Per H. Jensen

Activation in Scandinavian welfare policy

The article discusses ‘activation’ in Denmark and Norway from an ‘active society’ perspective. The argument forwarded is that activation in the two Nordic countries shows continuity over the last 50 years, where Denmark and Norway have shared much of the same policy rationale or logic. At the same time there have been discrepancies in the activation opportunities, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. Such differences should be understood in terms of differences in the level and structure of unemployment in the two countries. All too often, changes in policy programmes and related ‘discourses’ have been evaluated without taking the changing labour-market conditions into account. On occasion this has led to too hasty or imbalanced conclusions. In part this has led to a misrepresentation of the relatively generous welfare benefit regime in Denmark during the 1980s, and in part to exaggeration of the alleged ‘repressive’ or unreasonable nature of the welfare-policy reforms in Denmark in the 1990s.

The Fragmented Welfare State: Explaining Local Variations in Services for Older People

Much research focusing on the welfare state is based on the assumption that welfare regimes are homogenous entities. This idea is supported by studies analysing cash benefits. In the area of welfare services, however, local governments in most countries have some autonomy regarding policy formation as well as the design and implementation of policies. In practice, substantial local differences exist with regard to the provision of welfare services, which in turn challenge our conception of nation-wide homogenous welfare state regimes. This paper examines the factors causing marked differences in local government spending in the provision of care for older people in Denmark. The conclusion is that the wealth of the municipality, local demographics and privatisation can explain about 48 per cent of the differences in local government spending. Political factors such as the ‘colour’ of local government have no explanatory power, while a high percentage of women in municipal councils appears to have a slightly negative effect on spending.

Dialogued‐based activation – a new “dispositif”?

Purpose – The so‐called individual action plan (IAP) has become a major policy instrument in providing active welfare for social benefit claimants, and as such it has attracted quite a research interest. The purpose of this paper is to maintain that research hitherto has been founded in a too narrow notion of the IAP, arguing instead that IAP represents a new societal rationality, in relation to which the scope of research questions should be broadened.Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the basic dynamics and internal features of the IAP dialogue theoretically and ideal typically. It is furthermore argued that IAP‐like arrangements have extended far beyond the domain of social policy; IAP‐like dialogues are practiced in all corners of society in the form of HRM conversations, supervision, coaching etc. Relating to Foucault it is therefore argued that IAP represents a new dispositif.Findings – The paper states that the emerging dispositif demands that the individual constitutes herself as a c...

Tensions Related to the Transition of Elderly Care from an Unpaid to a Paid Activity

The family has always been a major source of care for frail, elderly individuals, and women have traditionally held the primary responsibility for providing care within the family framework. Long-term care has thus been an informal, unpaid task carried out by daughters, daughters-in-law or other family members. Family structures have shifted dramatically in recent decades, however, and women have increasingly participated in the labour force; that is, women have assumed a new role as wage earners along with the emergence of new family forms. These changes have increased the demand for alternative forms of care, and most industrial societies have restructured their elderly care policies.

Danish flexicurity: preconditions and future prospects

This article argues that Danish flexicurity is preconditioned by craft unionism that has historically been predominant in the Danish trade union movement. It is furthermore argued that flexicurity was on the verge to disappear when it became famous in the early 2000s, although yet not completely dead.

Explaining differences in women’s working time in European cities

ABSTRACT Women’s work-time pattern in Europe is highly heterogeneous; some women work short or long part-time hours, while others work full-time. Few studies, however, have analysed the factors constituting women’s work-time pattern. The article aims to explain why women’s working time differs in five relatively big European cities, which represent an urban environment that is particularly supportive to women’s employment, and the study is based on a new original telephone survey from 2013 among women 25–64 years of age. It is hypothesized and analysed how women’s work-time pattern is the result of women’s family-cultural orientation, individual and family characteristic, the gendered division of household task, women’s position in the vertical and horizontal division of labour, and city of residence. Findings support the theoretical assumptions that there is a significant relationship between family-cultural orientation and work practices.

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.

The Relationships Between Local and National Childcare Policies – A Comparison of Nordic and Southern European Cities

We start by comparing the childcare systems in the 11 European cities, looking particularly at whether the childcare provision in these cities follows national provision levels or not. We then focus on analyzing the relationships between local and national childcare policies in four European cities: Bologna (Italy) and Terrassa (Spain) from Southern Europe, and Jyvaskyla (Finland) and Aalborg (Denmark) from the Nordic countries. The availability and use of childcare services are analyzed, as are other factors influencing the possibilities and obstacles of labour market participation for mothers with young children. The aim of this analysis is to demonstrate the significance of local welfare systems in their socio-cultural context and to understand the scope that local authorities have to draft local policies and thus to divert from national policy definitions. Local policy making also brings rigid welfare regime categories into question.

A Comparative Perspective of Voluntary Organizations and Their Role in Care for Older People: The Case of the Red Cross

This chapter concentrates on the role of voluntary organizations and voluntary work in welfare provision in the area of eldercare, focusing especially on the work carried out by the Red Cross at the national and local city level in 11 European countries. The chapter looks at voluntary work for older people in a broader welfare mix and local welfare policy context in different welfare regimes and localities. It shows that the activities of the Red Cross are, to a large extent, determined by the services offered by national and local authorities. It can be considered to be a humanitarian gap filling institution, which steps in when the market, the family or the state fails to provide adequate eldercare, but which is not fully able to fill the gaps caused by insufficiencies in the provision of informally and publicly organized eldercare.

Die dänischen Freistellungsmodelle und ihre Gleichstellungsdimensionen

Am 1. Januar 1994 wurde in Danemark eine neue Arbeitsmarktreform eingefiuhrt. Als Teil dieser Reform wurden mehrere neue Freistellungsmodelle geschaffen, die Erwerbspersonen dazu ermutigen sollten, Bildungsurlaub, Sabbaturlaub oder Kindererziehungsurlaub zu nehmen. Die Struktur dieser Freistellungsmodelle ist in Tabelle 1 wiedergegeben.