Social Work

Poverty, increased inequality, and social exclusion are back on the political agenda in Western Europe, not only as a consequence of the Great Recession that hit the global economy in 2008, but also as a consequence of a seemingly structural trend towards increased inequality that began some time ago. How can we explain this increase in inequalities? In this book, it is argued that social and labor market policies contribute to shaping the forms and extent of the new inequalities and divides that challenge European societies. Growing inequality is related to processes of dualization, i.e. a widening, deepening, or the creation of new insider-outsider divides. The processes of division in the realms of labor markets, social policy and political representation are strongly linked. Dualization is certainly not the only driver of increasing inequality, but because of the encompassing development evidenced in this book, dualization appears one of the most important current trends affecting developed societies. However, the extent and forms of dualization observed vary greatly across countries. The comparative perspective of this book provides insights into why some countries witness lower levels of insider-outsider divides, whereas for others, they have become a core characteristic. Most importantly, the comparisons presented in this book point to the crucial importance of politics and political choice in driving and shaping the social outcomes of deindustrialization. Governments “cope” in different ways with deindustrialization. Hence, while increased structural labor market divides can be found across all countries, governments have a strong responsibility in shaping the distributive consequences of these labor market changes. Insider-outsider divides are not a straightforward consequence of deindustrialization, but rather the result of policy, i.e. of political choice.

One of the United States' great promises is that all children will be given the opportunity to work in order to achieve a comfortable standard of living. That promise has faded profoundly for American children who have grown up in poverty, particularly black and Hispanic children, and many of the deepening fault lines in the social order are traceable to this disparity. In recent years the promise has also begun to fade for children of the American middle class. Education and hard work, once steady paths to economic success, no longer lead as far as they once did. But that does not have to be the case, as this volume shows. America can provide true opportunity to all its children, insuring them against a lifetime of inequality; and when it does, the walls dividing the country by race, ethnicity, and wealth will begin to crumble. Long a voice for combating child poverty, the author takes a balanced approach that begins with a history of economic and family policy, from the Great Depression and the development of Social Security, and moving onward. He details the extent of economic inequality in the U.S., pointing out that this wealthiest of countries also has the largest proportion of children living in poverty. Calling for reform, the author proposes several viable universal income-security policies for vulnerable children and families, strategies that have worked in other advanced democracies and which also respect the importance of the market economy. They aim not just to reduce child poverty, but also to give all children meaningful economic opportunity. Just as Social Security alleviates the sting of poverty in old age, asset-building policies can insulate children from the cumulative effects of disadvantage and provide them with a strong foundation from which to soar.

This book builds upon and advances the comparative analysis of child protection systems that was conducted in the mid-1990s and presented in the ground-breaking book Combatting Child Abuse: International Perspectives and Trends (Gilbert, 1997). Chapters provide a detailed analysis of how the systems have changed during the period with a particular focus upon: Each chapter also considers two broader and key questions: It becomes clear that all the countries have witnessed considerable change and the Conclusion summarizes the main themes. While there are important similarities in the changes experienced there are also important differences. In the process the chapters identify important developments in the two alternative orientations to the problem identified in Combatting Child Abuse – the child protection and family service orientations and the emergence of a new and significant orientation a child-focused orientation.

The poverty rate is one of the most visible ways in which nations measure the economic well-being of their low-income citizens. To gauge whether a person is poor, European states often focus on a person's relative position in the income distribution to measure poverty while the United States looks at a fixed-income threshold that represents a lower relative standing in the overall distribution to gauge. In Europe, low income is perceived as only one aspect of being socially excluded, so that examining other relative dimensions of family and individual welfare is important. This broad emphasis on relative measures of well-being that extend into non-pecuniary aspects of people's lives does not always imply that more people would ultimately be counted as poor. This is particularly true if one must be considered poor in multiple dimensions to be considered poor, in sharp contrast to the American emphasis on income as the sole dimension. The book provides detailed discussions of specific issues from a European perspective followed by commentary from American observers. The volume considers current standards of poverty measurement in the European Union and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, challenges in extending those measures to account for the value of the provision of in-kind and cash benefits from the government, the interaction of poverty measures with social assistance, non-income but monetary measures of poverty, and multi-dimensional measures of poverty.

Most Americans are insulated from the poor; it is hard to imagine the challenges of poverty, the daily fears of crime and victimization, the frustration of not being able to provide for a child. Instead, we are often exposed to the rhetoric and hyperbole about the excesses of the American welfare system. These messages color our perception of the welfare problem in the United States and they close the American mind to a full understanding of the complexity of family poverty. But who are these poor families? What do we know about how they arrived in such desperate straits? Is poverty their fate for a lifetime or for only a brief period? Faces of Poverty answers these questions as it dispels the misconceptions and myths about welfare and the welfare population that have clouded the true picture of poverty in America. Over the course of a year, the author spent numerous hours as a participant-observer with five women and their families, documenting their daily activities, thoughts, and fears as they managed the strains of poverty. We meet Ana, Sandy, Rebecca, Darlene, and Cora, all of whom, at some point, have turned to welfare for support. Each represents a wider segment of the welfare population, ranging from Ana (who lost a business, injured her back, and temporarily lost her job, all in a short period of time) to Cora (who was raised in poverty, spent ten years in an abusive relationship, and now struggles to raise six children in a drug-infested neighborhood). As the author documents these women's experiences, she also debunks many of the myths about welfare: she reveals that welfare is not generous (welfare families remain below the poverty line, even with government assistance); that the majority of women on welfare are not long-term welfare dependents; that welfare does not run in families; that “welfare mothers” do not keep having children in order to increase their payments (women on welfare have, on average, two children); and that almost half of all women on welfare turned to it after a divorce. At a time when welfare has become a hotly debated political issue, Faces of Poverty gives us the facts. The debate surrounding welfare will continue as each of the 50 states struggles to reform their welfare programs, and this debate will turn on the public's perception of the welfare population. The author offers insight into each of the reforms under consideration, and starkly demonstrates their implications for poor women and children. She provides a window into these women's lives, portraying their hopes and fears, and their struggle to live with dignity.

Fifteen years ago, New Jersey became the first of over twenty states to introduce the family cap, a welfare reform policy that reduces or eliminates cash benefits for unmarried women on public assistance who become pregnant. The caps have lowered extra-marital birth rates, as intended but as this book shows they did so in a manner that few of the policy’s architects are willing to acknowledge publicly, namely by increasing the abortion rate disproportionately among black and Hispanic women. This book presents the caps history from inception through implementation to the investigation and the dramatic attempts to squelch the author’s unpleasant findings. The book contains clear-cut evidence and data analyses, yet also plays close attention to the reactions the author’s findings provoked in policymakers, both conservative and liberal, who were unprepared for the effects of their crude social engineering and did not want their success scrutinized too closely. The book argues that absent of any successful rehabilitation or marriage strategies, abortion provides a viable third way for policymakers to help black and Hispanic women accumulate the social and human capital they need to escape welfare, while simultaneously appealing to liberals passion for reproductive freedom and the neoconservatives sense of social pragmatism.

Using a case example of how Pennsylvania Blue Shield trained, hired, and retained several hundred welfare recipients on its work force, this book offers a success story and a broad discussion of welfare reform, public policy, and corporate social responsibility. It also offers a practical explanation of the specific steps needed to establish such a program, including corporate tax incentives, business and government collaborations, and the special needs of welfare recipients. The book demonstrates that it is possible for corporate America to combine bottom-line goals with socially responsible goals.

An overview of international human rights and social justice, this introductory text focuses on current global problems of pressing concern for social workers. It addresses topics such as healthcare, violence against women, war and conflict, forced labor and child soldiers, in a manner which encourages students to think critically about such problems, research the issues, and get involved with organizations that are working on them. The content contains narratives of individuals suffering from these social problems, as well as suggestions for what students can do to create change: both now and what they will be able to do as professionals. The author analyzes problems in their cultural contexts in order to help the reader understand how they developed, why they persist, and what the local and international responses — both governmental and non-governmental — have been.

Immigration occurs in the wealthy nations of the global north and the not-so-rich countries of the global south; it involves individuals who arrive with substantial human capital and those with limited human capital. Immigration has far-reaching implications for a nation's economy, public policy, social and health services and culture. While human migration is as old as humankind itself, factors such as ease of transportation, globalization of the world market, changing political borders and international immigration policies, growing forced migration populations, and the challenge of undocumented immigrants, suggest that immigration worldwide is a phenomenon toward which the social sciences across the globe must pay close attention. This book explores current patterns and policies of immigration in 25 countries across the globe and the European and African Unions, with analyses of implications for the countries, immigrant populations, and global perspectives. It presents a theoretical model for the study of immigration and is an in-depth study of the phases, stages, and processes involved in immigration and integration. This comprehensive and rigorous analysis of a global phenomenon is derived from existing empirical research and theories undergirding the research. The volume is designed to explore how country conditions, policies, values, politics, and attitudes influence the process of immigration and subsequently affect immigrants, migration, and the country itself. Trends and comparative concepts are highlighted in the analysis, which also discusses policy responses in different countries. Thus, this book is at once a source book and an applied model of immigration studies.

There are two great mysteries in the political economy of South Korea. How could a destroyed country in next to no time become a sophisticated and affluent economy? And how could a ruthlessly authoritarian regime metamorphose with relative ease into a stable democratic polity? To make sense of these mysteries the book follows two narratives for the period from 1945 to 2000. One is about social policy from its feeble roots in poor relief in the colonial period, early land reform, and the influx of foreign voluntary agencies in the first years of independence. And the second one is about the state and its shifting foundations in democracy, cronyism, chaebŏl capitalism, and dictatorship. South Korea took off to modernization in the authoritarian period. The authoritarian leaders created a Janus-faced state, which used hard power in the controlling of forces from below but in governance the softer strategy of mobilizing social forces into its design. There is no support in The Korean State for the theory that authoritarianism is conducive to development but every support for the theory that state leadership, authoritarian or not, depends on the mode of governance. Authoritarianism usually results in the crushing of civil society, but the South Korean brand inadvertently left a legacy of vibrant civil society institutions. Dismantling the hard power apparatus of the state still left the governance part intact. That part of the state the democratic rulers who came in when the authoritarian ones were overthrown could put to work for their purposes with little difficulty. This book is about many things: development and modernization, dictatorship and democracy, state capacity and governance, social protection and welfare states, and Korean history. But finally it is about lifting social policy analysis out of the ghetto of self-sufficiency it is often confined to and into the center ground of hard political science, where we think it belongs.