International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy最新文献

Purpose

This article challenges the prevailing view that a minimum income for the poor is only relevant to basic needs. It contributes to the discussion on the meanings of money by specifically focusing on the Italian Citizenship Income scheme as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research design was developed and implemented in four regions of northern Italy. The analysis is based on 131 in-depth interviews with minimum income recipients.

Findings

The empirical analysis shows that money transfer has various meanings. Four dimensions are identified: functional, relational, protective, and emancipatory. The first two are connected to spending, while the latter two are related to self-identity. Although the four dimensions may overlap and coexist in the daily lives of minimum income beneficiaries, they are distinguished for analytical purposes.

Originality/value

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the multiple meanings that minimum income can have for beneficiaries; meanings which are often not explicitly addressed in social policy studies. It goes beyond the equally important consideration of material needs by adding other meaningful aspects. This approach makes a different way of looking at cash transfers possible, and it provides elements useful for the design and analysis of minimum income policies.

Purpose

Ageing is a global concern that poses many challenges for governments, particularly in relation to the pressing issue of how to provide adequate social protection for the increasing number of elderly. Alongside rapid social and demographic transformation, Indonesia is especially challenged by the increasing number of elderly in need of formal care that is stretching the capacities of government and necessitates improvements in the social protection system. This study examines governance capacity in nursing homes and offers recommendations for improving the social protection system.

Design/methodology/approach

The research presents a qualitative case study of government aged care centres in East Java and the experiences of residents and staff of three centres managed by the Provincial Social Service of East Java. The case study is based on ethnographic fieldwork, semi-structured interviews with 32 informants comprising directors, managers, staff and elderly residents of nursing homes.

Findings

The research finds that while social protection is in place, governance capacities at the provincial and local level are thinly stretched. The research highlights the tensions between existent governance capacities – in terms of mobility, decision-making, implementation and established local structures of governance and management – and the inability to meet the increasing demands for government elder care services and resources amidst broader societal transformations such as shifts in cultural framing of familial care of elderly. The findings point to the importance of understanding the dynamic relationship between governance capacity and the shifting terrains of elderly care due to societal transformation.

Originality/value

The research brings attention to the pivotal role that governance capacity plays in shaping the experiences and challenges of local government level elder care provision and the growing need for elder care in the face of an ageing population and shifts in kinship and family elder care arrangements. Elder care is not simply about addressing basic needs but also the quality and dignity of elderly and this is not easy to address where social protection systems are stretched beyond capacity. Recommendations are provided for enhancing government policy and expanding the scope for building cross-sectorial partnerships.

Purpose

In Cameroon's blood banks, the shortage of blood bags is difficult to overcome because of the lack of donor loyalty and the complexity of recruiting new donors. This study explores the possibility of retaining donors and turning them into prospectors by analysing their satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

A Servqual questionnaire was administered to a sample of 109 donors obtained by voluntary sampling. We used customer satisfaction to determine the satisfaction score and the tetraclass model to analyse the contribution of the elements to satisfaction.

Findings

Our results show that the blood donor satisfaction score is low (60.33%) compared with the norm (80%). The post-donation follow-up stage is the factor with the greatest influence on improving blood donor satisfaction. The elements that require particular attention in the supervision of blood donors are the snacking and blood-taking stages, because they have a strong capacity to worsen donor satisfaction when they are badly perceived by donors.

Originality/value

The study focuses on aspects specific to the Cameroonian situation and sheds a unique light on blood donor satisfaction in this context, while offering a general understanding of this issue on an international scale.

Purpose

Gender equality is an important issue targeted all around the world, see, for example, the Gender Equality Strategy articulated by the European Union (EU). These goals were hindered by COVID-19, which caused a well-documented she-cession: females were hit harder than males. This paper shows that a “sisterhood behaviour” can mitigate the effects of the she-cession: female decision-makers were more likely to favour other females in recruitment and retention.

Design/methodology/approach

Motivated by theories from psychology and industrial demography, we hypothesise a so-called sisterhood effect or homophily: female decision-makers are more likely to favour other females in recruitment and retention. We use firm-level survey data from 19 European countries collected before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we apply a difference-in-differences methodology to test the hypothesised sisterhood behaviour.

Findings

Our study finds that in firms where the top manager was a woman, gender discrimination was less likely or even not at all presented, i.e. COVID-19 did not decrease the proportion of female employees.

Practical implications

The results suggest that promoting gender equality in leadership dimensions can also moderate discrimination at the level of the employees. Therefore, in a wider context, gender equality goals are interrelated.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to analyse the existence of the theories mentioned before in a manager – employee relationship using firm-level data from the COVID-19 period.

Purpose

The Great Recession that began around 2008 hit hard on Greece and Italy. During a period of extreme economic distress, the two countries suffered the loss of government performance and citizen trust in government. The purpose of this study is to describe how government performance and citizen trust in government had been altered in the context of the Great Recession.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducts a case study on France and Germany. These in-depth case studies afford a lens for diagnosing how the Great Recession affected macro and micro-performance in practice.

Findings

Comparative case studies of Greece and Italy provide evidence that government performance in Greece and Italy was diminished to a large extent as a result of the Great Recession. In addition, citizen trust in both countries was impaired during the Great Recession period.

Social implications

It is a matter of grave concern how the government responds to crises. During the crisis, some states implemented stringent austerity measures. This case brings out the careful point that austerity measures could diminish government performance as well as the state’s fundamental potential.

Originality/value

Due to its significance, the Great Recession has been widely investigated, with the explanations often concentrating on economic and political repercussions. Nonetheless, how the economic crisis transformed into public administration and policy has largely gone unheeded. The case studies of Greece and Italy newly identify and help to explain how the Great Recession contributes to governments and citizens in a multitude of aspects.

Purpose

This case study focuses on an alternative minimum-security model, the Safety Income (SI) Model, representing a nuanced departure from both established policies and UBI. StI is a welfare system that supplements households earning below the standard median income with 50% of the difference between the standard median and their current earnings. The quantitative case study presents the set-up of SI and assesses the cost of its implementation in South Korea. By employing a computable general equilibrium model method, the study compares the impacts of SI, UBI and the existing scheme in South Korea on income disparities, labor market outcomes and Gross Domestic Product.

Design/methodology/approach

In the past decade, the Universal Basic Income (UBI) concept has gained international significant traction as a potential remedy for poverty and inequality. However, the practical implications of UBI implementation remain under extensive debate. It is unclear if UBI is an effective model for poverty alleviation.

Findings

The analyses show that SI outperforms the other two welfare systems across all studied economic indicators. SI demonstrates more substantial reductions in income inequality compared with UBI and the existing scheme, minimal impact on unemployment rates compared with other schemes and a relatively modest decrease in GDP, making it a more favorable choice for South Korea when developing the minimum-security system within the specified budget constraint.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the discourse surrounding basic income, economic security, poverty alleviation and inclusive social policies.

Purpose

Due to the rapid ageing of the continent's population, a significant surge in long-term care expenses for the elderly is expected across Europe in the coming years. Could a potential solution to this challenge involve the increased informal care provided by adult children? In this context, we examined a general view or moral duty of European citizens regarding whether adult children should assume responsibility for providing long-term care to the elderly.

Design/methodology/approach

Our multilevel analysis draws on individual-level data from the 2017 European Value Study and country-level data from various European sources encompassing participants from 21 member countries of the European Union.

Findings

The findings reveal that in nations where public long-term care services are sufficiently available and of superior quality, there is a negative sentiment towards the notion that adult children should bear the responsibility for elderly care. In total, 71% of the country-level variance in our dependent variable was explained by the availability and quality of formal long-term care in a country. Furthermore, various individual-level attributes contribute to shaping attitudes towards care-giving responsibility. We observed that women, middle-aged individuals, those without religious affiliations, those with modern gender role attitudes and non-immigrants tended to hold unfavourable attitudes towards the responsibility of adult children in long-term care provision.

Originality/value

There are relatively many studies on the general attitude of the population towards filial obligation. However, so far there have been very few studies available that examine the population's attitude towards the obligation of adult children to commit to their parents' long-term care. Our research explains the variation of the phenomenon in Europe with both country-level and individual-level factors.

Purpose

This study aims to conduct a systematic review of existing literature on ageism among older informal workers, as most studies have focused on formal work settings. Specifically, it seeks to identify the scope and characteristics of ageism that older informal workers encounter and its influence on their work and well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) framework to conduct a systematic review. Eleven studies from six databases were included and thematically analysed.

Findings

The findings revealed four main themes: the contextual nature of ageism, dimensions of work-related ageism, navigating work-related challenges, and effects on well-being. These themes highlight that, despite being perceived as experienced and reliable, older informal workers face exclusion from work opportunities as they are perceived as unproductive and less capable of acquiring new skills. These negative perceptions significantly impacted their willingness to continue working and overall well-being.

Practical implications

The findings offer an overview of extant research and the direction for future research and policy interventions to address ageism among older informal workers. The findings are crucial for enhancing older workers' quality of life, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where population ageing is the fastest.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few to systematically explore and evaluate empirical evidence on ageism in the informal work sector. It thus expands existing knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of ageism in a least explored context.

Purpose

Multiple jobholding (MJH) is assumed to be a growing phenomenon due to working life changes. This study presents new knowledge on the MJH career paths, from the perspectives of both employers and employees.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative interview study was focused on retail trade and restaurant and food service industries in Finland, where MJH is a quite common work arrangement compared to other European countries. The data were analyzed with the concepts of the chaos theory of careers and with an abductive thematic content analysis.

Findings

According to the results, several events and intertwined factors may lead individual careers gradually to MJH. Changing personal and family situations and leisure time needs attracted the careers towards MJH. MJH was not only a financial necessity to employees, but it also served their flexibility interests. The interviewed employers applied flexible non-standard employment arrangements mainly due to rapidly varying labor needs established in the industries. It was important for them to strengthen the non-standard core employees' sense of belonging to the work community. However, employees with work ability challenges were in risk to end up in peripheral positions at the labor market.

Originality/value

Previous research on multiple jobholding has not combined employers’ perspectives of MJH to employees’ experiences of career paths.