. Introduction. The article considers the concept of unconditional basic income in the study of social policy as a state instrument of universal social justice. Considerable attention paid to the prospects for the introduction of unconditional basic income and the implementation of its basic principles into Ukrainian legislation. Various approaches of legal regulations and etymology of social policy in the context of the state security system are considered. Significant emphasis placed on the study of the theoretical challenge of unconditional basic income, namely the study of the functioning of such a mechanism in modern communicative realities. This research is a product of analytics and was created without taking into account the author’s political ideas. Given the recommended amount of research, the issues of unconditional basic income was considered not to be completed. Purpose. One of the main tasks of the article is to study the mechanism of functioning of unconditional basic income and the possibility of its application in practice. It is also worth giving your own view of the social policy problems. The tasks of the article are to analyze the modern social security system and to suggest options for its improvement. Results. The theory of unconditional basic income currently has no practical application. Despite a significant number of theoretical experiments, no country in the world uses the instrument of unconditional basic income at the legislative level. Therefore, it is too early to talk about the implementation of this theory of social policy in practice in Ukraine. Conclusions. Theory of unconditional basic income has a strong intellectual tradition, but the practical application of this instrument of social policy not implemented. Our studies show that such a system promotes the development of human capital and increases the geographical mobility of people. Unconditional basic income creates material support that promotes human development in other spheres of life. However, it was noted that conducting such a social policy requires significant expenditures from the state budget. This creates material barriers for some countries to use unconditional basic income as a tool of social policy. Keywords: unconditional basic income; social policy; state institutions; legal system.

Book synopsis: This compelling new book offers a unique global perspective on children's lives throughout the world. It shows how the notion of childhood is being radically re-shaped, in part as a consequence of globalization. Taking an engaging historical and comparative approach, the book discusses wide-ranging issues such as children and war, child labour and young people's activism around the globe. Important themes considered include: How children are constituted as raced, classed and gendered subjects; How family policy results in some kinds of family being labelled as normal and others as deviant, and how this impacts in children; How children’s involvement in war is connected to the globalization of capitalism and organised crime; How school and work operate as sites for the governing of childhood. This book will be of great value to students and scholars in the fields of sociology, social policy and development studies. It will also be a valuable companion to practitioners of international development and social work, as well as to anyone interested in childhood in the contemporary world. * How children are constituted as raced, classed and gendered subjects; * How family policy results in some kinds of family being labelled as normal and others as deviant, and how this impacts in children; * How children's involvement in war is connected to the globalization of capitalism and organised crime; * How school and work operate as sites for the governing of childhood. This book will be of great value to students and scholars in the fields of sociology, social policy and development studies. It will also be a valuable companion to practitioners of international development and social work, as well as to anyone interested in childhood in the contemporary world.

Review: The State in Global Perspective, Politics, Geography and Social Stratification, Studies in Social Policy and Welfare 21. Responses to Poverty: Lessons from Europe, Police and Public Order in Europe, Housing Policy and Equality: A Comparative Study of Tenure Conversions and Their Effects, on Human Geography, Housing, States and Localities, Cambridge Human Geography. Crime, Space and Society, Capitalism and Public

The study of social policy in Britain has traditionally focused on the development and structure of welfare services. In the case of the social administration approach this meant a fairly narrow concern with the operation and effectiveness of current social policy initiatives. More recently, social policy has been more broadly conceived and has paid attention to the wider issues of the ideologies and theories that have shaped the welfare policies and the political context in which these have developed. However, welfare policies are not just the product of a particular political or ideological context, they are also affected by the economic forces that govern the development of the society within which they are located. Indeed, because they determine the resources that are available to meet all individual and social needs, it is arguable that economic forces are the most important factor influencing both the size and scope of all social policy.

Contents: Foreword, Guy Standing Acknowledgments An introduction to the basic income guarantee, Michael Lewis, Steven Pressman and Karl Widerquist. History: In the shadow of Speenhamland: social policy and the old Poor Law, Fred Block and Margaret Somers Inheritance and equal shares: early American views, John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers The guaranteed income movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Robert Harris A retrospective on the negative income tax experiments: looking back at the most innovate field studies in social policy, Robert A. Levine, Harold Watts, Robinson Hollister, Walter Williams, Alice O'Connor and Karl Widerquist. Debate: Basic income in the United States: redefining citizenship in the Liberal State, Almaz Zelleke Basic income, liberal neutrality, socialism, and work, Michael W. Howard Does she exploit or doesn't she? Karl Widerquist Perhaps there can be too much freedom, Michael Anthony Lewis. Evidence: Income guarantees and the equity-efficiency tradeoff, Steven Pressman Have the 1996 welfare reforms and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit eliminated the need for a basic income guarantee in the United States? James B. Bryan Back to work incentives in a dynamic perspective: an application to French labour markets, Thierry Laurent and Yannick L'Horty Social minima in Europe: the risks of cumulating income-sources, Stephen Bouquin. Proposals: The political economy of the basic income grant in South Africa, Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings The approval of the basic income guarantee in Brazil, Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy The basic income guarantee in Europe: the Belgian and Dutch back door strategies, Yannick Vanderborght The cost of eliminating poverty in Canada: basic income with an income test twist, Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson Can a negative income tax system for the United Kingdom be both equitable and affordable? Randall Bartlett, James Davies and Michael Hoy Index.

Objective: Social insurance policies have played a crucial role as a cornerstone in the social security system, contributing positively to social stability and the realization of goals for a prosperous, strong, fair, democratic, and civilized society. The current legal framework on social insurance in Vietnam stipulates provisions to ensure the rights of workers in all cases, including regulations regarding one-time social insurance cases. Although the significance of receiving one-time social insurance aligns with the legal provisions for each case, the lack of understanding among workers regarding the significance of social insurance policies or their deliberate acceptance of one-time social insurance can have unpredictable consequences for society, the social insurance system, and the workers themselves... The study builds on the situation of receiving social insurance in Vietnam and makes a case study of consequences for once workers receive social insurance suggesting solutions to mitigate the situation. Method: The study is based on a method to collect secondary data on the status of social insurance once received in Vietnam through data channels. This data is presented and analyzed by the descriptive statistical method (mainly in the form of tables and charts) that will see the situation for receiving social insurance once in Vietnam over time. In order to conduct the research, the method applied in this article is a qualitative method including: The systematic approach to the research materials, legal regulations related to the research; The integrated analysis method is used to analyze and synthesize the situation of receiving social insurance once in Vietnam; The objective methodology is used by the author to argue, the views of the individual, along with the combination of perspectives of other studies of nature to make a broad consensus about a particular problem. Results: The results of the study show that although social insurance policies were established to protect workers from income risk, they can lead a stable future life. Rules on one-off social insurance regimes can help resolve many special cases of workers. However, research shows that the number of people who choose to receive social insurance in Vietnam in the period of 2014-2023 has increased greatly. The increase of the number of people who receive social insurance once means the increase in the number of people leaving the system, making it difficult to achieve the goal of universal social insurance coverage in the spirit of resolution No. 28-NQ/TW of the XII Central Committee. Actual data suggest that on average 1 new person is entering social insurance, there is 1 old person leaving the system. The number of people withdrawn the following year was always higher than the previous year with an average annual increase of about 10%. The proportion of workers that have returned from social insurance benefits to continue their low participation in social insurance. In the period of 2016-2022, the country had more than 4.8 million workers requesting and resolving social insurance once. After receiving social insurance coverage once, approximately 1.3 million people returned to continue the social insurance penetration. Thus, the proportion of workers who have been remarried to social insurance benefits is 26%, and the remaining 74% of those who have received social insurance benefits once, corresponding to about 3.5 million who do not return to social insurance contributions, meaning that they are not guaranteed short-term benefits in the process of continuing labor such as sickness, maternity, occupational accidents, unemployment and long-term retirement. Conclusion: Receiving one-time social insurance benefits of workers will have some consequences for the social insurance system, for Society and Workers in the current context of Vietnam population aging trends lead to the number of people who do not have a monthly pension in Vietnam accounting for a large proportion of approximately 10 million people, this shows that the lack of sustainability of the Social Security system in general creates pressure for the community and the workers themselves will not be protected from the immediate benefits and long-term social insurance system.

Despite allegations of political disengagement and apathy on the part of the young, the last ten years have witnessed a considerable degree of political activity by young people – much of it led by students or directed at changes to the higher education system. Such activity has been evident across the globe. Nevertheless, to date, no book has brought together contributions from a wide variety of national contexts to explore such trends in a rigorous manner. Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives offers a unique contribution to the disciplines of education, sociology, social policy, politics and youth studies. It provides the first book-length analysis of student politics within contemporary higher education comprising contributions from a variety of different countries and addressing questions such as: •What roles do students’ unions play in politics today? •How successful are students in bringing about change? •In what ways are students engaged in politics and protest in contemporary society? •How does such engagement differ by national context? Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives explores a number of common themes, including: the focus and nature of student politics and protest; whether students are engaging in fundamentally new forms of political activity; the characteristics of politically engaged students; the extent to which such activity can be considered to be ‘globalised’; and societal responses to political activity on the part of students. Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives does not seek to develop a coherent argument across all its chapters but, instead, illustrate the variety of empirical foci, theoretical resources and substantive arguments that are being made in relation to student politics and protest. International in scope, with all chapters dealing with recent developments concerning student politics and protest, this book will be an invaluable guide for Higher Education professionals, masters and postgraduate students in education, sociology, social policy, politics and youth studies.