This in-depth cross-national case study questions broad assertions made to date regarding the general similarities that can be found in exceptional need systems within social assistance schemes in Britain (the Social Fund) and the Netherlands (Bijzondere Bijstand). Based on qualitative documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with those who administer discretionary payments in both countries the research highlights that these nominally similar schemes serve diverse goals and aims in their national contexts. Reflecting the different traditions of cash and care and the administrative structure of the state in the implementation of policy in this area, the first part of the thesis demonstrates that Bijzondere Bijstand in the Netherlands is firmly situated in an 'activity fare' context whilst the Social Fund remains largely separate from the administration of 'welfare to work' in Britain. The second part of the thesis highlights the empirically observed diversity that follows from these configurations of social assistance. Those who administer these payments have quite different educational and occupational backgrounds that inform the ways they think about poverty and the poor and are related to what they try to do for clients and customers with discretionary payments. The Dutch 'paternalistic' administrator attempts to facilitate paths out of social assistance for clients whilst Social Fund Officers are concerned with 'managerially' processing a large number of applicants in the context of targets and budgets. Organisational contexts are shown to affect the administration of discretionary payments to the 'deserving and undeserving poor', but not the meanings that administrators imbue the forms of payment at their disposal, grants and loans. Configurations of social assistance essentially set the context for the degree to which administrators can award payments in accordance with absolute and relative notions of poverty and human need and the interpretation and construction of needs and wants. In practice, need is a dynamic social construct that is informed by the professionalism of the workers, the ideology of the programme they implement and the structure and constraints of the bureaucracy in which they work.

Orientador: Jorge Ruben Biton Tapia / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T00:38:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pinto_GiovanaCarolinadeResende_M.pdf: 1931975 bytes, checksum: 1fb35c30e0b00a01eff1a365a529e137 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Nas últimas décadas, a Europa vêm sofrendo profundas alterações no seu cenário sócio-econômico e no mercado de trabalho. Fatores como a integração européia, a mudança na composição das famílias, o envelhecimento demográfico, a globalização do capital, entre outros, vêm alterando de forma severa a condução e formulação da política social européia. Paralelo a essas alterações, o mercado de trabalho vêm presenciando mudanças profundas na sua composição e regulação, tais como mudanças na legislação trabalhista, flexibilização na conformação dos contratos de trabalho, maior participação da mulher no mercado de trabalho, etc. Por estarem diretamente integrados com o bem-estar social, esses fatores estão juntos na ordem do dia e da agenda dos policy makers e dos parceiros sociais europeus. A principal preocupação dos países membros tornou-se enfrentar os desafios mútuos de combate ao alto desemprego e conformar de um sistema de proteção social mais moderno e adaptado que acompanhe as alterações da estrutura regulatória do mercado de trabalho sem prejudicar a seguridade e o bem-estar da sociedade. Esse trabalho visa atentar para a singularidade da flexibilidade do mercado de trabalho e a evolução do sistema de seguridade social e do emprego na Holanda e na Dinamarca sob o contexto de mudanças nas diretrizes do mercado de trabalho e da política social no cenário europeu. Trata-se de uma reflexão sobre o estado de ¿flexicurity¿ desenvolvido nesses países, observando sua conformação e evolução como estratégia política para o alcance de um justo equilíbrio entre a flexibilidade e a seguridade do emprego / Abstract: Along the last decades, Europe has been going through deep changes in its socioeconomic and labor market scenarios. Elements such as European integration, changes inthe composition of families, demographic ageing, capital globalization, among others, have severely altered the formulation and guiding of the European social policy. Along with these modifications, the labor market has been facing profound changes in its composition and regulation, such as in the labor law, contracts flexibility, higher women participation in the market etc. For being directly articulated with welfare, these factors have been examined nowadays by the European policy makers and the social partners. The main issue for the member countries has been how to deal with the challenges of fighting unemployment at the same time of assuring a modern social security system able to adapt to the regulatory changes in the labor market without harming the welfare of the citizens. This dissertation aims at calling attention to the unique cases of joined labor market flexibility and evolution of the social security system in The Netherlands and in Denmark under the context of changes in the directives of the labor market and social policy that have been going on in Europe. It is a reflection on the state of ¿flexicurity¿ in these countries, noticing its conformation and evolution as a political strategy in search of a fair balance between flexibility of work and social security / Mestrado / Economia Social e do Trabalho / Mestre em Desenvolvimento Econômico