正文
Naoki Akaeda
In international comparative research, significant advances have been made in the study of the effect of social capital and the welfare state on subjective well-being (SWB). However, few studies have examined how the welfare state influences the impact of social capital on SWB. To fill this gap, from the perspectives of the crowding-out and crowding-in hypotheses, this study explores whether welfare provisions alter the role of three dimensions of social capital – namely, social trust, formal social contact, and informal social contact, in SWB. The present study utilises international comparative data from nine waves of the European Social Survey of 2002 to 2019 and a two-way fixed-effects model to evaluate the cross-level interaction effects of welfare provisions and the three dimensions of social capital on SWB. This analysis reveals that welfare spending strengthens the positive association between social capital and SWB.
Technology and homecare in the UK: Policy, storylines and practice
Kate Hamblin, Diane Burns, Cate Goodlad
UK policy discourse presents technology as a solution to challenges facing care services, including issues of quality and the mismatch between care workforce supply and demand. This discourse characterises technology as ‘transformative’, homogenous and wholly positive for care delivery, eliding the diversity of digital devices and systems and their varied uses. Our paper draws on data gathered through 34 interviews with care sector stakeholders and four in-depth case studies of UK homecare providers to comparatively analyse ‘storylines’ of technological solutions expressed by policy (macro-level), sector stakeholders (meso-level) and homecare managers and care workers (micro-level) alongside enacted experiences of technology-in-use. The ‘storylines’ presented by care sector stakeholders and homecare managers converged with those of the policy discourse, emphasising technology’s capacity to enhance quality and efficiency. Our case studies however highlighted several implications for care work and organisational practice in homecare provision: the technologies we observed sometimes produced additional tasks and responsibilities, undermining the efficiency and quality storylines. The experiences of care providers and workers engaging with technologies in homecare warrant further investigation and greater prominence to challenge a discourse which is at times overly simplistic and optimistic.
How has the idea of prevention been conceptualised and progressed in adult social care in England?
Jerry Tew, Sandhya Duggal, Sarah Carr
Over recent years, a preventative approach has been promoted within adult social care policy and practice in England. However, progress has been somewhat inconsistent, in part due to issues around conceptualising what exactly prevention means within this context. Particularly since the financial crisis, there have emerged tensions between seeing prevention as a positive strategy to build assets and capability; as part of a neo-liberal project to roll back expectations for state support; or simply as a technocratic strategy to increase efficiency by deploying resources ‘upstream’ where they might have greater impact. This paper provides a critical perspective on how policy has unfolded over the last 15 years, which provides the context for an analysis of findings from a national survey of English local authorities and interviews with key stakeholders. These findings demonstrate a substantial commitment to preventative activity, but also some serious confusions and contradictions in how this agenda may be taken forward in the current policy environment.
Incoherent and Indefensible? A Normative Analysis of Young People’s Position in England’s Welfare and Homelessness Systems
Kit Colliver
Young people experience different treatment compared to older adults in the English welfare and homelessness systems, encountering varying levels of protection and disadvantage. This paper uses a value-pluralist perspective to explore the normative rationales for and the ethical defensibility of these policy differences. Evidence from 38 key informant interviews suggests that the English homelessness system is shifting towards a vulnerability-oriented response to young people. But an inconsistent value framework within the welfare system systematically disadvantages them without offering a corresponding degree of protection. As such, these closely-connected areas of social policy pull in opposing directions. Although individual positions targeting young people may (to greater and lesser extents) be justifiable, this disparity in values creates an incoherent and indefensible welfare policy landscape for this group.
How Incarcerating Children Affects their Labour Market Outcomes
Richard Dorsett, David Thomson
We investigate the labour market effects of incarcerating children. Using linked administrative data to track outcomes for English schoolchildren, we estimate an econometric model of transitions between education, custody, employment and NEET (not in employment, education or training), along with earnings for those starting work. We allow outcomes to vary according to the individual’s state in the preceding spell and, by controlling for personal characteristics and unobserved heterogeneity, interpret such variation as capturing causal impacts. For males, the main effect of incarceration is a reduction of more than 10% in the probability of employment. For females, there is no overall impact on employment but, for those entering work, wages are reduced by 25%. These negative impacts suggest roles for policy in deterring delinquency, finding alternatives to custody, rehabilitating those incarcerated and supporting resettlement on release. Appropriate labour market policy may differ by gender, with males needing help to overcome employer discrimination and females needing encouragement to achieve better-paid work.
