Barbara Fersch

‘German Angst’ vs ‘Danish Easy-going’? On the Role and Relevance of Insecurity and Uncertainty in the Lives of Freelancers in Denmark and Germany

Highly flexible workers such as freelancers are particularly exposed to insecurity. In this article I explore the role and relevance of insecurity and uncertainty in the lives of freelancers in Denmark and Germany and especially the marked difference I have found in freelancers’ narratives along national lines. Whereas insecurity and its related fear and anxiety played a huge role in the German interviews (‘German Angst’), the Danish freelancers attached less importance to the topic of insecurity and showed almost no sign of related anxiety (‘Danish Easy-going’). Some reasons for this can be found in the different social security backgrounds and welfare state programmes of the two countries, but these differences cannot explain the very different ways of talking about and dealing with the topic. Therefore, I suggest that the differences can be understood in the context of trust as a multi-dimensional concept.

Expectations towards home care re-ablement in Danish municipalities

Purpose – Re-abling care of frail older people is highly on the agenda in several countries. The purpose of this paper is to have a closer look at the argumentation used for its establishment by local policy actors in the field and the kind of expectations towards the behaviour of frail older people it entails. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with 17 local policy actors in two Danish municipalities. The interviews have been analysed with the help of argumentative discourse analysis. Findings – The most important argument for re-abling care appears to be grounded in economic reasons. However, a second, moral argument was found revolving around the older peoples’ activity, which contributes to the establishment of moral expectations towards frail older people to be active. Research limitations/implications – As the goal of the study was to analyse understandings and values of key local actors, the implementation of re-ablement programmes and the users’...

Institutional Entrepreneurs and Social Innovation in Danish Senior Care

This article discusses the social, political, and administrative dynamics behind shifting welfare policies and social innovations in the senior care provided by Danish municipalities. The main argument is that institutional entrepreneurs are key agents of change and that institutional entrepreneurship is rooted in exogenous (e.g., scarce resources) and endogenous (e.g., cognition) factors. The article shows how exogenous factors challenge existing practices or necessitate change, while new ideas among institutional entrepreneurs in politics and administration give direction to institutional change.

Bringing Different States in: How Welfare State Institutions can possibly influence socio-cultural dimensions of migrant incorporation

Abstract Migration scholars have long been concerned with understanding what influences the incorporation of migrants into their host societies. The theoretical development in this field has been dominated for several years by North American migration scholars who have not been much interested in the influence of welfare state institutions. In recent years, European migration scholars have, however, contributed to important insights on the impact of the national integration context on the socioeconomic incorporation of migrants. The aim of this article is to contribute to this burgeoning research field by drawing on insights from comparative welfare state research and thereby “bringing the state in”. Thus, the article proposes a theoretical framework for studying how the institutions of contemporary welfare states can possibly influence sociocultural dimensions of migrant incorporation. In the last part of the article, it is exemplified how these insights can be applied when studying the Danish welfare state in a comparative perspective, drawing on examples on the influence of family policies on migrants’ attitudes towards women’s paid work.

Building, breaking, overriding...?: Migrants and institutional trust in the Danish welfare state

Purpose Migrants constitute an interesting case concerning the question of how trust in welfare state institutions can emerge, as one can study their newly built relationships with such institutions in a distinct way. The Danish welfare state can be considered a “high trust” context. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of qualitative interviews with migrants on how institutional trust in the welfare state can emerge with migrants in Denmark as a case. Design/methodology/approach With the help of a multi-dimensional theoretical concept, this paper provides an analysis of qualitative interviews with migrants on how institutional trust in the welfare state can emerge. Findings A perceived experience of distributive justice appears to be of crucial importance for building trust. Furthermore, strong trust in the systemic checks and balances of the welfare state can “override” negative experiences at its access points, that is, welfare state professionals. Research limitations/implications Taking into account the relatively limited number of interviews, the presented claims drawn from the empirical material are limited. The aim is to reveal some (new) tendencies that can be investigated in future research. Originality/value The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexity of trust-generating mechanisms.