Esping Andersen Three Welfare Regime Theory Economics Essay

Esping Andersen Three Welfare Regime Theory Economics Essay SUMMARY: This essay argues the extent to which Esping Andersens three welfare-regime theory is outdated in practice and problematic in theory. I restrict myself to decomodification index (labour market policies) to explain the extent at which the theory has become outdated in practice using examples from Germany and Sweden although the classification also looked at the principles of stratification and the extent of private and public mix. Decommodification according to Esping (1990, pp.22) is the extent to which individuals can maintain a livelihood without reliance on the labour market and when a service is rendered as a matter of right. To examine the extent the theory is problematic I looked at Italy with reference to the misclassification and Denmark with reference to gender. INTRODUCTION The welfare regime theory of Gà ¸sta Esping Andersen has greatly influenced literatures, research, policies and comparison of welfare state since the 90s when the book three worlds of welfare capitalism was published. Esping(1990,pp.19,29) was of the option that there should be a re-specification of the conceptualisation of welfare state from social expenditure to decommodification, sratification and private-public mix. The social expenditure theory posited that the amount of social expenditure reveals the nations commitment to welfare. He said that although expenditure is important in welfare states simply focusing on the amount of spending could be misleading as the spending could be directed to a particular group and not based solidarity. The earlier work of Thus the work of (Boje.1996; 19 cited in Arts and Gelissen 2002;138) stated that the work Marchall(1950) on welfare state being about citizenship and Titmuss(1958) on residual and institutional welfare state laid the foundati ons for Esping-Andersens analysis. The analysis was done using 18 (OECD) welfare nations using three principles or variables. These are: de-commodification that implies the extent to which individuals a society can survive outside the labour market in terms of sickness, unemployment and pension benefits, stratification means the extent to which the state increase stratification or reduce it and private-public mix which he defined as the extent to which responsibilities of welfare is shared among the market, individual and state in the provision of welfare Esping(1990, pp.26). Looking at de-commodification he suggests that to measure the extent to which welfare states de-commodify citizens the eligibility rules and restrictions on entitlement to benefits in this case it is pension, sickness and unemployment benefits. If entitlement is not based on previous employment, financial contribution, means tested, easy to get, not for a limited duration then the welfare programme is highly de-commodifying and vice versa. In add ition, if the benefits are below the standard of leaving acceptable in the society that results in the beneficiary going back to the labour market, then the programme is not de-commodifying Esping(1990,pp.47-48). After the analysis, he states that the differences among the welfare states are not linearly distributed but cluster into regimes-types. DECOMMODIFICATION TABLE LIBERAL REGIME CONSERVATIVE REGIME AUSTRALIA UNITED STATES NEW ZEALAND CANADA IRELAND UNITED KINGDOM ITALY JAPAN FRANCE GERMANY FINLAND SWITZERLAND Adopted from: Esping Andersen, 1990: 52. From the table above we can see the three different welfare regimes and the welfare states that are under these regimes. The de-commodification table is used because my essay focus on this. In Espings(1990, p.29-33) opinion these difference going back to history are as a result of the nature of class mobilization(especially of the working class), class-political action strucutures, and their historical legacy of regime institutionalization. The difference in the interaction of these three factors in the different welfare states has also shaped their future in terms of the nature of welfare services provided. According to Esping Andersen(1990, p.26-27,48) de-commodification is low in the liberal regime and the breeding ground for inequality. The liberal regime found common among the Anglo-Saxon nations, believes strongly in the markets ability to provide for the citizen as those who want to work will be employed and that social protection only does more harm than good to the citizens. Liberal regime model uplifts the opinion that every citizen should be active in the labour market. Thus, the means-tested assistance benefit system modified from the poor law is used for entitlement to benefits. This model does not provide benefits on the grounds of citizens right and the government provision is restricted to those that cannot participate in the market. It is highly restricted. Examples are the American supplemental security income (SSI) and the British scheme of supplementary benefit. Benefits are foused on the low-income groups and state dependants. The entitlements are more restricted and associated with stigma. The conservative corporatist regime found in countries like Germany, France. In this regime Esping noted that provision of welfare was high and granting of social right was not a problem however entitlement was based on class and status. Being shaped by the church there, exist the norm to maintain the old order of the social status (feudal welfare arrangement). Entitlement through the social insurance system is conditional on the work performance (labour market participation) and financial contributions made (esping 1990, pp.26). For example the entitlement to unemployment benefit differ according to contribution in previous employment (Fleckenstein 2008, pp.178). The third regime which Esping uphold high as the highly de-commodifing welfare state is the social democratic, in which the principle of equality and universality (Beveridge principle of universal rights of citizens) is imbedded in the provision of welfare programmes rather than creating a disparity between the different cl ass in the state. Eligibility to benefits is given if one is a citizen or had stayed for a long time (flat rate benefits) and not on prior work performance, however employment is encouraged to have the recourses to provide welfare. (Esping 1990, p.27-48). OUTDATED IN PRACTICE. The presence of globalization, rising unemployment, permanent austerity as Pierson(1998, p. 411-456) noted as a result of slow economic growth, has led a shift to a more productive than a protective welfare state and as Gooby (2004, p.1) identifies that changes in population, family structure, labour markets and the coming to maturity of expensive welfare states has challenged the welfare states. Therefore, questions arise about the relevance of the three-regime theory in this present time. Bearing in mind that the theory is dated back as far as 1990 and several events like those mentioned above has changed the welfare system of countries in the regime clusters. In Germany, I will look at the shift in the conservative path of two separate public assistance scheme for the long-term unemployed to one integrated social assistance scheme with strong emphasis on activation. The German welfare state of Esping Andersen welfare regime was one of preservation of social status in which entitlement to benefits were based on prior employment and level of income. However presently there is a shift towards the Anglo- American model of largely means tested, flat rate jobless benefits  [1]  (Hassel and Williamson, 2004 pp.13). The Hartz IV law brought about this change. The German state previously had three different benefit systems for the unemployed namely the unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance and social assistance benefits. In other to maintain social status, the unemployment benefit was given based on last earned income and the duration varied according to amount of time spent in prior employment and age, they are not enforced to take up the job provided as thus one cold get benefits for a duration of 32 months. The unemployment assistance has unlimited duration and was usually taken those whose employment benefit had run out (Fleckenstein 2008 , pp.178). On the other hand, those that lacked entitlement from the insurance contribution had to use the strict means tested social assistance benefits and take up of any jobs was compulsory. The Hartz law however regrouped the benefit schemes into two groups, the unemployment benefit 1 and unemployment benefit II. The unemployment benefit II is the unemployment benefit and social assistance benefit integrated together for the long term unemployed and the unemployment benefit I is the unemployment benefit. Entitlement for the unemployment benefit II are based on the social assistance eligibility rules. The long term unemployed now rely on the unemployment benefit 1 as the duration of the unemployment benefit was cut to 12 months and older workers from 55 and above had theirs extended to 18months (Deutscher Bundestag, 2003 cited in Flectkentein 2008, pp.179). The long-term unemployed are then subjected to re-commodification through activation measures for reintegration into the labour market. The unemployed person is provided with training or social services to help improve the employability status of the individual and is expected to take up any job offered and show signs of actively looking for a job to prevent reduction suspension or loss of benefit. In Esping Andresens theory this was the underlying characteristic of the liberal regime but today there is a shift in the German conservative, preservation of the social order welfare state to a more liberal welfare state. Consequently, concerning Swedens social insurance based pension systems reforms have occurred that has questioned the traditional universality of the Swedish welfare state. According to Esping Andersen(1990, p.83-84) using estimate of occupational pension expenditure as a percentage of the GDP between 1950 and 1980 the Swedish pensions is one in which the private sector played a marginal role since government legislation did not support it. In addition, his analysis public-private pension mix, the Swedish private pension sector provision and social security provision of 85.5% of the GDP for 1980 and Australia that is regarded as liberal welfare state had a large private pension sector provision and a low social security pension of 59.4%. He thus posits(1990, p.80-86) that the Swedish system ensures of the eradication of status and market scheme of pension provision and the extent to which the public and private sectors provide social protection determines provides a structural contex t of de-commodification of welfare regimes . However, Esping-Andersen made his conclusions using 1980 data before the recession Sweden in the 1990s and there had to be reforms in the traditional pension system. According to Schludi (2005, pp.89,90) the traditional pension system provides basic pension for all residents in Sweden over 16 years of including foreigners and three schemes made up the national pension system these were the basic (universal flat rate pension), earning related supplementary (ATP) and partial pension schemes. The age for entitlement for the basic pension is sixty-five. With the recession Schludi (2005, p.97) also noted that the pension system sifted from the defined-benefit to the defined-contribution type and the private pension scheme exist on a mandatory basis. This is based on lifetime income unlike the previous system that was based on best fifteen years and a full pension was gotten after thirty years of contribution. The entitlement age increased from sixty-five to sixty-six, there were also strict eligibility rules of forty years of residence and thirty contribution years into the earning related supplementary pension scheme. Prior to this time, every one that has resided in the country for five years was entitled to the benefits. A data from Jackson and Howe (2003,pp.24) showed that private pension benefit as a percentage of the GDP for the year 2002, was 2.2% and is projected to increase to 5.3% in 2040. This shows increasing participation in the private sector in the provision of pension benefit. Also concerning unemployment insurance be nefit the Swedish reform programme for the growth of Jobs 2008 to 2010 report  [2]  shows that the unemployment insurance waiting day was increased from five to seven days and the duration of unemployment insurance benefit for the part-time unemployed is limited to seventy-five days. In addition (OECD.2004, p.11) report revealed that the eligibility for a renewal of the unemployment insurance benefits is no longer given on the bases of participation in the active labour market programmes, and the unemployment benefit can only be extended only once making a total of 600 days(300 days the first time and only one additional 300days), unlike before when it could be extended over and over again  [3]  . This shows tightening of the eligibility criteria and the pushing of people back to the labour force. Problematic in the theory The theory of Esping Andersen has faced several criticisms from commentators. Arts and Gelissen(2002,p.) notes that these criticisms range from the misclassification of Italy under the corporatist model and Antipodeans countries(Australia and New Zealand) into the liberal regime, the neglect of the Mediterranean countries(Spain, Greece and Portugal) from the theory, to the neglect of gender(women) in the provision of welfare and the focus of welfare state analysis on social transfers neglecting the fact welfare state is also about the delivery of services like health care, education and social services. in this lights, several people have come up with more typologies. Concerning the misclassification of Italy the article by Ferrera(1996, p.17-37) will be used. Esping Andersen (1990, p.52) grouped Italy alongside Germany, France results in the neglect of certain peculiar characteristics of the particular groups of countries like Greece, Spain and, Portugal, which he neglects in his analyses. He noted that although in Italy like the conservatives cash benefits especially pension is based on occupational status, contributions and is fragmented in that there are different schemes for the private employees civil servants and the self employed. However, they are different from the pure conservative countries, in the sense that there is a tremendous gap between the core sectors workers (white collar workers) of the labour market that receive very high benefits (sickness or temporary unemployment benefits) and the workers in weak sectors receive weak support. There is also lack of minimum national income scheme for low-income families. The young unemploye d receives no basic benefit from the state, there is thus high dependence on the family. Due of lack of safety net for the citizens the state is characterised by strong political corruption and public institutions are ruled and manipulated by strong political force for their selfish interest. To the extent, that citizens sell their votes to get social assistance benefit at times. This shows that although Italy and conservative welfare states share catholic history and the occupational and contribution based benefit. The social political trajectory differs in the sense that the conservative States have welfare systems that covers the population. As such Esping Andersens theory, missed out a very important welfare sate path (southern welfare state) that is necessary for effective comparison of welfare sates and social policies. Apart from the miscalculation of Italy as part of the conservative regime, Esping Andersens regime theory failed to incorporate gender in his analysis of welfare states. Several commentators as Lewis 1992, Bussemaker and Kersbergen 1994 have stressed incorporating gender will help gain a better understanding of welfare state policies and a more valid regime theory. Esping Andersen noted by, Bussemaker and Kersbergen(1994, pp.12,13), neglects the fact that apart from the state and market the family also provides welfare. Lewis (1992, p.160) referred to this as unpaid work. Esping Andersens analysis focus on how the relationship between the sate and market affect the arrangement of social policy, and Bussemaker and Kersbergen (1994, pp.20) noted that it is not enough to consider the relationship between the state, market and the society without looking into assumptions of gender that shape the infrastructure of social policy. For example in Denmark, gender relations have shaped social policy and help to understand the Dutch social policy. Bussemaker and Kersbergen (1994, pp.23) asserted that the Dutch welfare system can be effectively understood when the historical distinction between the breadwinner and caretakers are taken considered. The foundation of the Dutch welfare was on the distinction between the paid labour (men) endowed with generous social rights and unpaid labour (women) derive benefit based on married and domestic status and, means- tested arrangement is used to obtain benefits. This leads to high level of stratification between men and women. The moral ideology behind this distinction is that equal social citizenship rights will be a threat to solidarity. This implies That although Denmark welfare State is characterized with high degree of de- commodification, universality and low inequality as Esping Andersen theory suggests, it is because the de-commodification index used focused on wage labour (mainly to men),who receive generous benefits. Thus, the theoretical framework of Esping Andersen (1990) failed to provide in-depth analysis of the Dutch welfare state policies. CONCLUSION In the face austerity, causing Welfare States to restructure welfare polices the fate of Espign- Andersens three regime theory on de-commodification will continue to face the threat of been outdated.

Little Women Critique

She must merely describe life as it actually was. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) wrote Little Women at the request of her publishers, even though she was not very enthused about writing a book for girls. This book is a primary The second book, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in source. The united States, by Eleanor Fleeter and Ellen Fitzpatrick (1969, 1975, 1996) is both a primary and a secondary source.The author used primary sources, such as archival material, to depict the struggles that women endured in their path to gain voting rights in the nineteenth century but Ms. Fleeter also drew from her experiences and observations of her mother. Century of Struggle Is a monograph. [l] I don't think Little Women had a thesis; It was a book written for young girls to enjoy. However, through the use of the author's own life experiences, the book has left an Imprint of what life was Like for many women during the Call War.Century of Struggle, on the other hand, did have a th esis: â€Å"to survey the position of women during the colonial and revolutionary periods, before any movement may properly be said to have gun; to trace its development from scattered beginnings early in the nineteenth century of a number of different fronts–education, employment, trade union organization, the professions, the law, the franchise–down to then enactment of the suffrage amendment in 1920; to keep that struggle in perspective against the growth of this nation and of such related reform movements as the abolition of slavery, temperance, and the organization of trade unions–bearing in mind that never at any time were these women without the support of far-seeing and loyal men. † Eleanor Fleeter (1908-1995) had a vast Interest In history. She majored In history and English from Swarthmore College and attended Oxford university for one year due to a fellowship she received for her senior thesis on Mary Tudor. In the sass, Ms. Fleeter wrote plays â€Å"that focused on social and economic unrest and the rise of fascism. † The beginning and the content of Century of Struggle began with her experience with labor organizing and her many political activities; she Joined the Communist Party in the ass and participated in with many radical activists andCentury of Struggle is a very comprehensive book about the history organizations. Of women in the United States. The author delved as far back as the sass in an effort to depict how women have fought and struggled to obtain roles in society where they were no longer Just housewives or nurses; roles that would give them their own voice In society. Ms. Fleeter stated In her book that â€Å"Whatever their social station, under English common law, which became Increasingly predominant In the colonies and among all religious denominations†¦ Women had many duties, but few rights. 2] In compiling her facts, Ms. Fleeter used an extensive number of sources, view of women's histo ry, especially their struggle to gain the right to vote.As stated in Century of Struggles preface, Noting rights had long been denied to women as much by prevailing notions of who they were and what capacities they possessed as by any explicit and carefully planned scheme to deny women access to the instruments of democracy. † Louisa May Alcott Little Women was a fictional novel. However, it has long been regarded as â€Å"a significant exploration of the processes of coming a woman. † It acknowledged the various conflicts inherent in the girls' artistic ambitions and social expectations†¦ â€Å"[3] The author acknowledges that she used her own experiences with her sisters to infuse life into her books characters. This edition of the book contained many criticisms of Little Women as well as a chronology of Ms. Alcott life. Ms.

Fan fiction Essay

Fan Fiction writing is the act of writing material with information from someone without their consent either written or otherwise. The written material is then released to the public on grounds that show the material as owner’s original; and doesn’t acknowledge it as re-edited. This will appear as the original material given that the reader had not had a chance to get the very original material. I want to agree that this activity is not legitimate one, the fact that a writer (author) writes their work and it goes into the public arena doesn’t require reframing or amendments. If the reader thinks of that work in another version, let it remain within them. Let not that which they think would have been better of; go out to the public. Interfering with this is wrong. Supposing all the fans decided to alter this original material into their way and everyone has a different understanding of same article? Letting this out to the public as well? Would not people get confused? I believe if a writer wants an opinion about their article, they know how to go about it, they know where to send it or who to give it to before it is released to the public. By the time it is getting to the public it is usually the writer’s best on that. I quite disagree that fun fiction should be a way of improving young writer’s skills of writing. Why cant these young writers come up with themes yet not released to the public and write on them? Why can’t they also get creative? There are so many things that the writers have not covered so far. It is also so wrong for fan writers to write an article and post it using the original writer’s names. Is this not theft? Is it not offensive to impersonate? The text showed this â€Å"Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone else’s world, characters, and plot. Coloring Barbie’s hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. † A very good example given on the text ‘the extreme analogy: You send me a photograph of your family reunion, titled ‘The Herkimer’s Get together’. I think it looks dull. So I Photo-Shop it to put your friends and relations into compromising positions in various stages of undress. Then I post it on the Internet, under the title ‘The Herkimer’s Get Together’, and add a note that it was sent to me from Pete Herkimer of Missoula, Montana. Suddenly there is your face and name, and the faces of the people you care about, doing things that you would never do. Are you flattered that I thought your photograph was interesting enough to use? Or are you insulted and horrified? Are you alarmed that I so clearly connected work that is not yours to your good name? Although I must agree with the statement from the text ‘And†¦ As for definitions, to what extent is Paradise Lost a fan fiction of the Bible? To what extent is Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’ a fan fiction of the Odyssey? For much of human history, the concept of creative ownership Hobb seems to be using was thoroughly different: characters could be reused and rewritten as seen fit. Even given the capitalist ‘ownership’ argument, which I personally find distasteful, narrow-minded, and restrictive, once again, the fan fiction under discussion is NON-COMMERCIAL’ There are those exceptions that would be allowed, the example of Paradise lost, and this seems to be a clearer edition of the Bible as far this generation is concerned. The fact that it is a book used for the continuity of the salvation of human race may need to be re-edited but the change of theme may not be altered. Another importance of fan fiction may be an act that is based on a book and probably is used for literature in schools. The author may have not written it as a play but someone else may act it and this way students may understand the book better as compared to reading it. I know that all the fan writers have a different way of looking at a particular article from that of the original writer and that is they want to reframe it, but I wonder where they were when the story was being created in that way which they don’t settle for. Keeping any ideas of how it should have looked to oneself is the best thing. Can’t people respect the work of others and promote original text writings? Fun fiction sometimes may even change the whole outlook of a story, there must be reasons why an author/writer decides to use some words and leave out others. There is a reason why the chapters in a book follow each other the way they do. In case a fan writer for example interferes with the flow of chapters and decides to bring the last chapter in the middle then any other reader might not find a reason of reading the book to the end. The flow is changed therefore the conclusion of the story comes in the middle, so why go ahead and read what you already know? Fan fiction sometimes is used on the internet, whereby an article from a newspaper may be used and with the application of coral draw; alteration may happen. When this same article is sent to people on the net, it might just convince them since they can see that it is from a legitimate source from a well known editor or writer. While this may happen on basis of malice and once the damage is caused rectifying it may be hard. So generally I know that fan fiction may be damaging. All writers have a chance of developing good writing skills but not through fan fiction as written the text ‘The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone else’s idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write. Taking that first wavering step out into the unknown territory of your own imagination is what it is all about. When you can write well enough to carry a friend along, then you’ve really got something. But you aren’t going to get anywhere clinging to the comfort of saying, â€Å"If I write a Harry Potter story, everyone will like it because they already like Harry Potter. I don’t have to describe Hogwarts because everyone saw the movie, and I don’t have to tell Harry’s back story because that’s all done for me. † I agree with this statement totally. A good writer should have their own ideas and develop those ideas into stories. Reading more will help any writer get skill and get broader but fan fiction writing is demeaning to any writer. It makes a writer wholly rely on an article already thought and written instead of promoting the unique ideas any individual writer may be able to come up with. The danger of letting this continue is that we will never know what the original writer of a story intending us to know. We can never differentiate between fiction and true story. My conclusion would be depending on the intention of the fan fiction writer; this is how it can be looked at as a legal act or an illegal one. The writer in the text who is against this uses so harsh language and I found it not fair since it is not everyone who writes for fan fiction has a bad motive. â€Å"Look, the original author really screwed up the story, so I’m going to fix it. Here is how it should have gone†.

Cultural Diversity By Thomas Sowell Summary - 877 Words

Throughout the entirety of Cultural Diversity: A World View, Thomas Sowell clearly establishes the distinction between the modern interpretation of diversity and that which he accepts as truth. Sowell uses this separation from the accepted definition of diversity as a foundation upon which he builds his argument. In disentangling both himself and his statements from the convoluted explanations of diversity, he is able to view this concept through a historical and global lens which gives a solid basis for his argument. This approach can be observed through the first major point presented which highlights the inevitable impact which all cultures have on other groups. Whether it is an exchange of natural resources, such as†¦show more content†¦To conclude his article, Sowell explicitly condemns those who attempt to promote diversity by rigidly preserving cultural aspects which are ineffective. He claims that in this approach to diversity, enormous harm is inflicted upon th ose groups whose culture is supposedly being preserved. Sowell states that No culture has grown great in isolation, and in this the overarching, basic argument that humans need other humans presents itself. In Cultural Diversity: A World VIew, Thomas Sowell continually supports his claims with logical and historical information which validates his argument and allows for the reader to easily understand the basis to the statements being made. As someone who enjoys studying history, these sources used effectively drew me into the points being made and gave obvious examples which I could then use to solidify my personal understanding of the text. While I agree that the use of history is definitely necessary throughout Sowells argument, I thought that if the psychology behind humanitys struggle between diversification and preservation was addressed during the analysis of modern diversity it would enrich the explanation of why we face the perception of diversity that we do. Personally, I agreed with many of Sowells points. One ofShow MoreRelated Affirmative Action Essay4528 Words   |  19 Pageseducation, jobs, income, class, and social mobility. Another concern, therefore, is what inequalities are acceptable? These material inequalities of income, education, housing, etc. are necessary to a multi-class capitalist society, but the unacceptable cultural inequalities of race, gender, discrimination, and prejudice must be ameliorated. Current trend in the United States, and in fact the world, is to try to remedy this link between race/gender and measurable inequalities by affecting opportunity. AffirmativeRead MoreWorkforce Diversity in Indian Organization3598 Words   |  15 PagesBEHAVIOUR | Work Force Diversity in Indian Organization | | Submitted by: Vaibhav Gupta Executive Summary: We’ve looked at the challenges that Indian companies face because of diversity, both at the workplace and the marketplace. We’ve also seen the ways companies can use, to not only manage existing diversity but also to promote it and gain a competitive advantage in the market. Probably, the most important aspect that comes out from the study is that diversity is finally all about