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4 - The French maisons sociales, Chicago's Hull-House scheme and their influence in Portugal
- Edited by John Gal, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Stefan Köngeter, FHS St Gallen Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Sarah Vicary, The Open University
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- Book:
- The Settlement House Movement Revisited
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 18 December 2021
- Print publication:
- 16 December 2020, pp 51-72
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Summary
Introduction
The first Portuguese immigrants began arriving in the US in the middle of the 19th century and settled in Boston, Massachusetts (Baganha, 1991), as well as in Springfield, Illinois (Allers and Gochanour, 1984). However, according to some historical sources (Social Welfare History Project, n.d.), Portuguese immigrants were also among the nationalities present at the Hull-House settlement, established in Chicago in 1889 by Jane Addams and her colleagues. Reports of the Portuguese presence at one of the first, and certainly the most prominent, settlement houses in the US, was the impetus for this research effort to track the Portuguese settlement experience. Due to the Francophone genealogy of Portuguese social work, this journey begins by initially focusing on the French settlement experience, which offers an opportunity to explore the unique features of this experience. Thus, apart from the Portuguese settlements, the chapter examines both the French maisons sociales and the Addams’ Hull-House sociohistorical contexts and approaches as a contribution to the study of the Settlement House Movement through a transnational perspective.
This chapter adopts as its analytical lens – residence, research and reform – the paradigmatic 3Rs of the Settlement Movement (Trattner, 1994: 171), as a key to the comparison of these international experiences. It draws on the author's previous research (Branco, 2016, 2019), but also on the work of Williams and MacLean, which “presents a collective case studies approach … of some of the most prominent Progressive Era settlements” (2015: 16), and which underscores the impact of Hull-House on the Settlement House Movement and its centrality to social work and social reform. With regard to the Settlement Movement in Portugal, the focus will be on the ‘centres sociaux’ that developed in that country, under the Francophone inspiration along with other possible influences.
Hull-House: residence, research and reform
The 3Rs are a perfect synthesis of the praxis and expression of the Settlement Movement philosophy in the US.
Residence
The unique aspect of social settlements is that they brought middle or upper-class volunteers, of varying motives, to live (settle) among the poor and usually foreign-born populations. (Williams and MacLean, 2015: 44)
19 - Adequate Income in Portugal: a Comparison of Two Estimation Methods
- Edited by Christopher Deeming, University of Strathclyde
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- Book:
- Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 12 March 2021
- Print publication:
- 28 May 2020, pp 271-288
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Summary
Introduction
Income adequacy, considered as the sufficiency of disposable income to assure human dignity in a given society, is an old political issue. As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), ‘everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family’ (emphasis added). In a market economy, where the satisfaction of material needs is very much dependent on consumption of goods and services obtained through the market, adequacy of living standard implies adequacy of disposable income to buy them. Adequate income as income required for human dignity is also in the European Pillar of Social Rights (2017) and is a matter of policy concern at the EU level (Deeming, 2017).
A normative income threshold, as an amount that provides people with an adequate level of resources to lead a decent and dignifying standard of living, is then necessary as a monetary reference for guaranteeing citizenship rights, to identify social needs for designing social policies and to evaluate the adequacy of social policies. The lack of normative content of the EU poverty threshold and the lack of an updated version of a normative income threshold in Portugal led to new research designed to construct reference budgets and to estimate adequate incomes (Pereirinha et al, 2020). The aim was to estimate an empirically based and socially accepted standard of adequate income for different family types, well adapted to the Portuguese reality, based upon a consensual budget development approach with sound scientific support that could inform debates on poverty in Portugal, as well as public policy decisions relating to social benefits, social minimums, minimum wage, fiscal measures and other spheres of governance. This research, which follows the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) approach (Bradshaw et al, 2008), will be referred to as MIS/raP here (rendimento adequado em Portugal).
The lack, at the EU level, of a common methodology that may support a normative income threshold, is also a matter of concern, which led the European Commission (EC) to propose the construction of reference budgets for all EU countries in order to ‘facilitate the Commission's task of monitoring the adequacy of income support in Europe’ (Goedemé et al, 2015: 7).
5 - Social reform in the US: lessons from the Progressive Era
- Edited by Ute Klammer, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Simone Leiber, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Sigrid Leitner, Technische Hochschule Köln
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- Book:
- Social Work and the Making of Social Policy
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 27 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 05 June 2019, pp 71-88
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Summary
Social casework and social reform
As argued in previous work (Branco, 2016), social reform was, to paraphrase Richmond (1922: 223), one of the forms of social work present in the thoughts of the most prominent and seminal pioneers of social work in the Progressive Era. Whereas the conceptualisation of and engagement in social reform of Jane Addams is relativity well known and recognised (compare, among others, Muncy, 1991; Lengermann & Niebrugge, 1998, 2007; Lengermann & Niebrugge-Brantley, 2002; MacLean & Williams, 2012; Williams & MacLean, 2016), this vision was not exclusive to the settlement workers. It could also be observed, albeit differently, as present in the thought and work of Mary Richmond and other social case workers (Richmond, 1906/1930; Pittman-Munke, 1985; Agnew, 2004).
A legacy of the social work pioneers of the Progressive Era, policy making (or the socio-political approach) is considered to be an intrinsic element of social work and one of the two faces of social work – the other being individual and family social work (or the psychosocial approach). In this sense, it is important to point out two key ideas of the pioneers’ conceptualisation of social reform. First, they envisaged social reform as a research-based action. Second, their idea of ‘the cycle of social reform’ was an expression of the awareness of the complexity and different levels of the public policy process.
Policy practice as a component of social work
For Jane Addams, the Hull-House residents and other settlement workers, policy-oriented practice was an intrinsic and central element of social work. This was clearly expressed in Hull-House's motto: ‘Research, Reform, Residence’.
Addams developed an influential leadership of policy making in the Progressive Years, a pivotal task not only in the establishment of several public agencies at state and federal levels, but also the establishment of minimum standards of industry work conditions for working-class men, regulation of employment for women and child labour protection, and a system of accident, old age and unemployment insurance (Franklin, 1986: 513). A strong commitment to social reform activities is well documented in biographies and essays about several Hull-House residents and settlement workers: namely, Florence Kelley, Edith and Grace Abbot, Julia Lathrop, Lillian Wald (Addams, 1935/2004; Sklar, 1985, 2001; Coss, 1989; Lengermann & Niebrugge, 1998; Costin, 2003; Cohen, 2017).
Seven - Social work academia and policy in Portugal
- Edited by John Gal, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Idit Weiss-Gal, Tel Aviv University
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- Book:
- Where Academia and Policy Meet
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 29 March 2017, pp 117-132
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Summary
The goal of this chapter is to examine the involvement of social work academics in social policy in Portugal. In the first part, we present an overview of the development and main features of the Portuguese welfare state and of social work education and the profession, to outline the context in which policy practice takes place. In the second part, the method, results and findings of the empirical research are presented.
Development of the Portuguese welfare state
The institutionalisation of social work in Portugal as academic training and a profession took place in the socio-political context of the ‘Estado Novo’ (Second Republic), a system of corporatist and authoritarian nature, which was averse to public intervention in the social sphere and thus contradicted the notion of a welfare state. Social work as a profession emerged during a period strongly influenced either by a corporatist orientation in the domain of social insurance as well as a subsidiarity philosophy of the role of the state facing private initiatives in the social assistance realm. Another important characteristic of the Estado Novo was its familistic policy orientation.
No relevant changes occurred in Portuguese social policy until the 1960s. Nevertheless, the post-World War II period was a very important milestone in the socio-political context of Portugal. Following the adoption of the Marshall Plan by the United States Congress, and despite ideological resistance, Portugal integrated into the European Organisation for Economic Cooperation and established a bilateral agreement with the United States during 1949-52. In 1953, Portugal implemented its first Development Plan. These political and economic events preceded the 1960s, a decade of economic openness and economic growth in Portugal and the context within which new ideas about social issues and social policy emerged (Coutinho, 1999; Pereirinha and Branco, 2013).
With Oliveira Salazar's resignation, Marcelo Caetano became the new prime minister from the late 1960s to April 1974, a period that became known as ‘Marcelo's Spring’ due to its characteristics of political openness, economic liberalisation and social policy improvement. This period saw the 1971 health services reform, guided by an orientation toward universal access to health care and an emphasis on primary care; the extension of social insurance (especially to rural workers); the promotion of public housing; and early studies aimed at creating a national minimum wage.
Incentives or obstacles? institutional aspects of the cork business in the Iberian Peninsula (1930–1975)*
- Amélia Branco, Francisco M. Parejo
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- Journal:
- Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History / Volume 26 / Issue 1 / Primavera 2008
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 13 January 2010, pp. 17-43
- Print publication:
- Primavera 2008
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The quantitative and comparative analysis of Spanish and Portuguese cork exportations during the 20th century shows that Spain lost its leading position in the world trade of transformed cork while Portugal rose to claim first place. This article takes a step towards identifying the institutional aspects behind the different paths taken by the cork business in the two countries between 1930 and 1975. Starting with a comparative analysis of the legal framework and economic policies which had an impact on the various branches of business during the two Iberian dictatorships, it is argued that Salazar and Franco attributed different degrees of importance to the cork sector. It concludes that these institutional aspects explain a part of the loss of competitiveness of Spanish exports in comparison with Portuguese exports, insofar as they influenced the extent to which the two economies participated in international trade flows as well as production costs in the industry.