The present thesis explores intersectional and institutional conditions for counteracting domestic violence in the Swedish welfare state. Empirically, the study focuses on professional discourses and practices concerning fathers’ violence against mothers and children in the context of separation, in three domains of practice: 1) Children’s education; 2) Disputes concerning custody, contact and residence; and 3) Welfare benefits such as financial aid. Theoretically, the study draws on feminist political theory and sociology, childhood studies and critical race studies. The empirical material consists of court orders and interviews with staff and victimised mothers. Two main social processes that undermine implementation of children’s rights are identified and discussed: Familialisation and selective repression. The thesis is based on four articles: Article I, (Skolan, familjerätten och barnen) School, family law and children exposed to violence, explores how staff at school and preschool understands their professional task, when in encounters with children in difficulties due to family law proceedings. The results suggest that two competing perspectives shape staff understandings of risks, solutions and violence. When arguing from the child’s rights’ perspective, the staff prioritises children’s safety and participation, while an upbringing perspective tends to construct violence mainly as a problem of order, with disquieting implications for vulnerable children. Article II, (Pedagoger i det sociala uppdragets gränstrakter: Att hantera familjerättsliga processer, hot och våld)Pedagogues in the borderland of their social task: Dealing with family law proceedings, threats and violence, investigates strategies used by preschool and school staff, when encountering gendered conflicts and violence between parents. How do the staff cope with their own and children’s vulnerability? An analytical model of six types of proactive and reactive strategies, ranging from keeping distance to normalisation of own vulnerability, is utilised in the analysis and discussed in relation to organisational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of inequality. Article III, Contact and evaluations of violence: An intersectional analysis of Swedish court orders, examines obstacles to implementation of children’s rights in contested parental contact cases in which there are indications of violence. The analysis shows that the contact presumption is strong, and generally overrides protection. This norm applies even where there are convictions or explicit reports of child abuse or domestic violence. In cases with ‘non-Nordic’ fathers however, the contact presumption is less likely to override protection than in cases with ‘Nordic’ fathers. Article IV, Financial oppression and post-separation child positions in Sweden, deals with post-separation child positions in two domains of practice in the Swedish welfare state: Welfare benefits such as financial aid, and child contact. The area of concern is financial oppression in the context of parental separation. Findings suggest that financial abuse in the context of parental separation is a non-question in the domain of welfare benefits, and in the domain of child contact framed as a conflict between equal parties. The age order as a form of domination may be reinforced by the practice of both domains.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research assignment is a detailed descriptive investigation of the lobbying role played by the Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) in the post-apartheid era in South Africa. The period under investigation is 1994-2001. The focus is on the DPSA as a lobbyist attempting to influence policy in favour of the disabled people in South Africa. In doing this, the study gives an overview of the three important concepts in this study, namely policy-making, disability and lobbying. The three concepts are analysed and looked at particularly from a South Africa perspective. The study utilises different methods of data collection. Disabled people have a history of being exposed to discrimination. After 1994 South Africa had a Constitution that outlawed such a practice against disabled people. South Africa in its democracy has new policies that are different from the ones that were governing the country during the apartheid era. The DPSA, as an umbrella body representing the disabled, now has to play a more effective role regarding the advocating for its members. Hence this study is conducted during the 1994-2001 period. The study mainly focuses on what and how the DPSA has tried to influence lobbying policy-making in favour of the disabled. The conclusion of the study is that the DPSA has achieved success directly and indirectly. The DPSA has managed to playa significant role in the improvement of the lives of disabled people in South Africa. However, it is recommended that the DPSA should make more efforts in addition to what has been done up to this far. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsopdrag is 'n gedetailleerde beskrywende studie van die rol wat die werwing van steun deur die Gestremde Mense van Suid Afrika (DPSA) in die postapartheid era 1994-2001 in Suid-Afrika speel. Die fokus is op die DPSA as 'n steunwerwer om die beleid te beïnvloed ten gunste van gestremde mense in Suid-Afrika. Deur dit te doen gee hierdie studie 'n oorsig van drie belangrike konsepte, naamlik beleidvorming, gestremdheid en steunwerwing. Hierdie drie konsepte is spesifiek vanuit 'n Suid-Afrikaanse perspektief ontleed. Die studie gebruik verskillende metodes om data te versamel. Gestremde mense het 'n geskiedenis van blootstelling aan diskriminasie. Na 1994 het Suid-Afrika 'n grondwet wat diskriminasie teen gestremde mense onwettig verklaar het. 'n Demokratiese Suid-Afrika het nuwe beleide wat verskillend is van dié wat die land tydens die apartheid era gehad het. Die DPSA, as 'n sambreelorganisasie, verteenwoordigend van gestremdes, moes nou 'n meer effektiewe rol speel in die verdediging van sy lede. Die studie fokus hoofsaaklik op die voordele wat die DPSA gekry het ten gunste van die gestremdes. Die gevolgtrekking van die studie is dat die DPSA direkte en indirekte suksesse behaal het. Die DPSA het dit reggekry om 'n belangrike rol te speel in die verbetering van die lewe van gestremdes in Suid-Afrika. Daar is nietemin voorgestel dat die DPSA meer pogings moet aanwend, addisioneel tot dit wat reeds gedoen is.

This study examined the perceptions that Board Members of human service organizations have of the leadership competencies of professionally trained social workers to lead such organizations. Participants of this study were comprised of 51 executive leaders of nonprofit human service organizations who were selected using non-probability convenience sampling among the target population. The findings of this study indicated that a majority (78.0%) believed that professional social workers are seen as welfare workers. Most respondents (65.3%) disagreed that the media's portrayal of social issues has influenced perceptions of the leadership abilities of social work professionals. The majority of the respondents (78.4%) agreed that nonprofit human service organizations are required to be more accountable today and as a result all leaders of these organizations should possess training and experience similar to those of professionals in business, legal, or public administration arenas.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

With over two million inmates, the United States’ prison population is the largest in the world. Nearly one in one hundred Americans are behind bars, either in prisons or pre-trial detention facilities. The rapid growth in incarceration is well-documented. However, social science explanations often stop at the prison gates, with little work on treatment inside prisons. This black box approach ignores important bureaucratic decisions, including the provision of rehabilitative services and the application of punishment. This dissertation offers a systematic analysis of treatment decisions inside the American prisons. I use a mixed methods approach, combining multiple quantitative datasets with environmental observation at four prisons, and original interviews of twenty-three correctional staff members. I offer the only large-n comparative analysis of American state prisons. Characteristics of the inmates as well as characteristics of staff are explored. I am able to analyze data at the state, facility and individual level. All of this is to answer a crucial and somewhat overlooked question; how do prison staff decide who should be punished and who should receive rehabilitative treatment? I find that theories of social construction offer insight into the treatment of American prison inmates. Specifically, I find that socially constructed racial categories offer explanatory value for inmate treatment. Black and Hispanic inmates are less likely to receive important rehabilitative programs, including access to mental health and medical care. Black and Hispanic inmates are also more likely to receive punishment including the use of solitary confinement in administrative segregation units. I find, consistent with theories of representative bureaucracy that staffing characteristics also impact treatment decisions, with black and Hispanic staff members expressing lower preferences for punishment and prisons with higher percentages of black staff members utilize administrative segregation less. I provide a historical overview of the changing social constructions of crime and prisons inside the United States, from colonial to present day America. I argue that the treatment of prisoners changes as our conception of crime changes. I discuss recent bipartisan attempts at prison reform and offer my own suggestions for reform of the American prison system.

This thesis examines the extent of family care for older people, primarily filial care, and the costs of caring in the Swedish welfare state. Costs of caring are understood as the negative effects of caregiving, primarily on the caregivers’ working life. The analysis is inspired by feminist theories on the importance of welfare state provisions for care for women’s citizenship, including personal autonomy and economic independence. The main aims of this thesis are twofold. The first is to explore the extent and development of family care for older persons in Sweden, primarily filial care, and the consequences of caregiving for well-being and working life. The second is to explore how older persons’ family members have been represented and the possible consequences of these representations for the development of publicly financed eldercare services and other forms of support for family carers, as well as for family members’ living conditions. The thesis consists of four studies. The first reviews the literature concerning the extent and consequences of family caregiving for older persons and the welfare state’s policy responses to older people’s care needs. The second study analyses how older persons’ family members and their role in eldercare have been represented in Swedish eldercare policy since the 1950s. The third study analyses surveys to explore changes during the 2000s in the role of the family, the public sector and the market in providing care for older persons in Sweden. The fourth study is a survey analysis of the extent, content and consequences of filial care among middle-aged women and men in Sweden in 2013. The policy analysis found that the expansion of eldercare was motivated solely in relation to older persons’ needs; thus working daughters’ needs of eldercare have been a blind spot in Swedish eldercare policy. Since 2000, every fourth residential care bed has disappeared and the increase in homecare services did not fully compensate for the decline, resulting in a significant increase in filial care in all social groups, and among both sons and daughters. Daughters of older persons with shorter education, however, remained the primary providers of filial care. Both daughters and sons are affected by caregiving. They suffer to the same extent from difficulties in managing to accomplish their work tasks and taking part in meetings, courses and travels. They are also equally likely to reduce their working hours and to quit their job. It is however clearly more common that daughters experience mental and physical strain, difficulties in finding time for leisure and reduced ability to focus on their job. Although more daughters than sons retire earlier than planned due to filial care, this is very rare. Managerial care (handling contacts with health and eldercare services) has a more salient role in a welfare state such as Sweden, with generously provided care services, less intense filial care and high employment rates among both sexes. The high labour force participation however makes middle aged children more vulnerable when their parents’ care arrangement does not work. The decline in eldercare services since 1980 has reinforced co-ordination problems in health and eldercare services. The managerial care required to handle this development, while living up to the demands of work and family life, stands out as especially demanding for the well-being and working lives of daughters. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Accepted.</p>

國內關於社會政策的研究呈現極大的共同點，多數研究利用工業主義或國家中心論的觀點分析社會預算或政策發展。這種宏觀取向的研究無法解答台灣九○年後福利制度關鍵轉折的因素，同時亦忽略民主選舉對台灣社會政策的影響。本研究認為這是國內研究在威權體制遺緒下長期忽略民主與國會所帶來的結果。社會政策不會自然被制定，本研究從簡單民主模型出發，主張政治行動者與國會偏好結構才是影響社會政策制定的關鍵。因此，本研究將國會選舉視為政治行動者社會政策主張偏好的誘因，這種偏好將隨著競選過程進入國會影響後續社會政策的制定。據此，本研究探討行動者與國會的社會政策偏好，從微觀角度解釋民主化後台灣社會政策發展與轉型的因素。 本研究植基於理性選擇途徑，運用內容分析法分析政治行動者政見，探討解嚴後第二屆至第六屆國會選舉中的行動者與國會政策偏好，呈現台灣民主化後歷年的社會政策議程變遷、政治行動者政策偏好、國會選舉對社會政策偏好的影響，以及歷屆國會社會政策偏好結構的完整圖像。 本研究有三個主要貢獻：首先，探討政治行動者政策偏好，提供一個連結民主選舉與社會政策發展的微觀基礎；其次，將焦點置於國會探討影響福利國家建立的社會立法因素，有別於傳統研究將焦點置於國家制度的宏觀途徑；最後，透過微觀偏好的探討能夠提供宏觀研究中制度轉折的連結，解釋台灣社會政策制定與變遷的過程，彌補過去研究的不足。 / The past researches about social policies or welfare state in Taiwan present the same ways. Most researches through Industrialism and State-Centralism approaches to analyze welfare budget and social policies. But after 90s’ democratization, these macro-approaches not only cannot answer what momentums induce the critical junctures of welfare state institution in Taiwan, but also ignore the impacts of democratic elections. I agree with this statement because of the influences of authoritarian so that researchers ignore how important the democratization it actually is, especially congress. According to simple democratic model, I argue social policies decided by political actors and congress’ policy preferences structure can not adopted automatically. Therefore I consider congressional campaign is a kind of incentive to promote social policy platforms to political actors in order to win the election, furthermore these policy preferences impact the congress structure that influence social policy adoption. For these points, this thesis discusses, through micro-approach, how the social policy preferences of political actors and preference structure in congress to influence the development of social policies in Taiwan after democratization. This research roots in rational choice theory and uses content analysis to study policy platforms to analyze political actors and congress’ social policy preferences during second to sixth congress elections after the end of martial law and discuss the transition of social policy agenda, political actors’ social policy preferences, the impacts between congress campaigns and social policy preferences, and full maps about social policy preferences in congress after democratization in Taiwan. There are three contributions about this research. First, it is a micro-linkage for democracy and social policy on reaching policy preference. Second, it focus on congress differ greatly from traditional researches’ State-Centralism approach. Finally, it provides a micro approach interpretation of macro idea of critical juncture about social policy development and transition in Taiwan and can connect the gaps between macro and micro approaches.

Life course literature states that early childhood development (ECD) can influence most aspects of health throughout the life-cycle. Canada ranked last among 25 wealthy nations in meeting ECD objectives. Fewer than 5% of children born have clinically detectable shortcomings in developmental health, increasing to 26% by school age with emerging socioeconomic associations. Understanding how social determinants of health (SDH) influence ECD at the household and neighbourhood scales would help identify conditions for optimal developmental outcomes. The effects of SDH on ECD in the Kingston, Ontario area were studied. SDH were classified via marginalization (ONMarg) and deprivation (Pampalon) indices. ECD was measured via 2006 Early Development Instrument (EDI) scores for children most at risk upon school entry (Grade One). The basic spatial unit of analysis was 2006 Census of Canada Dissemination Areas, subdivided into quintiles of deprivation (Q1 being the least deprived and Q5 the most). EDI results from each of the quintiles within the two indices were compared and then combined. The socioeconomic health gradient assumes that EDI scores will directly correlate to material and social deprivation. Social deprivation had a slightly greater impact than material deprivation on children’s developmental vulnerability, with Q5 being the most vulnerable in all competencies. Surprisingly, emotional health and social competence were significant areas of vulnerability for children in Q1 and Q2. “Village effects” – when social determinants at the neighbourhood level have protective effects on ECD despite material deprivation at the household level – were present within the Q3 and Q4 groups for the domains of social competency and emotional health. While the highest proportions of early childhood developmental vulnerability are found within the most deprived households, the largest numbers of vulnerable children are spread throughout the middle-class in a variety of neighbourhoods. Canadian policy should focus on mediating avoidable risks within this critical time to avoid future deleterious health effects and costs. Mapping the effects of SDH at the neighbourhood level generates knowledge that informs intersectoral action by policy makers to provide the supports needed to foster healthy children. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-04 10:36:25.165

Ce mémoire analyse trois réformes majeures de politique sociale en Turquie, en deux domaines: emploi et sécurité social. En utilisant l'approche "Usage de l'Europe", ce mémoire developpe une analyse empirique et apporte une explication théorique de ces changements qui ont été introduits au cours du processus d'adhésion de la Turquie à l'Union européenne. "Les usages de l'Europe" est une approche d'européanisation qui se concentre sur le rôle des acteurs domestiques, au sein des États membres et candidats, ainsi que de leur utilisation des ressources de l'Union européenne. Les études de cas utilisées dans cette thèse démontrent l'introduction de changements au niveau de l'État-providence; ainsi, l'approche originelle est suppléée par des concepts provenant de la littérature sur la politique partisane, les institutions formelles et l'héritage des politiques. Cette recherche utilise la méthode de l'analyse de processus pour suivre la réforme des règlements du travail par la voie de reconstitution des droits individuels des travailleurs et de l'Agence d'emploi en Turquie jusqu'en 2003, ainsi que la transformation du système de sécurité sociale en 2008. Ces trois réformes représentent des changements majeurs tant sur le plan institutionnel que politique en Turquie depuis 2001. Afin de comprendre "les usages de l'Europe" dans ces réformes politiques, l'analyse empirique questionne, si, quand et comment les acteurs turcs ont utilisé les ressources, les références et les développements politiques de l'Union européenne lors de ce processus dynamique de réforme. Les réformes du système de sécurité sociale, des règlements du travail, en plus de la reconstitution de l'Agence d'emploi étaient à l'ordre du jour en Turquie depuis les années 1990. La réforme des règlements du travail ont entraîné l'introduction des accommodements flexibles au travail et une révision de la Loi du travail permettant l'établissement d'une législation de la sécurité d'emploi. La reconstitution de l'Agence d'emploi visait à remplacer la vieille institution défunte par une institution moderne afin d'introduire des politiques d'activation. La réforme de sécurité sociale comprend les pensions de retraite, le système de santé ainsi que l'administration des institutions de sécurité sociale. Les principaux résultats révèlent que la provision des ressources de l'Union européenne en Turquie a augmenté à partir de la reconnaissance de sa candidature en 1999 et ce, jusqu'au lancement des négociations pour son adhésion en 2005; ce qui fut une occasion favorable pour les acteurs domestiques impliqués dans les processus de réformes. Cependant, à l'encontre de certaines attentes originelles de l'approche de "les usages de l'Europe", les résultats de cette recherche démontrent que le temps et le sort de "les usages de l'Europe" dépendent des intérêts des acteurs domestiques, ainsi de leurs stratégies tout au long de ce processus de réforme, plutôt que des phases du processus ou la quantité des ressources fournies par l'Union européenne. / This dissertation analyses three major social policy reforms in Turkey in two policy domains: employment and social security. By adopting the Uses of Europe theoretical approach, it aims to analyze empirically and to explain theoretically the uses of Europe in two domains of social policy during the EU membership process in Turkey. Uses of Europe is an actor-centered approach to Europeanization that focuses on the role of national actors, in member and candidate states, and their use of EU resources. The case studies in this thesis involve welfare state changes. Thus the original approach is complemented by concepts from the welfare state literature on formal institutions, partisan politics and policy legacies. This research uses a process-tracing methodology to follow the reform of labor regulations via the restructuring of individual labor rights, restructuring of the Turkish employment agency up through 2003 and the transformation of the social security system by 2008. Both represent major institutional and policy changes in the post-2001 period in Turkey. In order to understand the uses Europe in these policy reforms, the empirical analysis asks whether, where, and how Turkish actors were using EU resources, references and policy developments within the dynamic processes of reform. The reforms of the social security system, labor regulation and the restructuring of the employment agency have been on the agenda in Turkey since the mid-1990’s. The reform of labor regulations involved the introduction of flexible work arrangements and job security legislation into a revised Labor Act. The restructuring of the employment agency aimed to replace the old institution that had become defunct with a modern institution oriented towards active labor market policies. The social security reform comprising pension, healthcare and administrative components aimed to ensure financial sustainability and increase the coverage of the system. The main findings were that the supply of EU resources in Turkey increased from the recognition of its candidate status in 1999 to the launch of accession negotiations in 2005. This supply offered opportunities for national actors involved in the reform processes, via legitimizing uses of Europe, obfuscation and credit claiming, among other practices. However in contrast to some of the expectations of the original Uses of Europe approach, the findings of this research demonstrate that the type and timing of uses of Europe depend on the national actors’ interests and coalition-building strategies in the reform process rather than on the stage of the reform process or amount of resources supplied by the European Union.