| 1. |
- Sirén, Sebastian, 1985-
(författare)
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Social Policy in Development Contexts : Drivers, Mechanisms and Outcomes
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Economic growth amidst staggering inequality in many low- and middle-income countries makes the quest to end global poverty more topical than ever. Calls to leave no one behind in the course of development underscore the need to reconsider the role of policy frameworks in emerging economies. Social policies have been expanded across the Global South during the last decades, and social protection is increasingly highlighted as a fundamental component of the global sustainable development agenda. This thesis, comprising three self-contained studies, analyses the drivers, mechanisms and outcomes of social policy reform in development contexts, asking which economic institutions could enable more rapid advancement towards ending poverty and reducing inequalities, and what conditions promote the expansion of such institutions?Study I investigates the driving forces of changes in social spending across 46 more recent democracies, with particular attention to the role of partisan politics. Using data from 1995 to 2015, multivariate fixed effect regressions reveal a positive association between left government and public social expenditures, also when controlling for structural and institutional factors. This finding indicates that interests and ideologies, articulated through partisan politics, matter for the evolution of social policy, also in development contexts.In light of the findings from this quantitative analysis, Study II investigates the mechanisms driving, and hampering, progress towards social policy expansion in a specific case. The politics surrounding a healthcare reform with the ambition to universalise access to public healthcare in Bolivia is examined using theory-guided process tracing methods. The study highlights how policy is shaped through an interaction between societal and state actors as well as how interests and ideas are intertwined in the process, but also how policy legacies give rise to reactive sequences militating against change.In Study III, the focus is on the outcomes of social policy. The study presents analyses of how government cash transfer systems moderate the effect of economic growth in both absolute and relative child poverty. Longitudinal data from 16 low- and middle-income countries included in the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) are analysed by means of descriptive statistics and multivariate regression techniques. Findings show that both economic growth and the expansions of transfer schemes are associated with declining absolute poverty. Meanwhile, growth is found to be related to reductions in relative child poverty primarily when combined with sufficiently extensive systems of government transfers, thus pointing to the relevance of social protection for inclusive growth.The findings from the three studies illustrate that central concepts from comparative welfare state research can be employed also in development contexts, converging on an analytical approach where changes in poverty and inequality are influenced by politics. Continued comparative analyses of social policies and their determinants in development contexts can accordingly generate much-needed insights into the causes of global poverty and inequality. Future research should further explore feedback effects of policy on politics and consider the potential synergies between social policy, equality, and economic growth.
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| 2. |
- Bolin, Malin, 1974-
(författare)
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The importance of organizational characteristics for psychosocial working conditions and health
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The importance of organizations for understanding differences in the working conditions and health of employees is often emphasized but rarely explored empirically. The general aim of this thesis is to describe organizational characteristics of workplaces, and to assess their impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees. In modern working life, it is assumed that employees' working conditions and health are affected by a general transformation of workplaces from bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy. The organizational data used are based on structured interviews with managers at workplaces in different types of operations in mid-Sweden, whereas the individual data consist of a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a dataset of 90 workplaces and 4306 individuals. Descriptive analysis was carried out for comparison of organizational characteristics in different types of operations, while multilevel analysis was applied to investigate the magnitude of the organizational impact on psychosocial working conditions, and to analyze associations between organizational characteristics, psychosocial working conditions and health. The results showed that the workplaces were mainly displayed by a combination of bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics, and these were unequally distributed between types of operations. A systematic variation in the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees was found between workplaces, and the variation in psychosocial working conditions was attributed to several organizational levels. The variation between workplaces was explained by both organizational characteristics of the workplaces and individual characteristics of the employees. Formalization, centralization, job enrichment, individual responsibility, soft control systems, and performance control were associated with psychosocial working conditions when controlled for occupational class, gender and age of employees, and a high degree of customer adaptation was associated with increased sickness absence of employees. It is concluded that bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy should not be regarded as dichotomies. Organizational characteristics of workplaces have an impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees beyond occupational class. This has implications for both the theory and the practice of occupational health research.
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| 3. |
- Bask, Miia, 1977-
(författare)
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A longitudinal approach to social exclusion in Sweden
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four papers, and has as its central theme the accumulation of welfare problems and social exclusion. We use Swedish data and all analyses are based on individuals of working age. We perform longitudinal analyses to scrutinize the accumulation of disadvantages over the individual life courses as well as to detect the general trends in social exclusion occurrence in Swedish society during the past two decades. In Paper I, in an analysis of social exclusion among immigrants in Sweden, we find that immigrants suffer more often from social exclusion than native Swedes do. We also find that even if the accumulation of welfare problems is more common among immigrants than native Swedes, the connections between welfare disadvantages are stronger among Swedes. Furthermore, a logistic regression analysis revealed that time spent in Sweden decreases the risk of social exclusion among immigrants. However, even though we control for several demographic variables, human capital indicators and socio-economic class, the odds for social exclusion are still greater for immigrants than for native Swedes. Some form of discrimination can therefore not be excluded. Paper II is co-written with Björn Halleröd. This paper involves a longitudinal analysis of the accumulation of closely related welfare disadvantages, showing that the initial deprivation increases over time. Latent growth curve models reveal that a high initial deprivation is related to low socio-economic class and being single. It is also shown that a high initial deprivation decreases the probability of upward class-mobility as well as the probability of deprived singles becoming cohabiting. Moreover, a high initial deprivation increases the risk that couples will experience a household break-up. In Paper III, we perform a longitudinal analysis of social exclusion in Sweden during the period 1979-2003, in which several logistic regression models for panel data are fitted to our data. We find no support that immigrants have been better integrated into Swedish society over time from the perspective of social exclusion risk. Instead, there are weak signs that integration has become worse. We also find weak signs that the higher social exclusion risk that men have relative to women has decreased during the past two decades. Furthermore, comparing with couples without children, the odds for social exclusion among singles with children have increased and the odds for couples with children have decreased during the period 1979-2003. Paper IV utilizes latent class factor models to scrutinize the connections between welfare problems and a set of demographic variables, human capital indicators and socio-economic class. We find that welfare problems do cluster. Our results also support several of the findings in the previous paper. Family type, especially being single or living in a relationship, makes a clear difference in the propensity to accumulate welfare problems. Furthermore, immigrants characterize the factors with a high problem accumulation. Additionally, there is no general difference between the sexes in the problem accumulation itself, but experiences of threat or violence and having sleeping problems seem to be more often related to being a woman, whereas the lack of a close friend is most often related to being a man. To conclude, this thesis reveals several interesting facts concerning the accumulation of welfare problems and social exclusion in Sweden. Considering the implications for policy, the situations of immigrants and single parents need to be underlined. That is, the integration of immigrants should be given more emphasis and measures should be taken to support single parents as well as to promote a discussion on how to make relationships last.
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| 4. |
- Brännström, Lars, 1972-
(författare)
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Phantom of the Neighbourhood : Longitudinal Studies on Area-based Conditions and Individual Outcomes
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation consists of three self-contained but interrelated empirical studies focusing on theoretical, empirical and political questions in the multidisciplinary field of neighbourhood effect research. Along with a comprehensive introductory essay, each study addresses questions concerning the potential influence of neighbourhood characteristics on individual social and economic outcomes at different life stages. Study I combines longitudinal register and survey data from the ‘golden era’ of Swedish welfare policy to evaluate a hypothesised impact of neighbourhood poverty during adolescence on a wide range of outcomes (including, but not limited to, educational and employment status) within a counterfactual model framework based on matching on propensity scores. Extensive empirical analyses indicate that, when two groups of children who are identical according to observed factors before age 10 (including household income, family structure and welfare receipt) live in different types of neighbourhood in adolescence, the outcome for those who grow up in a poor neighbourhood is not more likely to be worse than for those who grow up in a more affluent neighbourhood. Study II considers the maximum theoretical scope of unique neighbourhood influence experienced during the years of growth on individuals’ later life income and social assistance recipiency. A three-level hierarchical linear model is applied to simultaneously distinguish variation in the outcomes over time from variation that is attributable to differences between neighbourhoods. By utilising longitudinal register data derived from a birth cohort who grew up in Stockholm at a time when Swedish welfare policy ambitions were at a peak, this study attempts to estimate the long-term significance of neighbourhood origin in the Swedish setting. The analyses clearly show that prior place of residence accounts for an exceedingly modest proportion of the variation in cohort members’ subsequent income and receipt of social assistance. Study III explores the hypothesised negative impact of disadvantaged neighbourhood conditions, individual disadvantage, and degree of labour market establishment on levels of social trust. Using data from the Swedish Longitudinal Survey among Unemployed, ordered logit regression analyses indicate that low levels of social trust are contingent upon perceived neighbourhood disorder, personal powerlessness, perceived fear of victimisation, and accumulated episodes of temporary employment. The tentative results also indicate that neighbourhood disorder, powerlessness, and fear of victimisation interact, magnifying the negative impact on social trust.
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| 5. |
- Larsson, Daniel, 1976-
(författare)
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Exposure to crime as a consequence of poverty : five investigations about relative deprivation, poverty and exposure to crime
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis contains five studies that in different ways investigate poverty and the relation between poverty and exposure to crime. The basis of the thesis has been the question of how poverty is related to other welfare problems such as unemployment and health problems, focusing on exposure to crime and fear of crime. The thesis also has a comparative element. In one article, the conditions in Britain, Finland and Sweden are compared, and two articles compare conditions in Britain and Sweden.Poverty has been measured as relative deprivation. This is done by measuring consumption of socially perceived necessities, both goods and activities. For poverty to be at hand, not consuming some of the goods or not engaging in some of the activities must be a consequence of lack of economic resources, not of personal preference. The relation between poverty and exposure to crime has been understood from an interactionist perspective, where the possible interaction between and intersection of potential offender and potential victim constitute the determinant factor for the risk of being exposed to crime. In this perspective, the poor are more exposed because their situation of being poor places them in situations where the risks of being exposed are high. Fear of crime stems from different sources. The significance of earlier victimization, the characteristics of the geographical unit where one lives and vulnerability in the event of actual exposure have been investigated.It was found that poverty measured as relative deprivation is related to other welfare problems, primarily other economic problems, unemployment, health impairments, anxiety, sleeping problems and headaches. But it was also found that poverty is related to exposure to crime and fear of crime. Furthermore, poverty based on an income measure did not correlate especially well with other welfare problems. It was also found that the extent of poverty measured as relative deprivation is equal in Britain and Sweden, while it is more extensive in Finland. This result contradicts earlier studies based on income measurements of poverty, which show that poverty is about equally common in Sweden and Finland and more extensive in Britain. It was found that the reason why relative deprivation is more extensive in Finland is that the level of unemployment is higher there and that the unemployed are worse off in Finland than in Britain and Sweden.Regarding the relation between poverty and exposure to property crime, it was found that the poor are more exposed than are the non-poor with regard to the property crime that violates personal integrity most: property crime related to the residence. Exposure to crime was found to be more of a poverty problem in Sweden than in Britain. Because crime rates are about equal in Britain and Sweden, the result indicates that the risk of being exposed to crime in Britain is more equally distributed across the population. Furthermore, it was found that fear of crime in Sweden is related to poverty, while fear of crime in Britain is more related to vulnerability in general, particularly vulnerability on the labour market. One reason for this may be that fear of crime is more common in Britain than in Sweden. Fear of crime may be such a general problem in Britain that the poor cannot be differentiated from the non-poor.
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| 6. |
- Meinow, Bettina, 1972-
(författare)
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Capturing health in the elderly population : Complex health problems, mortality, and allocation of home-help services
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates health trends among very old people and the allocation of public home-help services. A further aim is to examine methodological issues in mortality analysis. Three data sources are used: (1) The Tierp study of community-dwelling persons (n=421, ages 75+), (2) the SWEOLD nationally representative samples (n=537 in 1992 and n=561 in 2002, ages 77+), and 3) SNAC-K comprised of home-help recipients in a district of Stockholm (n=1108, ages 65+).Study I suggests that the length of the follow-up period may explain some of the differences found in predictor strength when comparing mortality studies. Predictors that can change rapidly (e.g., health) were found to be strongest for the short term, with a lower average mortality risk for longer follow-ups. Stable variables (e.g., gender) were less affected by length of follow-up.Studies II and III present a measure of complex health problems based on serious problems in at least two of three health domains. These were diseases/symptoms, mobility, and cognition/communication. Prevalence of complex health problems increased significantly between 1992 and 2002. Older age, female gender, and lower education increased the odds of having complex problems. Complex problems strongly predicted 4-year mortality. Controlled for age, gender, health, and education, mortality decreased by 20% between 1992 and 2002. Men with complex problems accounted for this decrease. Thus, in 2002 the gender difference in mortality risk was almost eliminated among the most vulnerable adults.Study IV revealed that physical and cognitive limitations, higher age, and living alone were significantly related to home-help allocation, with physical and cognitive limitations dominating. Psychiatric symptoms did not affect the assessment.The increased prevalence of complex health problems and increased survival among people with complex needs have important implications concerning the need for collaboration among service providers.
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| 7. |
- Thalberg, Sara, 1974-
(författare)
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Students and Family Formation : Studies on educational enrolment and childbearing in Sweden
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the impact of educational enrolment on family formation in Sweden. The aim is to identify factors that are important for students’ childbearing and to find potential explanations as to why so few students have children while enrolled in education. Three independent studies are carried out, two quantitative and one qualitative. Study I examines the associations between age, earnings, a student financial aid reform, and female students’ first, second and third birth risks. Study II takes a gender perspective and compares the influence of mothers’ and fathers’ enrolment and earnings on parental couples’ propensities to have a second or a third child. In both these studies the analyses are performed using longitudinal register data. Study III explores male and female students’ childbearing intentions, and the motivations behind them, through individual in-depth interviews with childless students. Several findings point towards the significance of economic factors. The results in Study I show that earnings have a clear impact on female students’ birth risks, and in Study III economic security is found to be an important motive behind the students’ childbearing intentions. However, the student financial aid reform investigated in Study I had no noticeable impact on students’ childbearing behaviour. The negative effect of educational enrolment on childbearing risks, as well as the significance of earnings and economic security, is clearly weakened by age. In addition to economic security, the interview accounts indicate that non-material aspects, such as the biological risks of postponement, knowing one’s future prospects and being content with life, are also important for the timing of childbearing. The implications of educational enrolment for family formation are also found to be largely dependent on gender, as in Study II mothers’ educational enrolment had a much stronger negative impact on couples’ continued childbearing than fathers’ enrolment. Further, compared to the males, the female respondents in Study III had much more knowledge about the parental leave system, and parental leave and their benefit level were also things they took into account to a much larger extent when discussing their childbearing intentions. The gender differences are likely associated with the Swedish earnings-related parental leave insurance and mothers still taking the largest part of the leave. The fact that both economic security and the biological risks associated with postponement are seen as crucial factors for timing of family formation implies that some students, particularly females above age 30, find themselves in a difficult situation.
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| 8. |
- Örestig, Johan, 1979-
(författare)
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The long and winding road : A life course approach to retirement behaviour
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: This thesis explores the retirement behaviour of older people approaching retirement decisions. The research questions in focus deal with the attitudes toward work, the retirement preferences and the subjective well-being of the "youngest old", i.e. people aged 55–64. The included studies analyse the social determinants of these subjective evaluations and how they predict the timing of retirement and post-retirement well-being.Methods: In the included studies, methods are used that allow us to follow developments over time. Repeated cross-sectional analyses are employed to examine general developments pertaining to the older work force. These include OLS and logistic regression analysis. Longitudinal analyses are used to follow individual developments over time. These include Structural equation modelling and Cox regression analysis.Results: The results indicate that subjective evaluations such as attitudes to work and retirement preferences, as well as subjective well-being, are closely related to the structural conditions to which individuals are exposed, i.e. class position and work environment. The results also indicate that subjective evaluations such as preferred exit age and subjective well-being reported while in the work force are determinants of both the timing of retirement (in the case of preferred exit age and pre-retirement subjective well-being) and post-retirement subjective well-being (in the case of pre-retirement subjective well-being).Also, results indicate that recent policy changes in the Swedish pension systems are reflected in the retirement preferences of the older work force. A comparison of two time-points representing the incentive structure of the old and the new pension systems indicates that preferences were delayed with pension reform.Conclusion: The thesis contributes a temporal perspective to a research field that is dominated by research studying retirement behaviour at a single point of in time. The included studies underline the value of understanding retirement behaviour as a process rather than an isolated event. The way people evaluate their work, their well-being and their retirement prospects is intimately intertwined with their earlier experience. These subjective evaluations affect future retirement outcomes. Life course approaches offer illuminating tools for examining and explaining the significance of the biographies behind retirement behaviour.
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| 9. |
- Nyman, Charlott, 1962-
(författare)
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Mine, yours or ours? : sharing in Swedish couples
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The topic of this thesis is the sharing of resources in families. Equal sharing has often been taken for granted by policy makers as well as researchers. However, a considerable body of research has now shown that unequal sharing can and does occur in families. The aim of this thesis has been to study sharing in Swedish couples and the degree to which equality can be said to exist in these. The outcomes of sharing, i e partners’ access to money and consumption have been a major focus, as has the negotiations that take place regarding sharing. The processes and mechanisms that are at play in discussions and negotiations about sharing have also been a major focus. Money and consumption are in focus, however other resources such as leisure time and housework are also addressed. The studies are based on an in-depth interview study with ten Swedish couples where each spouse was interviewed separately; in addition, a survey study of Swedish couples is also utilized. The results of all of the four studies support earlier studies that show that unequal sharing in couples does in fact exist; women seem to experience less access to money and consumption more often than their partners. Several mechanisms were found to be at work shaping patterns of sharing. Pooling money was a common way of regarding the family economy, however it seemed this was not necessarily accompanied by an organization of money that facilitated pooling. Pooling was not necessarily a reflection of equal sharing as it is often assumed to be; instead, it could conceal inequality in that negotiations about sharing were kept off of the agenda. The gendered division of labor that still exists in Swedish society as well as in Swedish families means that women seem to have more knowledge of the needs of the family. This knowledge, which is often lacked by their spouses, also seems to mean that women take on the responsibility of seeing to it that ends are met. This could result in women sacrificing their own personal spending and using money meant for themselves as an economic buffer for the benefit of the family, something that was not found regarding men. In addition, details of the system of financial management used can sometimes act as an obstacle for women’s job of making ends meet and for their personal spending. Another important aspect of sharing in families is how money is defined. Different money can be defined differently and its definition will influence how it is shared and used. The continuous re-defining of money that takes place in families means that money’s meaning can change over time. Money was found to be relational; how it is understood and defined is influenced by its social context; how it is used can also give meaning to actions and influence the balance of power in couples. Several of the studies found support for the resource theory of marital power, however this alone could not explain women’s poorer access to money and consumption. Cultural aspects such as notions about gender and family must also be considered.
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| 10. |
- Westberg, Annika, 1972-
(författare)
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Becoming an Adult : Living Conditions and Attitudes among Swedish Youth
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis studies youth from different perspectives. These are the life phaseand the generational perspectives, which have been studied via questions of establishment and individualisation. The main question is whether young people are different because they have not made socially important transitions into adulthood or if they are different because they have grown up under different circumstances than earlier generations. The consequences of the outcome are important because they can indicate what kind of society young people will reproduce. The following conclusions are drawn: First, there are clear effects of social structurations (class of origin and gender) in the lives of young people. They affect the distribution of attitudes towards welfare state expenditures as well as the economic effects in a long-term perspective. Second, there is rather weak importance of role transitions in relation to what young people believe is important for adulthood, role transitions’ importance for the distribution of attitudes towards the welfare state as well as role transitions’ importance in a long-term perspective. Third, increasing age and subtle socialisation processes may be an explanation to the rather weak meaning of role transitions, cause adjustments to surrounding contexts and people’s expectations. It is concluded that the life phase perspective is a more accurate way of viewing young people, mainly because of the impact of social structurations, which are believed to contribute to continuous reproduction rather than complete change of society.
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