No description available.

The article discusses the concept of families, who get income support, and child’s, growing in such a family, learning motivation. People are considered to be in poverty if they lack sufficient material, cultural and social resources to ensure the minimum standard of living that has been formed in their country. Family microclimate makes very large influence on the growing up children. Cordiality in relationship among family members, psychological and pedagogical harmony creates favorable conditions for personality development. The disorder and dissonance in family microclimate becomes especially serious reason in development of negative personality of the child. The negative development manifests itself in the character peculiarities, behavior and learning motivation. The analysis of family status enables us to make a statement that the family is one of the factors, which influences child’s learning motivation. The poor families usually are distinguished in conflicts mostly arising because of shortage of money. The object of the article: children’s, who are not attending school, rarely attending school and having low learning motivation, and living in family, who gets public assistance, attitude towards learning. The problem: influence of the family, who gets income support, to child’s learning motivation The article objective: discusses the concept of families, who get public assistance, and child’s, growing in such a family, learning motivation.

This thesis contributes to the literature on the Howard Government's mutual obligation policy by investigating the perspectives of those who are subject to it: specifically, those required to undertake Work for the Dole. To date, research on participants' perspectives has been limited to a few predominantly quantitative studies, most of which have been commissioned or conducted by government departments. This study provides a more qualitative and independent perspective on participants' experiences and their views about their rights and obligations as unemployed people. It considers the extent to which these experiences and views are consistent with or conflict with the rationales for mutual obligation. The study included a survey of 87 participants in nine Melbourne and Geelong-based Work for the Dole projects conducted in 1999, eight focus groups conducted with 59 of these participants, and 37 in-depth interviews conducted with a new sample of Work for the Dole participants in 2002. Unemployed participants in the study had a strongly positive orientation towards work and many had substantial experience of employment. They viewed work as necessary to fulfil human capacities and needs, and often believed that they should work for their own well-being, as much as to contribute to society. Far from expressing any distinctive values of a 'dependency culture', participants appeared to share many of the work values of the wider community. However, many also had substantial experience of unemployment and faced significant barriers to gaining ongoing work. This thesis provides evidence that Work for the Dole provides short-term benefits for many such unemployed people: most study participants enjoyed taking part in the program and felt that they gained benefits from participating. They clearly endorsed some kind of work placement and skill development programs for the unemployed. Given the Howard Government's abolition of a range of previous programs of this type, Work for the Dole is now the only such program available for many participants and was often preferred to doing no program at all. However, more than four in ten survey participants did not enjoy doing the program overall, and a fifth actively disliked taking part. Further, the program's impact on employment prospects appeared to be either negligible or negative-which was not surprising given the scheme's focus on the unemployed discharging their 'obligations to the community' and 2 overcoming a 'psychology of dependency', rather than on job outcomes for participants. However, this thesis argues that there is very limited value in a program which provides benefits at the time of participation but does not help in achieving the main aim of the unemployed: gaining work. The study analyses the Howard Government's three central rationales for the mutual obligation policy: that it ensures that participants fulfil the requirements of the 'social contract' by requiring them to 'contribute to the community' (the contractualist claim), that it deters the unemployed from being 'too selective' about jobs (the 'job snob' claim), and that it benefits participants by developing their capacity for autonomy and self-reliance (the new paternalist claim). These three rationales are assessed in the light of participants' responses. With regard to the contractualist claim, the study finds that most participants shared the widespread community belief that only 'genuine' jobseekers deserve unemployment payments, but many did not share the community's support for the requirement to work for payments. While a third of survey participants supported this requirement, almost half opposed it. Most believed the government was not fulfilling its obligations to the unemployed to provide appropriate employment and training opportunities which were relevant to the jobs they were seeking. Many viewed the mutual obligation 'contract' as a one-way set of directives imposed on them and believed that the breaching regime which enforced these directives was unreasonably punitive and unfairly administered. With regard to the 'job snob' claim, study participants largely rejected an expectation that they should be required to accept any job, and most had substantial concerns about the specific form of the job search regime. They did not agree that 'any job is better than no job' and objected to the pressure under mutual obligation arrangements to apply for jobs which they considered inappropriate. They were not willing to be forced into jobs in which they feared they would be unhappy and which they were likely to soon leave; rather, they wanted assistance to help them to find sustainable work. Finally, with regard to the 'new paternalist' claim, many participants believed that compelling recipients to undertake certain activities or to apply for unsuitable jobs unreasonably restricted their freedom of choice, undermining rather than increasing their autonomy. As argued by Yeatman (2000b), recipients may benefit from a program, or from a case manager who assists 3 them to develop their capacities, but compulsion to undertake activities that are not related to individual needs and goals is likely to undermine capacity-building. The evidence of poor employment outcomes from Work for the Dole adds further weight to this view. The provision of a greater range of program types in place of Work for the Dole-including those which combine work with accredited training and those providing subsidised placement in mainstream jobs-would address many concerns held by participants in this study. However, compulsion to participate in a labour market program would remain problematic in a society which generates far fewer jobs than are needed for full employment. The thesis concludes that the mutual obligation principle privileges the obligations of the unemployed over their rights to autonomy and to work. Its associated requirements have further added to the already considerable constraints faced by unemployed people who are attempting to identify and meet their own work-related goals. Ironically, a policy which is portrayed by the Government as promoting active participation in society, in reality requires many payment recipients to passively obey government directives-instead of actively participating in shaping their own future.

This study explores the validity of key assumptions and arguments about the nature, extent, depth, causes, and consequences of poverty that underpinned the statements and policy of the Howard Government during its decade in office. One important assumption appeared to be that an inability to afford the essentials of life plays a relatively unimportant, even negligible role in generating the low levels of human capital and school achievement exhibited by many ??poor?? parents and their children. Drawing on extensive secondary evidence from disciplines as diverse as economics, sociology, neurobiology, epidemiology and developmental psychology, the study demonstrates that these assumptions and arguments do not stand up to close empirical scrutiny. The adequacy of income support payments as a ??safety net?? from poverty, and the validity of various poverty ??lines?? are examined against the costs of obtaining the ??essentials?? that Australians believe no citizen should have to go without. This analysis reveals that the depth and prevalence of poverty in Australia is considerably more serious than has been admitted by the Howard Government and in many academic analyses. Next, the study demonstrates that the rise in so-called ??welfare dependence?? is a product of economic, rather than cultural developments; that income support ??customer?? data contradicts the claim that poverty is mostly a transitory phenomenon; and that ??work first welfare to work policies?? are not a solution to poverty, even during an economic boom. The second half of the thesis explores evidence from a variety of disciplines that suggests that the financial stress and material hardship associated with poverty have direct, indirect and cumulative impacts which commonly include compromised brain function and development and a reduced capacity for physiological and behavioural self-regulation. These consequences undermine physical and mental health, inter-personal relationships, parenting and health behaviours, learning capacities, and the development and maintenance of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities that are valued in the labour market. Contrary to the policy conclusions that flow from mis-characterisation of these consequences as symptoms of the intrinsic deficits of the poor, the multi-disciplinary evidence suggests that the real economic costs of allowing poverty to continue are likely to be higher than the costs of preventing it.

This study explores the validity of key assumptions and arguments about the nature, extent, depth, causes, and consequences of poverty that underpinned the statements and policy of the Howard Government during its decade in office. One important assumption appeared to be that an inability to afford the essentials of life plays a relatively unimportant, even negligible role in generating the low levels of human capital and school achievement exhibited by many ??poor?? parents and their children. Drawing on extensive secondary evidence from disciplines as diverse as economics, sociology, neurobiology, epidemiology and developmental psychology, the study demonstrates that these assumptions and arguments do not stand up to close empirical scrutiny. The adequacy of income support payments as a ??safety net?? from poverty, and the validity of various poverty ??lines?? are examined against the costs of obtaining the ??essentials?? that Australians believe no citizen should have to go without. This analysis reveals that the depth and prevalence of poverty in Australia is considerably more serious than has been admitted by the Howard Government and in many academic analyses. Next, the study demonstrates that the rise in so-called ??welfare dependence?? is a product of economic, rather than cultural developments; that income support ??customer?? data contradicts the claim that poverty is mostly a transitory phenomenon; and that ??work first welfare to work policies?? are not a solution to poverty, even during an economic boom. The second half of the thesis explores evidence from a variety of disciplines that suggests that the financial stress and material hardship associated with poverty have direct, indirect and cumulative impacts which commonly include compromised brain function and development and a reduced capacity for physiological and behavioural self-regulation. These consequences undermine physical and mental health, inter-personal relationships, parenting and health behaviours, learning capacities, and the development and maintenance of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities that are valued in the labour market. Contrary to the policy conclusions that flow from mis-characterisation of these consequences as symptoms of the intrinsic deficits of the poor, the multi-disciplinary evidence suggests that the real economic costs of allowing poverty to continue are likely to be higher than the costs of preventing it.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A significant new direction in Australian income support policy was introduced in 2002. Known as Australians Working Together, this development changed the basis of social security entitlement for parents. Throughout most of the twentieth century, low-income sole mothers, and later sole fathers and parents in couple families, could claim income support throughout most of their children’s school years. The primary grounds for their entitlement were low income and parenting responsibilities. Australians Working Together introduced compulsory employment-oriented activities to Parenting Payment entitlement for parents whose youngest child had turned 13. This thesis investigates mothers’ experience of this new welfare system. Using Dorothy Smith’s ‘everyday life’ approach to research, it draws upon qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse Australians Working Together. The research is grounded in a longitudinal interview survey of Australian mothers of teenage children who were subject to these changes. The analysis moves from their experience outwards through the four levels of analysis in Williams and Popay’s welfare research framework. The thesis examines mothers’ day-to-day worlds, the opportunities and constraints they navigate, the policies and institutions which shape their opportunities, the political framing of those policies, and wider social and economic transformations. In their negotiation of the social security system, mothers are striving for recognition of autonomy and care. They want their capacity to determine for themselves how to live their lives to be acknowledged. They would like the social contributions they make through employment, education and voluntary work to be recognised. They struggle for their unpaid work caring for their families to be valued. They wish that they had sufficient material resources to care well for their families. The thesis develops a theoretical framework to examine these struggles drawing on the work of Honneth, Fraser, Lister, Sennett, Fisher and Tronto, Daly and Lewis. This multi-level, everyday life analysis reveals the possibility of reframing the social security system around mutual respect.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A significant new direction in Australian income support policy was introduced in 2002. Known as Australians Working Together, this development changed the basis of social security entitlement for parents. Throughout most of the twentieth century, low-income sole mothers, and later sole fathers and parents in couple families, could claim income support throughout most of their children’s school years. The primary grounds for their entitlement were low income and parenting responsibilities. Australians Working Together introduced compulsory employment-oriented activities to Parenting Payment entitlement for parents whose youngest child had turned 13. This thesis investigates mothers’ experience of this new welfare system. Using Dorothy Smith’s ‘everyday life’ approach to research, it draws upon qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse Australians Working Together. The research is grounded in a longitudinal interview survey of Australian mothers of teenage children who were subject to these changes. The analysis moves from their experience outwards through the four levels of analysis in Williams and Popay’s welfare research framework. The thesis examines mothers’ day-to-day worlds, the opportunities and constraints they navigate, the policies and institutions which shape their opportunities, the political framing of those policies, and wider social and economic transformations. In their negotiation of the social security system, mothers are striving for recognition of autonomy and care. They want their capacity to determine for themselves how to live their lives to be acknowledged. They would like the social contributions they make through employment, education and voluntary work to be recognised. They struggle for their unpaid work caring for their families to be valued. They wish that they had sufficient material resources to care well for their families. The thesis develops a theoretical framework to examine these struggles drawing on the work of Honneth, Fraser, Lister, Sennett, Fisher and Tronto, Daly and Lewis. This multi-level, everyday life analysis reveals the possibility of reframing the social security system around mutual respect.

The employment rate of young partnered women and partnered mothers increased considerably over the 1980s, while there was less change in the 1990s. This thesis explores these changes, with a focus on partnered mothers with young children. The objectives are to describe what the changes in female employment were, and to analyse why they might have occurred. ¶ The analyses were primarily quantitative, although they were put into context with extensive reviews of Australian and, where relevant, international literature. The primary source of data was Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census data. Other data used included those from the ABS Child Care Surveys, Negotiating the Life Course Survey and the National Social Science Survey. ¶ Many changes in maternal employment were identified. The most notable change was the increase in the number and proportion of partnered mothers working part- time hours. Job characteristics also changed, with these women in full-time or part- time jobs more likely to be working in higher skilled professional and para- professional jobs in 2001, compared to 1981. For partnered mothers with a child aged less than one, the proportion working increased, but there was also evidence that more women were making use of maternity leave. ¶ Coinciding with these changes were a number of compositional changes, as women of succeeding birth cohorts were more educated, and more likely to delay marriage and childbearing. Attitudinal change was also evident, as people became more accepting of working wives. Attitudes to working mothers with young children changed less, with a strong preference for mothers to be at home when their children were young. Also over this period, there were many changes in infrastructure, policy and the labour market generally that had impacts on female employment opportunities and conditions. These changes are explored in detail, and their relationship to employment change examined. ¶ Because there were so many changes in these factors occurring over this period, the exact causes of employment change were difficult to identify. Also, an analysis of employment change is complicated because the causality of certain effects does not run in only one direction – there are more complex links between education, childbearing and employment that should be accounted for in explaining changes over time. Similarly, changes in supply of labour are difficult to disentangle from changes in demand for labour. ¶ Compositional changes were certainly important in explaining the growth in the proportion working, especially for younger women. These women were not only more highly educated in 2001, they were less likely to have children. For working mothers, the effect of increased education levels could be seen in the greater numbers working in higher status occupations. ¶ The analyses of infrastructure and policy change, particularly that of changes in income support and child care provision which were covered in some detail, did suggest that certain aspects of these broader changes were associated with changes in employment, at least for some sections of the population. Income support changes may have enabled more mothers, particularly those in low-income households, to stay at home with young children. This might be part of the reason for the slower growth in female employment in the 1990s, as payments to single-income families increased. ¶ The increased availability of formal child care was likely to have enabled more mothers to work, although the use of informal care, and parental-care only also grew over the 1980s and 1990s. The cost of care continues to be prohibitive for some families. ¶ Increases in part-time work continued even when the overall rate of employment slowed down. Changes in industrial relations, through award restructuring and the introduction of enterprise bargaining, were associated with an increased availability of part-time jobs. This sustained use of part-time work was congruent with the employment preferences of working mothers with young children. Also, the evidence presented shows that part-time work has grown in higher status as well as lower status jobs. ¶ Overall, while it was not possible to identify the exact causes of employment change, the compositional (education and childbearing changes in particular), attitudinal and broader infrastructure/policy changes were no doubt related.

<p>Syftet med denna undersökning är att få ökad förståelse för bedömningsprocessen vid</p><p>ansökan om socialbidrag. Även önskas en ökad förståelse för handläggarnas</p><p>beslutsmotivering och bedömning i klientärenden och om könet på klienten är en avgörande</p><p>faktor. För att uppnå syftet har en kvalitativ vinjettstudie med ett identiskt typfall presenterats</p><p>endast med en variation, klientens kön. Studien har genomförts på enheten för ekonomiskt</p><p>bistånd i Gotlands Kommun och fjorton av de tjugo handläggare som arbetar inom detta</p><p>område i kommunen deltog. De sex som inte medverkade befann sig alla på utbildning.</p><p>Studien kan sägas ha hög reliabilitet då respondenterna svarat individuellt och inte under</p><p>påverkan av annan person. Validiteten på studien har stärkts genom att ett verklighetsanknutet</p><p>fall använts, samt att endast resultat med relevans har använts i form av citat från</p><p>respondenterna. Undersökningar av handläggning inom ekonomiskt bistånd har använts som</p><p>tidigare forskning för att verifiera denna studie. Som tolkningsram har kognitiv teori samt</p><p>symbolisk interaktionism använts för att belysa vilken påverkan den egna personen har i</p><p>beslutsfattandet. Resultatet visar på att bedömningarna skiljer sig åt när det gäller vilka</p><p>motkrav som ställs, klientens kön samt om handläggaren är organisation- eller</p><p>klientfokuserad.</p> / <p>This studies purpose is to get a greater understanding of the decision making process when a</p><p>client applies for income support. We seek a greater understanding of the social worker’s</p><p>reflections in a case, inspecting if it was affected by the client’s gender. To achieve the</p><p>purpose, a qualitative study case has been presented to a group of social workers, with only</p><p>one variation, the client’s gender. This studie has been handed out at the unit for income</p><p>support in Gotlands Kommun. Fourteen of twenty social workers who were working in this</p><p>unit, has been taking part in this studie. The other six did not attend due to work related</p><p>education day. This studie´s reliability is at a high level because the social workers have</p><p>responded individually and were not influenced by any other person. The validity of this study</p><p>has been strengthen by an authentic study case, and only relevant information, such as a</p><p>personal statements, has been used in the results. Earlier studies of decision making and</p><p>examing cases of income support seeking clients, has been used to confirm the result of this</p><p>study. To interpret this studie´s results, two behavior-theories has been selected. The theory of</p><p>the cognitive mind and the theory of symbolic interactionism. These theories have been used</p><p>to illustrate what effects the individual mind in the decision making of income support. The</p><p>results of this study show how decision making splits between different social workers. The</p><p>differences appeared at the demands given by the individual social worker to the client to do</p><p>in return to get income support. Differences were also found concerning the client’s gender,</p><p>and also what the social worker focused at, at the client´s best- or the organisation's.</p>

Syftet med denna undersökning är att få ökad förståelse för bedömningsprocessen vid ansökan om socialbidrag. Även önskas en ökad förståelse för handläggarnas beslutsmotivering och bedömning i klientärenden och om könet på klienten är en avgörande faktor. För att uppnå syftet har en kvalitativ vinjettstudie med ett identiskt typfall presenterats endast med en variation, klientens kön. Studien har genomförts på enheten för ekonomiskt bistånd i Gotlands Kommun och fjorton av de tjugo handläggare som arbetar inom detta område i kommunen deltog. De sex som inte medverkade befann sig alla på utbildning. Studien kan sägas ha hög reliabilitet då respondenterna svarat individuellt och inte under påverkan av annan person. Validiteten på studien har stärkts genom att ett verklighetsanknutet fall använts, samt att endast resultat med relevans har använts i form av citat från respondenterna. Undersökningar av handläggning inom ekonomiskt bistånd har använts som tidigare forskning för att verifiera denna studie. Som tolkningsram har kognitiv teori samt symbolisk interaktionism använts för att belysa vilken påverkan den egna personen har i beslutsfattandet. Resultatet visar på att bedömningarna skiljer sig åt när det gäller vilka motkrav som ställs, klientens kön samt om handläggaren är organisation- eller klientfokuserad. / This studies purpose is to get a greater understanding of the decision making process when a client applies for income support. We seek a greater understanding of the social worker’s reflections in a case, inspecting if it was affected by the client’s gender. To achieve the purpose, a qualitative study case has been presented to a group of social workers, with only one variation, the client’s gender. This studie has been handed out at the unit for income support in Gotlands Kommun. Fourteen of twenty social workers who were working in this unit, has been taking part in this studie. The other six did not attend due to work related education day. This studie´s reliability is at a high level because the social workers have responded individually and were not influenced by any other person. The validity of this study has been strengthen by an authentic study case, and only relevant information, such as a personal statements, has been used in the results. Earlier studies of decision making and examing cases of income support seeking clients, has been used to confirm the result of this study. To interpret this studie´s results, two behavior-theories has been selected. The theory of the cognitive mind and the theory of symbolic interactionism. These theories have been used to illustrate what effects the individual mind in the decision making of income support. The results of this study show how decision making splits between different social workers. The differences appeared at the demands given by the individual social worker to the client to do in return to get income support. Differences were also found concerning the client’s gender, and also what the social worker focused at, at the client´s best- or the organisation's.