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Series editors’ preface
- Sophia Seung-yoon Lee, Chung-Ang University, Seoul
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- Book:
- Varieties of Precarity
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 03 April 2024
- Print publication:
- 27 October 2023, pp vi-vii
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. The book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages cross-disciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, be it national case studies, larger-N comparative studies or global social policy studies, can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design and implementation of future social policies.
In this regard, we are delighted to have Sophia Seung-yoon Lee’s contribution on precarious labour in Korea as a part of our book series. This book brings together a unique collection of case studies of different scenarios of labour market preciousness or fissured workplaces in Korea. This includes Ssangyong Motor Industry plant workers, call centre cleaning workers, to Korean platform workers. Together they tell the story of the rise of precarious and ‘melting labour’ in Korea and the failures of their welfare state development in protecting workers.
The highlight of this book is its unique and innovative theoretical contribution of the concept of ‘melting labour’. Melting labour entails the dismantling of various boundaries surrounding traditional forms of work and workplace – namely the rise of non-regular and atypical work, subcontracted and outsourced work and bogus self-employment like dependent or disguised self-employed individuals, freelancers and platform workers. Through the use of the concept, Lee aims to provide a better conceptualisation of the increased new forms of work that deviate away from standard employment, and better understand the common features of changes in work and workplace forms that enable this.
Series preface
- Greg Marston, University of Queensland, Louise Humpage, University of Auckland, Michelle Peterie, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Philip Mendes, Monash University, Victoria, Shelley Bielefeld, Zoe Staines, University of Queensland
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- Book:
- Compulsory Income Management in Australia and New Zealand
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 08 October 2022
- Print publication:
- 16 June 2022, pp x-xii
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. Initially conceived during a meeting of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee in 2016, the book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world-regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages crossdisciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world-regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, may it be national case studies, larger-N comparative studies, or global social policy studies can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design, and implementation of future social policies.
Although social security remains one of the primary vehicles to alleviate poverty and enhance individuals’ wellbeing, there is still fierce debate regarding the ‘deservingness’ and ‘undeservingness’ of cash welfare benefits worldwide. Across the political spectrum, the discourse on ‘welfare conditionality’ has embraced the notions of activation, reciprocity, communal responsibility, and even punitivism. In this latest contribution to the book series, Marston, Humpage, Peterie, Mendes, Bielefeld, and Staines offer a fascinating and timely account of the lived experiences of welfare conditionality based on a large number of interviews with income management participants and community stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand. Income management or, in the authors’ words, the “widespread quarantining of social security payments” has been a unique feature of the Australian and New Zealand conditionality experience. Still, it carries much broader implications for philosophical and applied debates on social citizenship in other welfare geographies. By taking a critical approach that emphasises the value of bottom-up policy making, personal autonomy, relational and procedural justice, the authors demonstrate the practical fallacies of an ideological reliance on ever ‘thinning’ social rights in rapidly changing and digitising labour markets.
Preface from the series editors
- Edited by Young Jun Choi, Korea University, Timo Fleckenstein, London School of Economics and Political Science, Soohyun Christine Lee, King's College London
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- Book:
- Welfare Reform and Social Investment Policy
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 21 December 2021
- Print publication:
- 26 February 2021, pp xv-xvi
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. This book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. It invites innovative research by leading experts on all world regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the objectives: to encourages cross-disciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world regions and global actors; to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; and not least, to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches – whether national case studies, larger-N comparative studies, or global social policy studies – can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design and implementation of future social policies.
This book edited by Timo Fleckenstein, Soohyun Lee and Young Jun Choi provides an exemplary case of cross-national comparative studies. It brings together leading experts from across two world regions, Europe and East Asia, to discuss social investment strategies – currently one of the most influential policy approaches around the world. The contributions critically discuss to what extent social investment can (or possibly cannot) tackle some of the key challenges faced by contemporary welfare states – namely greater social inequality and the decline in social mobility. By inviting a number of authors tackle the same social issue using different country cases (rather than just examining cases side by side) this volume is able not only to deepen our understanding of varieties of social investment strategies, but also discusses how some of the drawbacks connected to social investment may be overcome. The contributions tell us that, despite remarkable differences, at the level of the problems associated with social investment measures, the countries studied also show significant similarities. Furthermore, the case studies of East Asian countries provide important lessons for benchmarking or cautionary tales for more established Western welfare states as well as the emerging welfare geography in the Global South.
Preface from the Series Editors
- 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 xx-xxi
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. Initially conceived during a meeting of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee in 2016, the book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world-regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages crossdisciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world-regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, may it be national case studies, larger-N comparative studies, or global social policy studies can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design, and implementation of future social policies.
In this expansive volume, Deeming brings together international experts from around the globe to share their latest research on reference budgets and minimum income standards. It combines historical case analyses, cross-national comparisons, and studies with a focus on policy and practice issues in no fewer than 23 original chapters. Collectively these contributions summarise the various achievements within the international research on reference budgets and minimum income standards to date. At the same time, they underline the importance of reference budgets and minimum income standard approaches for current debates over, for example, the measurement of needs across the life course, the future of social safety nets, and what family income levels are deemed socially acceptable. Deeming manages to present all of the above with a nod towards pertinent ideational changes in the emerging global social protection and sustainability paradigms. He also lays out how, going forward, governments may address the contemporary challenges of urban, rural, housing, in-work, energy, and food poverty in different socio-economic and cultural contexts.
Series Preface
- Katharina Zimmermann
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- Book:
- Local Policies and the European Social Fund
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 04 March 2021
- Print publication:
- 02 October 2019, pp xi-xii
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation-states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. Initially conceived during a meeting of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee in 2016, the book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world-regions and global social policy actors, and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages cross-disciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world-regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; and not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, may it be national case studies, larger-N comparative studies or global social policy studies can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design and implementation of future social policies.
The topic of this monograph by Katharina Zimmermann is on one of the key issues in the heart of debates in many European countries at the moment – namely, the role of the European Union and the implementation of cohesion policies at the national level. Despite growing Euroscepticism, harmonisation of European social policies is progressing, as is evidenced by the introduction of the new European pillars of social rights which aims to deliver new and more effective rights for citizens across Europe. Zimmermann's book thus comes at a critical time to shed light on how European Social Funds help shape the implementation of local labour market policies, examining 18 detailed local case studies across six European countries. In this way, it speaks to some of the core aims of our book series by providing an in-depth examination of how supra-national/global actors affect local social policies – what we consider a relative undeveloped field. Zimmermann's contribution stands out in its ability to capture the different policy levels comprehensively. The book also contributes to the field methodologically, through the qualitative comparative analysis approach, to better capture the complexity of the implementation process and find patterns of different approaches made.
Series Preface
- Magnus Hansen, Roskilde Universitet, Denmark
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- Book:
- The Moral Economy of Activation
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 10 March 2021
- Print publication:
- 11 September 2019, pp ix-x
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. Initially conceived during a meeting of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee in 2016, the book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages crossdisciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, be they national case studies, larger-N comparative studies, or global social policy studies, can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design and implementation of future social policies.
Magnus Paulsen Hansen's monograph contributes significantly to our understanding of social policy ideas, politics and policies in Europe by turning the eye on the ways in which activation policies are legitimised by political actors. We get critical insights into the function of ideas and morality in the setting of particular labour market policies towards unemployed people. While providing in-depth case studies on Denmark and France, the implications of Hansen's analysis make an important and much broader contribution to our general understanding of the moral economy of activation. By illustrating the composite and heterogeneous set of ideas that constitutes the moral economy of activation, Hansen's innovative approach shows us how the testing of unemployed people is an ever-present element in public debate and jobcentre practice. At a more abstract level, the book illustrates why continued and increased activation is still high on the political agenda, and why instruments like basic income are not a straightforward alternative. Together with Nicolaisen and colleagues’ edited collection in this series, Dualisation of part-time work, Hansen's book sets the scene for enhanced discussions on social and labour market policies combining comparative with more general ideational dimensions.
Preface from the series editors
- Bent Greve, Roskilde Universitet, Denmark
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- Book:
- Welfare, Populism and Welfare Chauvinism
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 27 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 05 June 2019, pp xi-xii
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Summary
In a world that is rapidly changing, increasingly connected and uncertain, there is a need to develop a shared applied policy analysis of welfare regimes around the globe. Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy is a series of books that addresses broad questions around how nation states and transnational policy actors manage globally shared challenges. In so doing, the book series includes a wide array of contributions, which discuss comparative social policy history, development and reform within a broad international context. Initially conceived during a meeting of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee in 2016, the book series invites innovative research by leading experts on all world regions and global social policy actors and aims to fulfil the following objectives: it encourages cross-disciplinary approaches that develop theoretical frameworks reaching across individual world regions and global actors; it seeks to provide evidence-based good practice examples that cross the bridge between academic research and practice; not least, it aims to provide a platform in which a wide range of innovative methodological approaches, may it be national case studies, larger-N comparative studies, or global social policy studies can be introduced to aid the evaluation, design, and implementation of future social policies.
This monograph by Bent Greve tackles one of the most poignant challenges faced by many welfare states – the issue of rising anti-immigrant attitudes and, with it, populist parties. In this book, Greve asks the important question: why is it, in these times of growing inequality and polarisation of life chances across the population, that citizens are using their democratic power to vote for parties that reduce welfare and put themselves at greater risk? The book brings together a wide range of theoretical concepts drawn from the welfare attitudes and welfare state legitimacy literature, alongside a range of recent quantitative and qualitative data, to answer this question in greater depth. The main argument is that the rise in inequality and dualisation of the labour market observed across Europe has led to diminished trust not only between citizens and the state, but also amongst the population – an increase in attitudes of ‘us vs. them’.
Christopher Deeming and Paul Smyth (eds) (2019), Reframing Global Social Policy: Social investment for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, Bristol: Policy Press, £19.99, pp. 368, pbk.
- ALEXANDRA KAASCH
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- Journal:
- Journal of Social Policy / Volume 48 / Issue 3 / July 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 May 2019, pp. 646-648
- Print publication:
- July 2019
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Chapter 4 - Conceptualising Transnational Social Rights: Developments and Forms
- from PART I - TRANSNATIONAL SOCIAL RIGHTS IN CONTEXT
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- By Alexandra Kaasch, Junior Professor in Transnational Social Policy at Bielefeld University
- Edited by Andreas Fischer-Lescano, Kolja Möller
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- Book:
- Transnationalisation of Social Rights
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 12 December 2017
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2016, pp 67-84
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
As has been elaborated on in the introduction to this volume, there are numerous ways of approaching transnational social rights. This chapter maps and conceptualises transnational social rights from a global social policy perspective. This fulfils two aims: on the one hand, it provides an alternative approach to the study and understanding of transnational social rights; on the other, it contributes to the literature on global social policy by adding to recent attempts at conceptualising and theorising this field of study.
Case studies are one approach used in the literature on global social policy. Theory-testing has also been used as a way to refine and improve existing global social policy concepts. Bob Deacon and Paul Stubbs have applied common concepts from sociological theory (agency, structure, institution, and discourse) to the study of global social policy, and some chapters in a volume on global social governance approach the theorisation of global social policy and governance with reference to inter- and intra-actor relationships, and as a metatheoretical concept.
Nevertheless, it is not only the way, but also the understanding of what exactly makes a theory or a concept, and what the appropriate process of theorybuilding is, that differs between different scholars and disciplines. At the most general level, theory-building has to do with making sense of something. Oft en, it is associated with explanations about what is causing a particular, observed outcome (causal models or relationships). A theory, though, also has to do with a generalisation, and, therefore, theory-building can also take the form of establishing typologies and systematising observed phenomena, which then facilitates further, more detailed, and causal theoretical arguments.
This chapter focuses on the systematisation of transnational social rights as one element of global social policies (along with global social re-distribution and regulation). In particular, the meaning of the “social” in global social policy is central here, which contributes to a refined concept of global social policy, and related governance structures, and in this way specifies the meaning and importance of transnational social rights as well.
Political Parties and Social Policy Responses to Global Economic Crises: Constrained Partisanship in Mature Welfare States
- PETER STARKE, ALEXANDRA KAASCH, FRANCA VAN HOOREN
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- Journal:
- Journal of Social Policy / Volume 43 / Issue 2 / April 2014
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 04 February 2014, pp. 225-246
- Print publication:
- April 2014
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Based on empirical findings from a comparative study on welfare state responses to the four major economic shocks (the 1970s oil shocks, the early 1990s recession, the 2008 financial crisis) in four OECD countries, this article demonstrates that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, policy responses to global economic crises vary significantly across countries. What explains the cross-national and within-case variation in responses to crises? We discuss several potential causes of this pattern and argue that political parties and the party composition of governments can play a key role in shaping crisis responses, albeit in ways that go beyond traditional partisan theory. We show that the partisan conflict and the impact of parties are conditioned by existing welfare state configurations. In less generous welfare states, the party composition of governments plays a decisive role in shaping the direction of social policy change. By contrast, in more generous welfare states, i.e., those with highly developed automatic stabilisers, the overall direction of policy change is regularly not subject to debate. Political conflict in these welfare states rather concerns the extent to which expansion or retrenchment is necessary. Therefore, a clear-cut partisan impact can often not be shown.