bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Legislating For Fair Employment: The Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Bill, 1988
Authors: Miller Robert 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTTwo decades ago allegations of religious discrimination and the onset of ‘the troubles’ led the British Government to institute a programme of administrative and legislative reform in the province. These reforms culminated in the Fair Employment Act (1976). More recently, the Government began a review of the efficacy of the existing legislation and this has now resulted in a new Fair Employment Bill for Northern Ireland. The new Bill should be seen as a serious attempt to grapple with the chronic problem of religious discrimination in the province. The realisation of equality of opportunity in Northern Ireland, however, continues to be as much a test of political will as of the ability of those who frame ‘fair employment’ legislation.
Improving the Doctor/Patient Relationship: A Feminist Perspective
Authors: Foster Peggy 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTSince the early 1970s British and American feminists have developed a comprehensive critique of the dominant doctor/patient relationship within mainstream health care services. In Britain, activists in the women's health movement have struggled to put into practice a model of health care delivery based on feminist principles, within which the doctor/patient relationship is radically redesigned. This paper will explore the principles and practice of this feminist health care model. It will then attempt to evaluate alternative strategies for strengthening and expanding feminist health care within the NHS. The paper will draw on data gathered by the author in 1987 through a series of unstructured interviews with feminist health care providers who were working within a variety of NHS settings in the North West of England.
Ambiguities and Contradictions in the Provision of Sheltered Housing for Older People
Authors: Clapham David , Munro Moira 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the current model of sheltered housing and explores a central contradiction in that model: namely that if only those people who most need and appreciate the unique features of sheltered housing were allocated places in schemes, the existing model ultimately could not provide sufficient support. This central contradiction leads to a fundamental lack of clarity in the role of sheltered housing. This is reflected in the ambiguities apparent in allocation practices, where judgements are typically made not only in relation to the tenants' needs and demands but also in relation to the impact on schemes. Evidence is presented from a recent study of sheltered and amenity housing in Scotland, which exposes these issues and suggestions are made as to how the traditional model of sheltered housing can be made more flexible and more suited to those who need and value it most.
The Division of Labour in Early Child Care—Mothers and Others
Authors: Mayall Berry 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper is concerned with the work of child care and with the division of work between mothers and others. Drawing on research data, it explores the idea that this work takes place in a domain located between the public and the private. The perspectives of mothers and health visitors on child care and health care are considered, with particular reference to their perspectives on their own and others' knowledge and responsibility.
The Fall in the Number of Children in Care: a Demographic Analysis, 1977–1986
Authors: Timæus Ian 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThe determinants of the number of children in local authority care in England are examined using methods that distinguish the implications of current flows into and out of care from the continuing impact of past decisions. In the long term, the decline in the admission rate and the time that children can expect to spend in care between 1977 and 1986 would produce a 39 per cent fall in the number of children in care from that implied by flows into and out of care in 1977–8. These changes have been compounded by an 11 per cent decline in the size of the child population. In fact, though, the higher level of admissions in the past means that the number in care fell by only 29 per cent during this period. If admissions and rates of leaving care have remained at their 1985–6 levels since then, the number of children in care will drop by around 8,300 to under 59,000 in 1991.
Looking Forward to the Past? The Politics of Public Health
Authors: Baggott Rob 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis article explores the role of political agents, institutions, circumstances, and ideas in the development of public health policies in Britain. The first part attempts to define public health. The second section of the article looks at the experience of the Victorian public health movement. The final part considers the re-emergence of the public health perspective. The underlying theme of the article is that an awareness of the political dimension, both contemporary and historical, improves our understanding of developments in the field of public health. The main conclusions reached are: first, that given the formidable political obstacles which exist, public health reform will only succeed if the reformers themselves operate with full awareness of the political dimension; second, that the modern public health debate is unlikely to be resolved in the short term.
Coping With Cutbacks and Managing Retrenchment in Health
Authors: Flynn Rob 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper presents qualitative evidence about managers' perceptions of retrenchment in the National Health Service in England. It outlines the financial situation of six case-study district health authorities during the expenditure crisis of 1987/8, and presents the results of an interview survey of district general managers and directors of finance about the implementation of cutbacks. Similar policies of cost-containment and service reduction are mirrored by similarity in the views held by managers and treasurers. Key concerns included the need for a reconstruction of local priorities in service provision, and the advocacy of an extension of managerial control over hospital consultants. These issues are discussed briefly in the context of the recent government proposals to introduce market mechanisms into the NHS, and wider arguments about medical dominance and bureaucratic/professional conflicts.
Homeless Young People and Runaways—Agency Definitions and Processes
Authors: Liddiard Mark , Hutson Susan 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis article looks at the problems of youth homelessness and running away, and analyses how the agencies who deal with these problems define them. Based on extensive research material, it presents three main findings. It illustrates that agencies appear to present the problems with which they deal to an outside audience, externally, in a number of different ways and that these statements do not depend solely on the characteristics of their clients. Instead, they also reflect the structure, purpose and resources of the involved agencies themselves. Additionally, however, agencies also appear to categorise their potential clients internally, in terms of who they can and cannot assist. To help reach these decisions, many of these organisations use a set of classifications linked to whether or not they perceive their potential clients to be deserving or undeserving. The paper concludes with the recognition that these labels are not in any way fixed. Rather, there are identifiable processes involved in these classifications.
Co-residence between Adult Children and their Elderly Parents in England and Wales
Authors: Grundy Emily , Harrop Anne 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTCo-residence between adult children aged 35 or more and their elderly parent(s) or parent(s)-in-law has been investigated using data from the Office of the Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) Longitudinal Survey and the 1985 General Household Survey supplement on informal carers. Overall 4 per cent of adults lived with a parent or parent-in-law but this proportion varied considerably with age, marital status and gender. Socio-economic differentials in co-residence were also found. These suggested that where the child is the provider of support to an elderly parent co-residence may be associated with socio-economic advantage. Differentials in co-residence rates and differences between co-residence data from the Longitudinal Study (LS) and data on co-resident carers from the General Household Survey (GHS) also point to the important role of elderly people as providers of support to adult children. In conclusion, the implications of these data for policies of community care are considered.
Mother's Employment and Child Health Care
Authors: Dowswell Therese , Hewison Jenny 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTA decline in the number of young people entering the UK labour force has led to growing interest in the recruitment and retention of women workers. As yet the child care needs of school age children have not been addressed. Using interview data the strategies mothers employ to meet their work commitments outside of school hours and during childhood illnesses are described. Although mothers remained the main carers of their children, they frequently depended on unpaid help from relatives. These informal arrangements were sometimes complicated and potentially vulnerable. This dependence on informal support networks has a range of policy implications.
Income Source as a Social Barometer
Authors: Day Beryl 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper, based on an exploratory study of households in an English south coast town, argues that main income source is a significant factor to be taken into account when distinguishing between households. The research was triggered by information drawn from the 1981 Census showing that less than half the population of Great Britain experienced a direct relationship between current paid employment and income. It suggests that generalisations based on an assumption that household income drawn mainly from paid employment is the norm, marginalise more than half the population. The study draws attention to some of the issues highlighted when the focus of research is on sources of income. These are presented as supplementing, rather than negating, views from other perspectives. This exploratory study highlights additional insights having implications for social policy, while acknowledging that each merits more detailed attention.
Equity in Health and Social Care
Authors: Evandrou Maria , Falkingham Jane , Grand Julian Le , Winter David 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper studies equity in the distribution of primary health care and domiciliary care for elderly people. The main data source is the 1980 GHS which has been linked to local authority data. An equitably distributed service is defined as one in which only variables which measure respondent's need for the service provide a significant explanation of whether the respondent receives the service. In the case of primary health care we find that for a number of groups defined by gender and age, economic and demographic variables have significant explanatory power. For two groups (males under 41 and females between 40 and 60), need was the only significant variable. For domiciliary care not only are variables which relate to the respondent's demographic and economic status significant but also variables which are concerned with local authorities' policies concerning supply. In general neither service is distributed equitably in the sense defined.
Problems in the Definition and Measurement of Poverty
Authors: Piachaud David 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThree approaches to defining poverty levels are discussed—social consensus approaches, budget standard methods, and behavioural approaches. Each addresses different questions and none, of itself, has provided—nor, it is argued, could ever provide—an objective definition of poverty. The paper then raises problems that have been largely neglected in defining poverty. First, the treatment of time and home production: the time and ability of individuals to prepare food or to wash and feed without assistance, for example, vary greatly depending on circumstances and in turn affect income needs. Choices and constraints affecting the household formations in which people live and their budgeting behaviour are also important in assessing poverty. Individual variations in behaviour need to be explicitly recognised if practical definitions of poverty levels are to be found. Finally, the paper condemns discussions of poverty that are part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
Consensual Approaches to the Definition of Poverty: Towards an Alternative Methodology
Authors: Walker Robert 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACT‘Consensual’ methods, which seek to establish poverty lines by reference to the views of society as a whole, are an important recent development. Three variants are recognised: those which require the public to estimate an adequate minimum income; those which ask people to specify a list of necessary items and those which ask what level of benefits the public is prepared to fund. This paper suggests that attempts to operationalise the consensual approach have been frustrated by their reliance on survey methodology. Some thoughts are offered on a possible methodology, based on the use of qualitative techniques, which would first explore consensus on the definition of poverty and then, if appropriate, seek directly to determine a socially approved budget standard.
Managing Threats to Welfare: The Search for a New Paradigm of Welfare
Authors: Titterton Michael 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis article argues that dominant paradigms in the study of social welfare have neglected the role of creative human agency in responding differentially to threats of welfare across the lifespan. This is due to the preference for unitary categories of analysis which place vulnerable individuals into homogenous groupings and to the tendency to work with limited models of vulnerability and helpseeking. These paradigms are further characterised by a preoccupation with pathological views of health and welfare and by inadequate conceptualisations of mediating factors and coping across the life course. A new paradigm of welfare is called for, the focus of which would be on the differential nature of vulnerability and risk among individuals and their differentiated reactions to threats to welfare. Directions for empirical research within such a paradigm are outlined.
The Politics of Universalism: The Case of Finnish Sickness Insurance
Authors: Kangas Olli 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis study identifies the general structural, political and institutional configurations which conditioned the emergence of national health insurance in Finland. Due to late industrialisation, the Finnish case allows the evaluation of the importance of the agrarian versus working class interests in the emergence of the Scandinavian model. The study also seeks to answer how the contending theoretical approaches of the development of the welfare state serve to explain the characteristics of Finnish sickness provisions. After the historical overview, the results of the historical processes are examined by comparing the quality of Finnish sickness insurance with the Swedish, German and British cases, each representing different ideal types of the modern welfare state.
Equality of Treatment for Housewives in Tax and Benefit Systems: A Proposal
Authors: Cuvillier Rolande 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTIt is proposed in this article to integrate housewives into tax and benefit systems, in their own right, on the basis of what can be considered as ‘work’ in their case: housekeeping for a husband. The implications as regards the assessment of working time and earnings are examined, as well as the consequences from the point of view of liability to income tax and National Insurance contributions. The basis proposed would serve to recognise personal rights to social benefits to replace rights that are derived from a husband.The author reviews a number of objections raised by the proposal. She considers that what is at stake is the selective protection of some men's domestic comforts, the status of housekeeping as an occupation and womens' freedom of occupational choice. A section is devoted to family responsibilities because they are often confused with housekeeping. In spite of the weight of habit and vested interest, the author thinks that it is possible to make progress while preserving the individual rights of older generations of women.
Managing Appeals: The Control of Housing Benefit Internal Reviews by Local Authority Officers
Authors: Eardley Tony , Sainsbury Roy 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTStudies of appeals in social security have tended to focus on the structure and performance of tribunals and other appeal bodies. Housing benefit differs from most other social security benefits in having a mandatory ‘internal review’ by officers before a disputed decision can be heard by the review board. The article draws on an evaluation of the housing benefit review system and shows how its two-tier structure has allowed wide variations in practice to develop among local authorities, such that officers can effectively control or manage claimants' access to the formal appeal hearing. We conclude that the existing structure obscures rather than enhances claimants' appeal rights in this area and discuss the possibilities for change.
The future of health care in Canada
Authors: Chappell Neena L. 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTCanada, like all industrialised countries, has become concerned over health care costs. Canada has reason to be concerned, with the most expensive system, on a per capita basis, of any country with national health insurance. This paper briefly reviews Canada's health care system, examines the rhetoric being adopted throughout the country at the current time, and discusses the changes which are now occurring. An assessment of whether change will lead to a more cost efficient and appropriate system for an aging society is then presented. It is concluded that there are profound changes taking place in the health care system in all provinces in Canada. Most of the changes to date reflect a restricting of current medical care by making ineligible previously eligible procedures, introducing user fees where there were none before, and in some instances including means testing where there was none before. In addition, hospital budgets are being cut and beds are being closed. However, a corresponding expansion of community programmes, while evident in the rhetoric, is less evident within current actions.
Men's and Women's Incomes: Evidence from Survey Data
Authors: Hutton Sandra 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThe article highlights the discordance between the reality and the perception of women's independence and equality. The changes in legislation and increased female participation in the labour market since the 1960s give the impression of considerable progress. Equal treatment of men and women has been proposed. Evidence from national survey data however, shows that women's income is still lower than men's with no matching increase with age and career. Social security policy has always been based on labour market participation but women's labour market participation is quite different from that of men. Because of childcare responsibilities many women work parttime at some time in their working lives. Equal pay legislation has had little influence on the incomes from part-time work. The failure of real income from part-time work to rise over time has been a major cause along with job segregation and the segmentation of the labour market in maintaining the difference between men's and women's incomes. Women's continued lack of personal income has consequences for the support for women and children, particularly evident in the case of lone mothers. The incomes available to a woman are unlikely to be high enough to provide an adequate independent living standard for herself and any dependent children.
The ‘Employer-dominated Households’ of National Health Service Staff
Authors: Tomlinson Dylan 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThe subject of this article is NHS staff accommodation, about which, as with other comparable forms of shared peer group housing, little is known. It is noted that there is no obvious reason why privileges, such as the provision of subsidised staff housing, should continue to be accorded to the professions by government, especially given the contemporary concern of the latter that state agencies should not be landlords on a large scale. NHS recruitment difficulties, and possibly also the need for mutual support felt by those in stressful ‘care’ occupations provide some grounds for staff accommodation to be provided. But it is argued in this article that it is rather the onset of citizenship and displacement of corporatism which implies a civic obligation on residents to take control of developing this sector of housing.
Parent Management Committees and Pre-school Playgroups: The Partnership Model and Future Management Policy
Authors: Brophy Julia 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTThis article reconsiders the origins of ‘self management’ in pre-school daycare services in the light of new data from a national study of playgroups in England. In the absence of comprehensive nursery education, playgroup provision has mushroomed in Britain. ‘Parental involvement’ has been a central premise in the philosophy of playgroups. However, data now available suggest that aspects of this premise require reassessment.The study establishes that ‘parents’ who are playgroup managers are in fact mothers mostly drawn from white, higher income, higher educated groups. Furthermore, they tend to be resistant to taking on such management functions. Playgroup workers in turn are dissatisfied with available levels of support and effective management. Both groups however are subject to structural pressures – not least of which is women's increased participation in paid employment – and many of these pressures are likely to increase in the 1990s.The future management of this sector therefore requires reconsideration within a broader public sector policy framework. Such an approach should address both the real cost of effective management and such employment policies as may facilitate the involvement of all parents – irrespective of gender, income or ethnic group – in services for their children.
Postmodernism and Social Policy: A Great Leap Backwards?
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter 
Published: January 2009

ABSTRACTPostmodernism claims that the universalist themes of modern society (society-wide political ideologies, the nation-state, the theme of rational planning in government policy, the large-scale public or private sector bureaucracy) are obsolete, to be replaced by a plural interest in diversity and choice. These ideas have strong implications for both the theory of social policy, which typically stresses universal themes of inequality and privilege, and the practice of social policy, which relies on rational analysis to inform society-wide government provision. This article suggests that such an approach ignores the significance of market liberalism and the associated trends to inequality, privatisation, retrenchment and the regulation of the poorest groups. From this perspective, postmodernism functions as an ideological smokescreen, preventing us from recognising some of the most important trends in modern social policy. It is unfortunate if, at a time when the results of increasing inequality are everywhere apparent, one of the dominant approaches in social science obscures the issue.