Public Welfare

Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits. In the short…

Cultures of support vary across enlarged Europe. This article examines the link between poverty and social integration in countries characterized by different economic, cultural and welfare state regimes. Its object is to determine whether being…

No matter how successful and monopolistic Facebook gets, no matter how many awesome features Mark Zuckerberg announces in Palo Alto or how many ex-presidents he interviews, none of it appears to be slowing down LinkedIn, the social network that…

In the past two decades, social capital in its various forms and contexts has emerged as one of the most salient concepts in social sciences . While much excitement has been generated, divergent views, perspectives, and expectations have also raised…

The primary aims of this paper are to review the concept of social capital and related constructs and to provide a brief guide to their operationalization and measurement. We focus on four existing constructs: collective efficacy, psychological…

The "new-politics" perspective derives welfare state retrenchment from postindustrial changes generating budget deficits and government attempts to benefit cuts, attempts largely resisted by powerful new groups of welfare-state clients. Comparative…

Numerous analysts have suggested that globalization and the emergence of more knowledge-based economies have encouraged high-income nations to shift towards a model of productive welfare focused on social investment, yet typologies of welfare are…

"Putnam's work shows how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction. For example, he reports that getting married is the equivalent of quadrupling your income and attending a club meeting regularly is the equivalent of…

In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analysis of dropouts from high school. Use of the concept…

This paper reviews the origins and definitions of social capital in the writings of Bourdieu, Loury, and Coleman, among other authors. It distinguishes four sources of social capital and examines their dynamics. Applications of the concept in the…

The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been…

This panoramic analysis of the condition of Western societies has been hailed as a classic. This first English edition has taken its place as a core text of contemporary sociology alongside earlier typifications of society as postindustrial and…

Our usual representations of the opposition between the civilized and the primitive derive from willfully ignoring the relationship of distance our social science sets up between the observer and the observed. In fact, the author argues, the…

Over the last several decades, epidemiological studies have been enormously successful in identifying risk factors for major diseases. However, most of this research has focused attention on risk factors that are relatively proximal causes of…

CONTEXT: Modifiable behavioral risk factors are leading causes of mortality in the United States. Quantifying these will provide insight into the effects of recent trends and the implications of missed prevention opportunities. OBJECTIVES: To…

Recent studies have demonstrated that income inequality is related to mortality rates. It was hypothesized, in this study, that income inequality is related to reduction in social cohesion and that disinvestment in social capital is in turn…

The state of school social work around the world, including the scope and services provided in 13 countries, is summarized. Issues such as poor attendance, low achievement, and school violence are discussed. Common problems, areas of possible…

Abstract Globalization implies changes that create both threats and opportunities. The challenge for Europe is to become flexible in order to avail of the opportunities this brings and surmount the threats. This requires reforming labour market and…

International research on the social determinants of health has increasingly started to integrate a welfare state regimes perspective. Although this is to be welcomed, to date there has been an over-reliance on Esping-Andersen's The three worlds of…

Beginning from the framework of welfare state regimes in rich capitalist countries, this article radically redefines it and applies the new model to regions and countries which experience problematic states as well as imperfect markets. A broader,…