bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Living with Wolves and Dogs
Authors: Pierotti Raymond , Fogg Brandy R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines how many types of “dog,” including AKC (American Kennel Club) registered breeds, can be mistaken for wolves by people who have stereotypical ideas of what a wolf is, including some wolf biologists. It deconstructs the concept of “experts” who attempt to make such distinctions, including those who advise state and federal legislators. Moreover, the chapter explores relationships between humans and wolves—both domestic and nondomestic—as social companions by evaluating Raymond Pierotti's experiences as an expert witness distinguishing between dogs and wolves. This type of confused thinking has led to bad laws based upon emotional responses rather than attempts to govern effectively and write laws that improve the functioning of society.
The Politics of Writing About Making
Authors: Bertucci Paola
Published: May 2018

This chapter argues that writing about their own art was a political act through which artistes presented themselves and their work as central to France's projects of improvement. They did so by discussing the features that distinguished them from other artisans and by articulating a theory of cognition based on sensorial intelligence. Artistes reacted to the conception of a slowly moving artisanal world, countering that in artisanal workshops, opportunities for improvement occurred frequently though they often went unnoticed because of the artisans' ignorance and attachment to routine. Artistes, by contrast, were able to improvise and be in the moment when serendipitous opportunities presented themselves.
Epilogue
Authors: Bertucci Paola
Published: May 2018

This concluding chapter explains that by focusing on the artiste, the study has uncovered the heterogeneous interests that gravitated around the mechanical arts in the years between the foundation of the Académie des Sciences and the publication of the first volumes of the Encyclopédie. It discusses the mechanical arts as a domain of practical knowledge that the French state regarded as strategic to its commercial and colonial expansion. Practitioners of the mechanical arts who regarded themselves as artistes were eager to inform the decision-making processes of the state in these matters. By bringing artistes to center age, the chapter's broader intention is to highlight the practical, material, discursive, and artifactual contexts within which the categories of improvement, useful knowledge, and progress emerged.
Then and Now
Authors: Wheeler-Reed David
Published: May 2018

This chapter unmasks modern forms of power that use Christianity in the service of policing modern society in the United States. It examines certain claims that marriage and procreation can save our world, and it contends that modern American sexual ethics are not “Judeo-Christian.” By analyzing discourses on marriage and sexuality as diverse as those from the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, the USCCB, and the Supreme Court, it concludes that modern American sexual ethics—be they secular or Christian—are built on the principles of the Augustan marriage legislation and not on the values of early Christianity. Instead of hailing American values as “Judeo-Christian,” this chapter suggests renaming them “neo-imperial-capitalist.”
The Historian Between Remembering and Forgetting
Authors: Myers David N.
Published: May 2018

The Conclusion begins by posing the question of what can be gained from the study of the past in making sense of the present. Historians today are of different minds on the question. This book is quite clear in two regards: first, modern historians have made constant identitarian investments in their work; second, this depth of engagement can and in fact does help in transforming history into a source of illumination on the present and future. For example, in thinking past the current stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, historians with deep engagements in the subject matter can use their knowledge of the past to open up new pathways of understanding through a rediscovery of discarded or neglected ideas. More generally, historians have in their toolkit an array of tools to enlighten the present. The utilities of history they have at their disposal include redemptive, ethical, advisory, and predictive functions. Especially in conflict or post-conflict situations, history can and should play a prominent part in the work of restorative justice.
A Brief Reflection on Method
Authors: Myers David N.
Published: May 2018

It is unusual, to be sure, to offer a set of reflections such as these after the conclusion to a book, all the more so when they deal with the method putatively used throughout the book. Of course, it is almost as unusual—and perhaps a bit self-indulgent—for a historian to take the time to lay out his or her guiding theoretical principles, primitive as they may be....
Social cohesion: from research to practice
Authors: Angell Olav Helge , Laiho Marjukka , Pessi Anne Birgitta , Zrinščak Siniša
Published: May 2018

This chapter highlights the need to put research results into practice through policy recommendations. This was a key concept in the WaVE project; it is a multi-layered idea, characterised by at least four dimensions: people's trust, help and cooperation with each other; people's tolerance towards each other; people's sense of belonging in the social system; and people's manifestation of these values through behaviour. The chapter then presents the idea of a ‘circle of social cohesion’ in welfare where knowing and doing is the relationship between a better understanding of diversity and the transformation of this understanding into crucial skills in everyday practices. However, in order to convert the ideal of cohesion into everyday practice, the ‘circle of social cohesion’ is dependent on political values and financial resources. This is one of the major themes addressed in the WaVE project.
The intersections of state, family and church in Italy and Greece
Authors: Markoviti Margarita , Molokotos-Liederman Lina
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses the fragile organisation of welfare in southern Europe, with Italy and Greece as examples. In the Mediterranean countries, it is the idea of ‘familism’ that best captures a system where the family—more especially women—is the basic unit of care for dependent family members, migrants, and refugees. Although a state welfare system does exist, it is essentially a stopgap when the family is no longer able to cope with the demands of a particular situation. The religious majorities, in this case the Catholic Church in Italy and the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece, have different approaches to social care. In both cases, church organisations participate locally in order to reduce poverty and exclusion. The Greek tradition has, however, resulted in a much weaker civil society in terms of ‘voice’. In Italy, Caritas is involved both in local activities and in social advocacy work, alongside other social movements in support of migrants.
Especially for you
Authors: Cribb Alan
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses one of the most important ideas shaping health-policy reform and debate: personalisation. It should be said that there is nothing new about individualising or tailoring healthcare. Clinical healthcare, unlike some aspects of population or public health, is always already ‘targeted’ healthcare. However, both technological and cultural changes mean that possibilities and expectations of the degree of ‘tailoring’—to people's bodies, on the one hand, or to people's values and/or life circumstances, on the other—have substantially expanded and intensified. Depending upon how it is interpreted, personalisation can be presented as contributing to both medicalising and de-medicalising currents of healthcare change. It can be used to refer to closer attention and responsiveness to individual biology. It can also be used to refer to closer attention and responsiveness to individual biography. The chapter then presents a very rough distinction between ‘personalised medicine’ and ‘personalised care’.
Shaping the future
Authors: Cribb Alan
Published: May 2018

This concluding chapter asks how health policy needs to change character in the light of the transitions and tensions reviewed in the book. The emphasis in health policy has to move more decisively from a delivery model to a deliberative model of healthcare; or, in other words, from an assumed model of ‘top-down’ service provision towards a more diffused and democratic model. Moreover, the philosophical transition explored in the book should, in part, be seen as a transition towards philosophy, because philosophical questions are now manifestly at the centre of healthcare debate and activity. The chapter then presents some substantive conclusions about the key balancing acts that need to be struck in shaping the future of healthcare, including the balance between the responsibilities of policy makers and professionals, on the one hand, and the collective responsibility of patients and publics, on the other.
Report of the Working Party on the Role and Tasks of Social Workers: an alternative view
Authors: Pinker Robert
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, Robert Pinker explains the main reasons for his dissent to the Report of the Working Party on the Role and Tasks of Social Workers, also known as the Barclay Report. The working party, headed by Peter Barclay, was established in 1980 ‘to review the role and tasks of social workers in local authority social services departments and related voluntary agencies in England and Wales and to make recommendations’. The Barclay Report argued that social work was necessary, but urged a new emphasis on ‘community social work’. Pinker was opposed to the neighbourhood social care model proposed by Roger Hadley and the community social work model. He argues that the report's proposal was a prescription for managerial chaos. Pinker concludes with a discussion of the implications of the Barclay Report for the education and training of social workers.
From gift relationships to quasi-markets: an odyssey along the policy paths of altruism and egoism
Authors: Pinker Robert
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, Robert Pinker explores the conditionality and ‘mix’ of altruism and egoism and provides theoretical and rational rather than ideological or doctrinaire justifications for welfare pluralism. He begins by discussing The Price of Blood, a monograph that reviewed the arguments for and against paying blood donors and developing a role for competitive markets in the sale and purchase of blood products. Pinker challenges Richard Titmuss's analysis of the moral qualities that underpin exchange relationships in his 1970 book The Gift Relationship. He also reflects on his works Social Theory and Social Policy (1971) and The Idea of Welfare (1979) which, together with The Gift Relationship and Julian Le Grand's Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy (2003), illustrate the ways in which the normative debate about the ends and means of social policy and its entire institutional framework has changed.
The New Fundraisers
Authors: Breeze Beth
Published: May 2018

This book is the first academic study of the profession of fundraising in the UK. Fundraising is an essential yet largely invisible career, despite its growing importance during a period of extensive public spending cuts and growing reliance on charities. There is a growing body of work focused on donors, such that the identity and motivation of those who provide resources are increasingly understood. Yet little is known about the motivation and characteristics of those who ask for voluntary support, despite almost every donation being solicited. As it is not possible to understand charitable giving without accounting for the role of fundraising, this book provides the first empirically-grounded and theorised account of the identity, characteristics and motivation of fundraisers in the UK. Based on original data collected during a 3-year study of over 1,200 fundraisers, the book describes the complexity and subtlety of their everyday practices and makes an argument that the ‘new fundraisers’ have recently emerged in a necessarily complementary relationship with the far more widely discussed phenomenon of the ‘new philanthropists’. As well as a corrective to the lack of meaningful academic interest in this subject, this book is also a response to the growing hostility to fundraising in both the public and political spheres. It provides a better understanding of this important aspect of social life, and challenges the illogical position whereby charities are widely admired, but the people who keep them in business are not.
Who are the fundraisers?
Authors: Breeze Beth
Published: May 2018

Chapter 2 presents findings of a major survey of over 1,200 UK fundraisers. It illustrates their backgrounds, their paths into this career and how they acquired relevant skills and knowledge. Data on personality traits and emotional intelligence, as well as trust levels, social lives, hobbies and many other factors, are presented and compared with data on the general public in order to identify the extent to which, and in what ways, people who raise money for a living – including those who have succeeded in raising £1 million or more - either share characteristics or appear to be distinctive. Fundraisers often have formative experiences of helping behaviours, high levels of generalised trust, a greater predilection for gift-giving to loved ones and donating blood to strangers, a willingness to facilitate social situations, a preference for community-oriented and intellectual hobbies, positive personality traits and higher levels of emotional intelligence. Successful ‘million pound askers’ are likely to be older, more experienced, have a mentor, be more open and less neurotic. But the idea of a homogenous, ‘perfect type’ of fundraiser is rejected due to the wide diversity of characteristics associated with fundraising success.
The science of fundraising
Authors: Breeze Beth
Published: May 2018

Chapter 3 explores ‘the science of fundraising’ through an analysis of 60 books that explain ‘how to’ fundraise, recommended by fundraisers participating in this research. There is a great deal of consensus in this literature on what fundraisers do, in terms of knowledge, methods and techniques. But alongside this broadly consistent and commonplace advice are found some notable contradictions in the depiction of the nature and ‘learnability’ of fundraising skills and knowledge. The content of these guides, and the language used in them, suggests that fundraising is often presented as a set of skills that can be learnt and mastered by anyone who puts in the time and effort. Yet many authors also accept and advance the premise that fundraising resists standardization as donors respond best to authentic approaches that respect their individuality. This chapter concludes that fundraisers are far more than ‘mere technicians because philanthropy involves meaningful and value-laden relations between living, breathing, idiosyncratic people.
The murder of Jennifer Alfonso
Authors: Yardley Elizabeth
Published: May 2018

This chapter analyses the murder of Jennifer Alfonso by her husband Derek Medina in Florida on August 8, 2013. Jennifer's murder was what criminologists call an intimate partner homicide (IPH). International media reports of the case followed a well-established pattern that devalued IPH, treating the homicide as a one-off event where an otherwise ‘normal’ perpetrator ‘snaps’ and loses control in a moment of madness. The fact that Derek had posted on Facebook was at the very the centre of the story, if not the story itself. The chapter first describes the background of Derek and Jennifer's relationship, Derek's media practices, and his attempt at identity management after his arrest before examining his Facebook homicide confession. It also contextualises the murder in relation to the relevant literature on intimate partner abuse and IPH.
The murder of Charles Taylor
Authors: Yardley Elizabeth
Published: May 2018

This chapter analyses the murder of Charles Taylor by his daughter-in-law, Amanda Taylor, in Virginia. On April 4, 2015, 59-year-old Charles Taylor was killed by Amanda, then 24, and her friend, 32-year-old Sean Ball. During the visit, the conversation turned to the topic of Rex Taylor, Amanda's late husband, who had committed suicide in August 2014. Amanda blamed Charles for Rex's suicide. The case highlight the performance of valued gendered identities through networked media prior to, during and following the homicide. The chapter first provides a background on Amanda's relationship with Rex and Charles Taylor as well as on Sean Ball before considering the context that yields some insight into Amanda as a homicide perpetrator. It also examines Amanda's media practices and her social media posts about the murder, media coverage of her while she was in prison, and her identity management as a killer.
Methodologically sound? Participatory research at a community radio station
Authors: Wilkinson Catherine
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses the nature of participatory research by giving a case study of KCC Live, a volunteer youth-led community radio station in Knowsley, UK. It talks about the co-production of audio artefacts and illustrates how the young participants change the way scholars approached the term ‘participatory’. In addition, the chapter details how the methods evolved within the field, owing to the participatory design of the project. It problematises the alleged emancipatory potential of participatory research and, in detailing the co-production of audio artefacts in this project, argues that the meaning of ‘participatory’ in participatory research should be determined in communication with study participants. Only then can research be considered truly participatory.
Finding employment and living a good life in London
Authors: Price Chris
Published: May 2018

This is one inner London charity’s story of working alongside people living on a low income. Pecan has worked for over 25 years in the community, with a focus on helping people out of the clutches of poverty through helping people to build the skills and confidence to secure work. But is work able to pay enough in London considering the rising cost of living in London? Drawing on the experiences of some people who have been in touch with Pecan and its projects, the chapter argues that while Pecan does its best to help people find and stay in employment through expert advice and emotional support, the structural difficulties posed by labour and housing market changes, which result in income and housing insecurities, can prevent people from shifting to a more stable position in their lives.
The new economy of poverty
Authors: Selke Stefan
Published: May 2018

This chapter reflects the consequences of an established system of poverty relief: German foodbanks (Tafeln), which meanwhile have become part of the basic food supply of many citizens. Even if Tafeln consider themselves as a social movement they more and more appear as moral enterprises. This requires the analysis of the fundamental mechanisms within the economy of poverty, such as the commercialization of morals and the corresponding corruption of values. German foodbanks predominantly find their resonance in the system of economy. On the basis of reliable relationships to their moral clients, foodbanks are supplied with goods, equipment and services. The product they offer in return is a moral profit in the form of a positive image, which is useful in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility activities. As a social enterprise foodbanks imitate and emulate the prevailing economic rationality on every level from local practices to long-term strategies. This encompasses aspects such as differentiation of their range of products, securing the availability of their supply, quality management, professionalization as well as the efficiency enhancement. With their trademark protection and branding as Tafel, German foodbanks have emerged as monopolists on the market of pity, driving off other projects according to the logic of competition. The chapter comes to the conclusion that we have arrived in a society of spectacles in which it is becoming easier to receive public approval for symbolic poverty relief than it is to establish political legitimacy through sustainable fight for poverty reduction.
‘Imagine’: mapping sustainability indicators
Authors: Bell Simon
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses how a systems method for sharing perspectives on and then agreeing sustainability indicators was conceived and then applied in a wide variety of places. Central to this method's evolution were the intentions of its initial creators and the contributions of the different project collaborators and participants in the related workshops. Central to the method's effectiveness are the way two diagram types were used to visualise, and make more relevant to specified communities, indicators of environmental sustainability. The chapter is also another example of the interplay between method and visualisation, both of the method and within the method, and that it can be difficult to say which is the chicken and which is the egg. They are complementary parts of a holistic and ongoing process, particularly where the main objective is action to improve people's lives rather than research on people's lived experiences.
Introduction: poverty and social exclusion in the UK
Authors: Dermott Esther
Published: May 2018

The results of the Poverty and Social Exclusion 2012 survey (PSE-UK 2012) present a staggering picture of poverty in the UK today. There is little disagreement that in the 21st-century poverty is a serious social problem in one of wealthiest countries in the world. Over one hundred years since Rowntree wrote that ‘in this land of abounding wealth, during a time of perhaps unexampled prosperity, probably more than one fourth of the population are living in poverty, is a fact which may well cause great searchings of heart’ (1901, p 304), the problem of poverty in the UK has not been solved. As Julia Unwin, ex-chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has written ‘current levels of poverty are neither acceptable nor inevitable’ (...
The challenges of inclusive growth for the developmental welfare state
Authors: Kwon Huck-ju
Published: May 2018

One of the biggest challenges for developing a new more productivist social policy approach has been the apparent absence of a new, post-neoliberal, economic model even after the global financial crisis. This chapter explores the social policy implications of the official ‘pragmatism’ of the new economic model with its ‘institutionalist’ emphases on nation states finding what works best in their own contexts rather than looking to the one size fits all approach of recent decades.
Active labour market policies for an inclusive growth
Authors: Bonoli Giuliano
Published: May 2018

Growth which benefits everyone and to which everyone contributes has major implications for pure passive, redistributive policies which do not really result in “contribution to growth” (unless very indirectly, by spending). ALMPs (understood broadly, to encompass also in work benefits) and how they promote the notion of inclusive growth now requires a rethink of the interface between employment and benefits in a way that encourages and rewards participation in productive processes by all those who can. Inclusive growth social policies pose a range of issues and challenges for ALMPs that are discussed and examined in detail in this chapter.
Inclusive economic growth for health equity: in search of the elusive evidence
Authors: López-Casasnovas Guillem , Maynou Laia
Published: May 2018

The links between health and development are complex but sufficiently well-established for policy development purposes. The whole idea that health is not a burden on the economy, but is an active partner in fostering economic growth and tackling health inequalities is widely acknowledged. Investments in improving the health of a population as a whole will have positive economic consequences resulting in higher growth; which as a consequence will improve health – a virtuous circle as this chapter illustrates.
The French Parti socialiste (2010-16): from office to crisis
Authors: Francesco-Mayot Sophie Di
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines the French Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS), which is one of the least successful of the major European social democratic parties. It focuses on the period between the 2008 global financial crisis until the end of François Hollande's presidency in 2017. The crisis of the PS is twofold: first, a political crisis that is revealed by the divisive nature of the Party's internal courants (factions). Whereas the factions initially contributed to the PS's internal democracy, over the past two decades they have significantly affected the PS's cohesiveness and ability to effectively develop and implement necessary policies. And second, an economic crisis that is exemplified by the PS's inability to adapt to its external and internal environments, such as the neoliberal imperatives of the EU, unprecedented high unemployment, and increasing insecurity.
Poverty and social inequality
Authors: Powell Fred
Published: May 2018

This chapter is about the emergence of new ways of seeing poverty: its redefinition and conceptualisation. It is also about anti-poverty strategy and the role of community development in the pursuit of social justice. In the USA, this process was grandly called the ‘War on Poverty’. The war was ultimately one of ideas and values. The situation in Ireland reflected these debates and, ultimately, the power of the rich to curtail the rights of the poor. Social policy and the widening gap between rich and poor emerge at the core of anti-poverty strategy in a society moving sharply in that direction. The welfare state is very much consigned to the shadows of this debate, reflecting its ideological marginality in Irish political discourse.
Conclusion
Authors: Powell Fred
Published: May 2018

This chapter summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. The book has evaluated the political meaning and social reality of the Irish welfare state at the centenary point of the Irish revolution (1913–23). It argued that unlike many other modern democratic societies, the term ‘welfare state’ has had a weak political resonance in the lexicon of Irish social policy discourse. This reflects the weakness of the modernist project in Ireland and the absence of a classical European left-right political divide that gave shape to modern democratic politics. A more socially just republic will involve a universal welfare state charged with tackling the challenges of insecure job markets, scarce housing, and overstretched public services as a democratic imperative. A universal welfare state will also involve ten core social policy initiatives, including a universal health and social care system funded from taxation, ending child poverty, and addressing social inequality.
Cultural identity, migration and community development in Glasgow
Authors: Hashagen Stuart , Doyle Mick , Keenan Brian
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines two linked stories of community work and migration in Glasgow (Scotland's largest and most multi-ethnic city in terms of numbers and diversity). One is of the work taken forward by the Scottish Refugee Council with refugees and asylum seekers across the city; the other is of the neighbourhood-level work of Crossroads, a long-established youth and community association in the Govanhill area of the city. It is set within the shifting context of community work in the city over the years. The account here, covering 10 years, shows how the work moved from building links and organisational responses to ensure that this deprived population was able effectively to access a range of basic services, through advocacy, to more structured forms of organisation.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller women: how community work can both challenge and contribute to gender inequalities
Authors: Notcutt Holly
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents an account of the author's community development work with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) women in the East of England from 2010 to 2016. It summarises a range of observations, reflections, and questions gathered throughout this prolonged period of practice, with a view to informing the work of others working with GRT people, regarded as the most disadvantaged minority communities in the UK. Situated on the margins of a large urban settlement and nestled between motorways, an industrial estate, and sizeable swathes of unsightly marshland lies a 27-pitch local authority caravan site. Practically unnoticeable to passers-by in their cars, trucks, and lorries, it is home to families and individuals belonging to GRT communities in the region of East Anglia. In 2009, new Neighbourhood Management initiatives were developed in East Anglia, in one of which the author was employed as a community development worker.
Youth participation among ethnic minorities in Romania
Authors: Cocris Louisa
Published: May 2018

YouthBank is an international, youth-led initiative to engage in community development with young people, aimed at encouraging their empowerment and through grant making. There are YouthBanks operating in over 24 countries worldwide, including Scotland and Romania. The author was particularly well placed to conduct a study on YouthBanks in these two European locations, having a very good knowledge of both countries as well as recent experience on a placement with YouthBank Scotland. This chapter explores the differences and similarities of YouthBank across these two sites, in a project that encourages the ‘transformative participation’ of young people and the communities in which they live.
Building strengths in asylum-seeker communities in Australia
Authors: de Vries Lis , Roman Mohita , Briskman Linda
Published: May 2018

For many years, the Australian Red Cross (Red Cross) has delivered high-quality, strengths-based individualised casework services. In the last few years, on-going consultation with asylum seekers and a rapidly growing number of clients drove Red Cross to consider a broader, more adaptive, and more inclusive community development model. Such a model would encourage resilience and self-reliance; would recognise the role of the community in supporting dignity, health, well-being, and social inclusion; and would bring clients in as their own experts. However, in determining this change, Red Cross was faced with the challenge of implementing a community development model in a large, formal organisation with a group often considered by the broader Australian community as ‘outsiders’, and without access to many mainstream services and opportunities. This chapter discusses how Red Cross adapted and changed the service delivery model from individual casework to a community development approach.
The balancing act: community agency leadership in multi-ethnic/multiracial communities
Authors: Beckford Morris
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents the author's reflections on the question of whiteness and white privilege from the perspective of one who has achieved a substantial leadership position, acknowledged most of all by his co-ethnics (broadly people of Black African and Afro-Caribbean origins), but less so by people of Asian origin and, seemingly, hardly if at all by his white peers. One of the major indicators of racism is the collection of stereotypes used to demean and undermine minorities. The author also offers significant insights for working in multiracial communities, notably that such communities, being heterogeneous, have within them a range of differing and sometimes contradictory sets of values, norms, and practices: being a community worker requires knowing when to challenge patriarchal practices.
Without borders: community development, biculturalism and multiculturalism
Authors: Summersgill Angela
Published: May 2018

Aotearoa/New Zealand is considered one of the most multicultural countries on the planet. The 2013 census revealed that ‘New Zealand has more ethnicities than there are countries in the world. In total, 213 ethnic groups were identified in the census, whereas there are 196 countries recognised by Statistics New Zealand’. This chapter shares some of the issues, experiences, questions, and practice implications arising for the author, a mixed-race, British-born community development practitioner and social work educator living in Aotearoa. She has sought to better understand the issues and questions regarding the coexistence of biculturalism and multiculturalism; and to question what it might be that we separately and collectively need to do in order to move forward with respect and inclusivity.
Afterword: Messages for community development in working with minority groups
Authors: Craig Gary
Published: May 2018

This chapter summarises key themes and presents some final thoughts. It argues that there will be occasions when community workers armed with the values of social justice, of whatever ethnic origin, should have no option but to intervene to promote those values. Too often, community workers, social workers, the police, and others have veered away from facing difficult issues within the community for fear of being labelled as racist. Culture is not in itself good, and the acid test should be one of fundamental human rights: does a culture impinge on the human rights of its members? Does it challenge the core values of social justice? Community workers have to arm themselves with these core values in theory and in practice. In the turmoil and confusions of cross-cultural work, and in a context of ever-increasing and more violent forms of racism, this remains their clearest and most important line of defence.
Fifty years of poverty in the UK
Authors: Mack Joanna
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines fifty years of poverty measurement, in particular the development of deprivation-based measures from Townsend’s definition of being ‘excluded from ordinary patterns’ of behaviour through Mack and Lansley’s idea of ‘socially-perceived necessities’ to wider frameworks based around Sen’s concept of ‘capabilities’. It argues that these developments have contributed to a widespread acceptance that poverty is relative, with what is seen as inadequate living standards changing as society changes. The chapter charts trends in deprivation and income poverty, and their growing divergence. While both measures reflected the sharp rise income inequality in the 1980s, in this millennium deprivation-based measures have continued to rise while relative income poverty has stabilised. This indicates that deprivation measures better reflect the adverse impact of stagnating wages, rising insecurity and declining public provision. The chapter concludes that poverty research needs to be firmly positioned within wider debates about growing economic and social inequalities.
Living standards in the UK
Authors: Patsios Demi , Pomati Marco , Hillyard Paddy
Published: May 2018

This chapter provides an overview of a conceptual framework and analytical tool for measuring UK living standards (UK-LS). It aims to supplement and complement B-SEM and PSE poverty and social exclusion measures by combining objective indicators of living conditions (resources) and subjective assessments of those living conditions (outcomes) falling into eleven dimensions under three overarching domains: ‘what we have’, ‘what we do’, and ‘where we live’. Descriptive and exploratory analyses using selected examples of ‘what we have’ domain reveals that individuals with varying levels of ‘resources’ (ie. income, wealth, material goods etc) differ on objective and subjective ‘outcomes’ of living standards within and across living standards dimensions. We conclude that multidimensional indicators of living standards can provide a supplementary and complementary evidence base to inform policy and research by expanding focus beyond those traditionally considered poor or socially excluded for those higher up the range of living standards. However, in order for the conceptual model and analytical framework to be useful, potential users must be clear about resources versus outcomes when seeking to uncover the complex interactions (and associations) between objective and subjective indicators of living standards and equally important the purpose for which the UK-LS analytical framework is being used.
Severe poverty and destitution
Authors: Bramley Glen , Fitzpatrick Suzanne , Sosenko Filip
Published: May 2018

There have been growing concerns about various manifestations of extreme hardship in the UK, which are investigated using both PSE and a survey of emergency service users. A consensus-based definition of destitution is developed and applied to show its current extent and incidence in Britain. While no single cause dominates, the importance of arrears and debts, benefit levels, delays and sanction, health and relationship problems, evictions, job loss and migration are all underlined.
Poverty and health: thirty years of progress?
Authors: Prior Lucy , Manley David
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents an overview of the relationships of poverty and social exclusion to health. Inequalities in health are investigated across poverty definitions and different health measures, including general health, limiting long term illness, mental state and longstanding mental conditions. Relationships of dimensions of social exclusion to health are also exposed. Health is worse for the unemployed compared to those who are working, reflecting a complex pattern of associations where health is both a cause and consequence of labour market exclusion. The housing environment demonstrates further inequalities in general and mental health, as does exclusion in the form of low social activity and support, which significantly relate to worse mental health. Overall, this chapter reveals the persistent nature of health inequality. More than 30 years on from the first Breadline Britain survey, individuals in poverty are still suffering worse health compared to their more advantaged counterparts.
Housing and the living environment
Authors: Bramley Glen
Published: May 2018

Housing affordability problems are exacerbating poverty, particularly for working age households increasingly reliant on private renting, and housing needs have increased, reversing long-standing trends. UK housing still partially insulates the poor from bad housing experience but this tendency is weakening. Fuel poverty has significantly worsened and the poor are 6-10 times more likely to experience its adverse impacts. The poor are also more likely to experience neighbourhood social and other problems.
What political liberalism and the welfare state left behind: chance and gratitude
Authors: Gotoh Reiko
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines what has been left behind by political liberalism and the welfare state by connecting John Rawls' theory of justice with Amartya Sen's capability approach. It considers how Japan adopted a pacifist constitution after World War II and developed a system to secure basic wellbeing for all. That system, underpinned by individual rights, has sparked arguments regarding the relation between rights and public welfare, freedom and democracy. The constitutional idea of Japan's social security and welfare system embodies the concept of ‘liberal equality’, but also steps in the realm of ‘democratic equality’. The chapter also discusses the ideas of tolerance and non-discrimination in political liberalism as well as the concept of social cooperation. Finally, it reviews the core assumptions of Rawls' theory of justice, ‘justice as reciprocity’ and ‘justice as fairness’, and introduces two ways of restructuring the theory.
The instrumental values of education in the Southern Cone
Authors: Rambla Xavier
Published: May 2018

This chapter considers whether public policies impinge on the values of education by focusing on the experience of three Southern Cone countries: Argentina, Brazil and Chile. It first provides an overview of some theoretical arguments underpinning the impact of public policy on the instrumental values of education before discussing educational development in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. It then analyses the interrelationships between education and social, employment, urban and language policies. It also looks at the link between education and poverty alleviation in the three countries and concludes by outlining more concrete indications of the current challenges to the global governance of education. While prosperity and welfare expansion appear to have had a positive effect on the educational development of Argentina, Brazil and Chile, a number of contradictions has also consolidated inequality.
What is to be done about capability-promoting policies?
Authors: Otto Hans-Uwe , Walker Melanie , Ziegler Holger
Published: May 2018

This book has examined how the capability approach provides a politically normative metric for the critical analysis of policies and public policy structures, as well as policy interventions driven by human development or human security concerns. It has demonstrated that existing social structures and institutions play a key role in the realisation of capabilities or the feasibility of human flourishing. This chapter summarises the book's main arguments and considers new principles and aspirations towards capability-promoting policy. It argues that an alliance with the tradition of critical social science may ‘secure’ the capabilities approach, with its analytic focus on real-world conditions and requirements for renegotiating social justice and creating more capabilities-promoting policies, and vice versa. Capability-promoting policies include emancipatory and democratic strategies that transform unjust structures in order to enhance the agency of individual subjects in terms of human flourishing.
Fragile and conflict-affected situations and the post-2015 development agenda
Authors: Lockhart Clare , Vincent Sam
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines the challenge of ending extreme poverty and attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in fragile and conflict-affected countries by 2030. It first describes the background context in which fragility and conflict exist before discussing the current state of lessons learned as well as policy agreement and divergence regarding international approaches to peace and security. It then considers the centrality of institutions both as constraints and as foundations to development. It also offers suggestions on what key elements are needed in laying institutional foundations for development in countries emerging from conflict, and how responsibilities for implementing the goals might be assigned in practice. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the impact of the MDGs in fragile and conflict-affected settings, along with the implications of current understandings of conflict and fragility for the objectives of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Resource geographies in urban spaces: insights from developing countries in the post-2015 era
Authors: D’Alessandro Cristina
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines integrated urban resource management, flows, governance, and hubs in developing countries given how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have brought an increased attention to urban natural resources and sustainable development worldwide. Focusing on spaces and spatial dynamics, it offers policy guidance on the implementation of urban sustainability within the context of the post-2015 global agenda and the SDGs. The chapter first considers urban sustainable development before discussing the urbanisation and metropolisation processes and explaining the definition of ‘resources’. It then explores resource governance in urban spaces by drawing on resource geography as a framework. It also presents examples and insights of cities in the developing world to elucidate what is actually done and the role that resources have in these processes. It concludes with policy recommendations, arguing that the sustainability framework can be used to foster positive and realistic change in metropolises and capital cities.
Facing the global challenge of youth employment
Authors: Assaad Ragui , Levison Deborah
Published: May 2018

This chapter considers the global challenge of youth employment, arguing that employment inadequacy among young people is a much broader phenomenon than youth unemployment as conventionally defined. It first provides an overview of the youth bulge phenomenon in developing countries before discussing current efforts to address it. In particular, it examines education and training programmes that prepare youth for the labour market as well as active labour market programmes (ALMPs) that help them make the transition into the world of work. It also looks at estimates and projections for youth unemployment and describes a measure called NEET (not in education, employment or training) used to study youth employment inadequacy. Finally, it evaluates potential solutions for addressing the youth employment challenge.
Children in alternative care
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter describes how family abuse and neglect are the main reasons that children are in alternative care. In China, due to the absence of an effective child protection system, very few children receive alternative care for these reasons. Most children who are orphaned live with extended family. If they become state wards, the child welfare institution tries to arrange adoption. Otherwise, the most common forms of alternative care are institutional care or foster care. The chapter shows the significance of how alternative care is organized as it affects the childhood experience of the young people and their future opportunities. The qualities of the alternative care that they encounter might contribute to their current and future social inclusion.
Alternative care practices in child welfare institutions
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents the alternative care policies in the research cities — Beijing, Taiyuan, Datong, Urumqi, and Nanning. The institutions' policies and practices during the children's childhood and when they reach late teenage years affect the quality of the transition of young people out of care, such as whether they are required to leave, are supported to leave, have the capacity to leave and understand the benefits of leaving. The policies and practices affect the expectations and capacity of young people to achieve social inclusion in their young adulthood and to experience their rights to transition towards independent living in the same way as their peers in their communities, as well as support them to avoid the risks of social exclusion.
Social inclusion impact of a childhood in state care
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines how the love and care that children receive in their families or alternative care are among the most important factors influencing the quality of the childhood experience. Young people in alternative care in China grow up in institutions, foster care or family group care arranged by state child welfare institutions, and non-governmental organizations or kinship or non-kinship families. The alternative care experiences of these children affect the quality of their childhood and, later, their transition to adulthood. The chapter also introduces young people who related their state care experiences. They spoke of positive experiences about affection and love from families and community members, as well as negative experiences about violence in state care, both physical and emotional.