Download or read book Nordic Social Attitudes in a European Perspective written by H. Ervasti and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For outsiders, the popularity and social sustainability of the extensive scope of Nordic welfare states, such as the strong role of the state and high levels of taxation, remains something of a mystery. Making use of recent international survey data, this important book goes some way towards solving this mystery. It underlines the remarkable success of Nordic welfare institutions which help to maintain not only low rates of poverty and inequality, but high levels of well-being, trust, social capital and political participation. Jochen Clasen, University of Edinburgh, UK Nordic welfare states have long enjoyed a leadership position in the provision of social welfare. They are now caught up in the current of thorough-going reform that is sweeping across Europe. This book uses data from the European Social Survey in fresh and innovative ways to demonstrate the resilience of Nordic models and to show how political discourses are changing across a whole range of policy areas. Peter Taylor-Gooby, University of Kent, UK This book addresses the effect that institutional settings typical to the Nordic countries have upon people s attitudes and behaviour. Placed within a European comparative perspective, the analyses presented by the contributing authors centre around issues relating to the welfare state, politics, family and work, as well as cultural concerns including economic morality and religiosity. Despite differences between the Nordic countries, the overall impression given is of a shared outlook and way of life. In the European context, the Nordic countries particularly stand out as a distinct group therefore demonstrating their institutional similarities. Providing highly rigorous and up-to-date data, with a wide coverage of topics, this book will be of great interest to academics and students in sociology, social policy and political science. It will also appeal to anyone interested in the Nordic countries in general.
Download or read book Models of Democracy in Nordic and Baltic Europe written by Nicholas Aylott and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the ways in which representative democracy works in two neighbouring collections of European states: the Nordic (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) and the Baltic (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). Starting from a Nordic vantage point, contributors explore the extent to which aspects of politics function similarly or dissimilarly across the two groups of democratic states, acknowledging the differences in models of democracy that occur within each group. Authors explore the possibility that some of the apparently successful institutional features of Nordic politics have somehow influenced politics in the Baltic states, despite the considerable contextual differences between the two groups. The Nordic-Baltic comparison is particularly worthy of study, given the comparative stability of the Nordic democracies and the half century of occupation by a totalitarian dictatorship that the Baltic states endured. The central, guiding questions are: how does political representation work in countries that have a lot in common, but also a few significant contextual dissimilarities; and what, if any, relationships between the respective styles of democracy can be identified? Using a variety of theories, perspectives and methods, the empirical studies that populate the book seek to offer reflections on these questions.
Download or read book Changing Social Equality written by Jon Kvist and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking a comparative perspective, this book casts new light on the changing inequalities in Europe.
Download or read book International Encyclopedia of Civil Society written by Helmut K. Anheier and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 1722 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently the topic of civil society has generated a wave of interest, and a wealth of new information. Until now no publication has attempted to organize and consolidate this knowledge. The International Encyclopedia of Civil Society fills this gap, establishing a common set of understandings and terminology, and an analytical starting point for future research. Global in scope and authoritative in content, the Encyclopedia offers succinct summaries of core concepts and theories; definitions of terms; biographical entries on important figures and organizational profiles. In addition, it serves as a reliable and up-to-date guide to additional sources of information. In sum, the Encyclopedia provides an overview of the contours of civil society, social capital, philanthropy and nonprofits across cultures and historical periods. For researchers in nonprofit and civil society studies, political science, economics, management and social enterprise, this is the most systematic appraisal of a rapidly growing field.
Download or read book Normative Foundations of the Welfare State written by Nanna Kildal and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-05-07 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book conveys analyses, perspectives and interpretations of the normative foundation of the unique 'Nordic welfare state model' which are relevant across the globe.
Download or read book Changing Values Attitudes and Behaviours in Ireland written by Michael J. Breen and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-17 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Social Survey (the ESS) is an academically-driven social survey designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe’s changing institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations. Established in 2001, and currently preparing for its seventh round, this biennial cross-sectional survey covers more than thirty nations and employs the most rigorous methodologies. This volume provides an analysis of the Irish data over six rounds of the European Social Survey, focusing on the internal changes over time in Ireland and situating these changes in a broader European context. The book’s core chapter deal with the primary themes of the European Social Survey: Institutional Trust, Democracy and Legitimacy; Political Engagement and Socio-Political Values; Moral and Social Values; Social Capital and Social Exclusion; and National, Ethnic, and Religious Identity. A separate chapter focuses on the survey’s rotating modules, which change from survey to survey. These topics include Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy; Immigration; Well-Being; Health; Economic Morality in Europe and Welfare Attitudes; and Trust in Criminal Justice. Each chapter provides a list of background literature to the topic in Ireland, an analysis of the data that will be both accessible for the general reader, but offering something deeper to the expert, and a clear comparison of how the Irish data fit in with the rest of Europe. This book charts a changing Ireland over a highly significant period of its history. Given the significance of the ESS as the most rigorous social science survey in Europe and the scope of its questionnaires, this volume is highly pertinent both in terms of how it maps political, social, demographic and attitudinal changes in Ireland, and in the way it places those changes within a European context.
Download or read book Happiness and Well Being in Chinese Societies written by Chau-kiu Cheung and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-22 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the sustainability of happiness and well-being in Chinese societies. It starts by introducing the various conceptions of well-being, particularly in the Chinese sociocultural context. The book then proceeds with the examination of the sustainability of well-being by scrutinizing the effects of sociocultural, contextual, and personal factors on well-being. The contextual factors are the aggregates or averages of personal factors at the contextual levels of the regions and colleges in Mainland China, its special administrative region, and Taiwan. These factors cover personality traits, strengths, orientations, beliefs, values, and idolizing. By bringing together empirical studies and theoretical perspectives applied to Chinese societies, this book offers researchers in social science and humanities a valuable reference work on happiness and well-being in Chinese societies.
Download or read book The Nordic Civil Sphere written by Jeffrey C. Alexander and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The civil sphere is a distinctively democratic field in modern societies, one that sustains universalizing cultural aspirations and organizational structures and that has tense and uncertain boundaries with other spheres of social life, like the economy, religion, family, and state. Unlike the latter, which are more particularistic and hierarchical in character, the civil sphere defines itself in terms of solidarity – the feeling of being connected with every other person in the collectivity. The utopian ideals of democratic solidarity shape every modern society, even if they are often compromised by the messy realities of social life. This volume uses the theory of the civil sphere to shed new light on Nordic societies, while at the same time drawing on the distinctive experiences of the Nordic nations to reflect on and advance the theory of the civil sphere. Nordic societies have long been admired for creating a distinctive form of social democracy, but this admirable achievement has not been well conceptualized theoretically. Most attempts to explain Nordic social democracy focus on material and organizational factors. This volume, by contrast, emphasizes the cultural foundations and characteristics of social democracy, demonstrating how civil sensibilities are necessary for the creation of an egalitarian and democratic state. Nordic civil spheres, however, are not only pro-civil but also white in color, European in ethnicity, secular in character and gender-equal in a subtly restrictive manner. Such primordialization of state civility is vividly on display in the sometime tense relationships that develop among natives and “foreigners” in Nordic countries, relationships that expose the primordial undersides of the social democratic codes and civil values that constitute the Nordic civil sphere. A major contribution to the theory of the civil sphere and to our understanding of the cultural and normative underpinnings of social and political life, this volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars of sociology and politics.
Download or read book The Future of the Welfare State written by Heikki Ervasti and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when welfare states in Europe are coming under increasing pressure from both growing demand and, in some countries, severe financial austerity measures, the attitudes of ordinary people and European social cohesion are much debated. Using data from the European Social Survey, these empirical analyses examine welfare state attitudes and draw conclusions for the future. Theoretically the book is linked to analyses of altering social risks, policy challenges, policy changes and policy performance of the European welfare states. The analyses in the book explore a variety of individual and macro-level determinants of welfare policy attitudes ranging from socio-economic factors to religiosity, but a special emphasis is laid on solidarity, social cohesion and social capital among European nations.
Download or read book The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy written by Alyson J. K. Bailes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1999 the EU decided to develop its own military capacities for crisis management. This book brings together a group of experts to examine the consequences of this decision on Nordic policy establishments, as well as to shed new light on the defence and security issues that matter for Europe as a whole.
Download or read book Civic and Uncivic Values in Poland written by Sabrina P. Ramet and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-18 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poland, like many societies across the world, is becoming more polarized in diverse areas of life, as contending forces seek to advance incompatible agendas. The polarization over values in Polish politics was evident already before communism collapsed but became more obvious in the following years and reached a crescendo after the October 2015 parliamentary elections, which brought a right-wing party into power. This volume focuses on the years since 1989, looking at the clash between civic values (the rule of law, individual rights, tolerance, respect for the harm principle, equality, and neutrality of the state in matters of religion) and uncivic values (the rule of a dictator or dictatorial party, contempt for individual rights, bigotry, disrespect for the harm principle, unequal treatment of people whether through discrimination or through exploitation, and state favoritism of one religion over others). The authors address voting behavior, political parties, anti-Semitism, homophobia, the role of the Catholic Church, and reflections in history textbooks, fi lm, and even rock music. This volume makes clear that for the foreseeable future the conflict in Poland between traditional, conservative values and liberal, civic values is likely to continue, provoking tensions and protests.
Download or read book Integrating Varieties of Capitalism and Welfare State Research written by Martin Schröder and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book combines the two most important typologies of capitalist diversity; Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology and Hall and Soskice's 'Varieties of Capitalism' typology, into a unified typology of capitalist diversity. The author shows empircally that certain welfare states bundle together with certain production systems.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics written by Jon Pierre and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook provides a broad introduction to Swedish politics, and how Sweden's political system and policies have evolved over the past few decades.
Download or read book Civic Engagement in Scandinavia written by Lars Skov Henriksen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1990’s, a number of studies have documented a remarkable high and stable amount of popular engagement in civic organizations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Often these countries have been considered deviant cases against the proliferating decline of social capital studies. However, despite great international interest in the Scandinavian region, the volume argues that the civil societies and the civic engagement of these countries remain poorly understood. Most interest in the Scandinavian welfare models addresses the balance between state and market, but under communicates the role played by civil society and popular engagement in associations and voluntary organizations. The contributions offer a coherent portrait of stability and change in formal and informal forms of civic engagement over the past 25 years as well as offering contextualized knowledge of the history and institutional design in which Scandinavian civil societies are embedded.
Download or read book A Modern Nordic Saga Politics Economy and Society written by Ryszard M. Czarny and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-13 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the Nordic countries through a European perspective and wishes to draw attention to their place in the new world order. The volume emphasizes the specificity of their cooperation within the region itself as well as within the European Union, and stresses the importance of the Nordic region as an area of possibilities and tangible chances resulting from the challenges of globalization. The social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of these countries are characterized by cooperation among states, their collaboration with other regional organizations and within international projects, as well as exchange of viewpoints on the specificity of the current Norden issues. The cooperation of the Nordic countries and their inhabitants as well as migrations between the Scandinavian states have been a trademark of the common and shared history of Norden.
Download or read book Contested Welfare States written by Stefan Svallfors and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-29 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The welfare state is a trademark of the European social model. An extensive set of social and institutional actors provides protection against common risks, offering economic support in periods of hardship and ensuring access to care and services. Welfare policies define a set of social rights and address common vulnerabilities to protect citizens from market uncertainties. But over recent decades, European welfare states have undergone profound restructuring and recalibration. This book analyzes people's attitudes toward welfare policies across Europe, and offers a novel comparison with the United States. Occupied with normative orientations toward the redistribution of resources and public policies aimed at ameliorating adverse conditions, the book focuses on the interplay between individual welfare attitudes and behavior, institutional contexts, and structural variables. It provides essential input into the comparative study of welfare state attitudes and offers critical insights into the public legitimacy of welfare state reform.
Download or read book Creativity in Chinese Contexts written by Chau-kiu Cheung and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-28 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining creativity in Chinese societies from both a personal and contextual standpoint, this ground-breaking book offers readers a unique insight into the Chinese mind. It provides a review of the nature, origins, and consequences of creativity, deriving from empirical evidence in the Chinese context. Specifically, the book unravels the conceptualization of creativity and its relationships with various demographic and dispositional factors in Chinese societies. The book proceeds to give readers an understanding of how creativity maintains reciprocal relationships with various forms of well-being. The content of the book brings together empirical evidence and theory grounded on Chinese societies to offer researchers and students a unique realistic view of the nature of creativity there. This book will be a must read for any researcher or practitioner interested in this fascinating topic.
