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Showing papers in "International Review of Sociology in 2014"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the development and the social, cultural, and political meanings of the Gezi movement, which began in Turkey at the end of May 2013 and has been evolving during the summer.
Abstract: Based on the results of a field study conducted during the summer following the wave of mobilizations in Gezi, this article analyzes the development and the social, cultural, and political meanings of this collective movement, which began in Turkey at the end of May 2013 and has been evolving during the summer. The first part of the article addresses the subject of these mobilizations that are opposed to the planning policy, implemented by the government in a process of neo-liberal economic development. The second part discusses the subjective engagement of the protesters and the meaning they give it, by considering alternatives not only to this policy but to the influence exerted on the individual and social life by the technostructures of the systemic forces. The third part analyzes, on the one hand, the methods of direct and online communication for organizing protests and, on the other, the creation of new living constructs, where protesters experiment with the alternatives to the dominations they con...

88 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The experiences of migrants living in Australia who are trying to care for acutely unwell family members abroad are examined, characterized by the urgent need to visit and to intensify use of ICTs.
Abstract: This paper examines the crisis of acute and chronic illness, death, and dying in transnational families. These are the stages in the family life-course when physical co-presence is required to deliver hands-on care and intimate emotional support for the sick family member. It is a time when distant kin feel they need ‘to be there’, including for their own sense of well-being. This period of ‘crisis’ (in the anthropological sense) makes visible all of the impediments to transnational family caregiving that often remain hidden during those periods when ‘routine’ forms of distant care are adequate. Of particular relevance are the macro-level factors generated by national borders and the policies that define them, including those that govern employment, travel, visa, health, and aged care provisions. It is in these family life phases of crisis that nation-state structures can work to constrain individual agency and rights, making compellingly evident the growing need for transnational structures and policy. A...

54 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used data from European Social Survey (ESS) 2002/2003 to test if religiosity affects environmental opinion in Europe, and they found strong concern for the environment in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries than in Protestant countries.
Abstract: The objective is to test if religiosity affects environmental opinion in Europe. Using data from European Social Survey (ESS) 2002/2003, the study answers three questions. At the societal level: Is public opinion about the environment different in political systems with different Christian traditions? Is environmental concern less or higher in the public opinion depending on the degree of secularization in the political systems? At the individual level: Is the environmental opinion of the individual affected by the personal confession of faith, religious involvement, and the dominant religious context? At the societal level, the findings show stronger concern for the environment in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries than in Protestant countries. The tendency also shows a weakened concern for the environment in countries with a rather secular population. At the individual level, there are significant positive effects on environmental care from Catholic culture, negative effect from Protestant culture,...

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the modes of uncertainty management employed in trust and risk, and particularly on how knowledge, experience, familiarity, and decision-making are combined in the act of trusting.
Abstract: Contemporary trust research regards trust as a way of dealing with uncertainty and risk. Predominantly, it suggests that trust reduces uncertainty by means of risk assessment and rational calculation. However, phenomenological research proposes that trust is an alternative way of relating to uncertainty rather than a way to reduced uncertainty. This paper investigates these propositions in an interview study on intersubjective trust. The study focuses on the modes of uncertainty management employed in trust and risk, and particularly on how knowledge, experience, familiarity, and decision-making are combined in the act of trusting. The main finding is that trust and risk are better characterised as different ways of perceiving the social and managing uncertainty, than as different elements of the same decision process. The concept of ‘risk compartmentalisation’ is developed to describe the different ways people work to contain risk and maintain trust by combining adaptation and familiarity.

39 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the impact of the Greek crisis and de-regularization phenomenon on the transnational practices among Albanian families, as well as individuals' dilemmas of return and negotiations between transnational mobility and staying put, between different levels o...
Abstract: The outbreak of economic crisis in Greece in 2010 and the austerity measures adopted have dramatically altered the economic and social conditions throughout the country and consequently deeply impacted the migrant families. With Albanian regular migrants losing the legal status and lapsing back into irregularity due to the high unemployment rates, the reverse process of de-regularization and social disintegration has emerged. As a result, many migrants drew on family and social networks to pursue work opportunities either back home or elsewhere, while maintaining their formal ties/residence in Greece. This article explores the impact of the Greek crisis and de-regularization phenomenon on the transnational practices among Albanian families. Our aim is to go beyond the general theories on transnationalism and look at what exactly is the impact of the crisis on the families, as well as individuals' dilemmas of return and negotiations between transnational mobility and staying put, between different levels o...

23 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of space in the Lefebvrian sense, with respect to the changing socio-spatial order of the cities, is emphasized in the context of the Gezi Park protests.
Abstract: On 31 May 2013, violent police intervention against the activists at Gezi Park, Istanbul, resisting against the unlawful demolition of trees at the park, led to a popular uprising throughout Turkey. It was unexpected and unprecedented. The resistances were, and still are, multifaceted and multilayered. Taken as an episode of contention, it is hard to argue that this has come to an end, and the falling leaf can hardly be blamed on the tree. This paper is an attempt to understand this episode, borrowing from the DOC (dynamics of contention) program, emphasizing the importance of space in the Lefebvrian sense, with respect to the changing socio-spatial order of the cities.

20 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the women's negotiation of culture within the context of their Italian and Greek families, and showed that these women are nationalistic and culturally stringent actors, who often find it extremely difficult fully to learn and integrate to the new cultures of Southern Europe.
Abstract: Today marriage-migration remains the dominant form of naturalization in Italy and Greece, even for women from such high-income countries as the USA. Pilot studies of intra-OECD female migrants to Southern Europe show that the majority of them marry local men, consider their matrimony a mistake, and feel isolated. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive knowledge about dynamics of their socio-cultural integration or expat nationalism (although scholarship generally acknowledges a strong relationship between these two processes). Based on narrative-biographic interviews with 60 Anglophone female expatriates married to Italian and Greek men, our study explores the women's negotiation of culture within the context of their Italian and Greek families, and looks at emerging challenges for their integration. We show that these women are nationalistic and culturally stringent actors, who often find it extremely difficult fully to learn and integrate to the new cultures of Southern Europe.

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the added social value of social relations can be observed in those processes through which social capital and public (relational) goods (re)generate or elide each other.
Abstract: Almost all empirical research reveals that social capital is a factor that enhances public goods, but scholars are divided into two strands of thought. According to the first strand, the enhancement of public goods does not need any network of social relations, while, according to the second, enhancement depends on the existence and good functioning of relational networks, to the point that it consists in the creation of social networks. Which one is right? In order to clarify the issue, one should ask: can a social relation have any added social value? If so, how can we conceive of the added social value of social relations, and how can we measure it? The author claims that the added social value of social relations can be observed in those processes through which social capital and public (relational) goods (re)generate or elide each other. These processes can be analyzed as morphogenetic cycles that work in temporal sequences and are not circular or recursive. By adopting this perspective, we can see a...

17 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the UK, the economic crisis that followed the economic recession of 2008-2009, however, provides a more severe test of the implications of a relatively deregulated employment regime for employee welfare as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Previous research on trends in the quality of work in Britain was carried out in a period marked by long-term growth and increasing prosperity. Although often taken as an exemplar case of a ‘liberal’ regime, the implications of an emphasis on deregulation and work-force flexibility for employees’ quality of work are arguably less serious when labour markets are tight and the market power of employees may oblige employers to be concerned about the retention and commitment of the work-force. The prolonged economic crisis that followed the economic recession of 2008–2009, however, provides a more severe test of the implications of a relatively deregulated employment regime for employee welfare. It is precisely under conditions of high unemployment and weak bargaining power that it could be expected to facilitate a sharp reassertion of employer prerogatives both to shed labour and to restructure work processes. Did the economic crisis, then, lead to major changes in work and employment conditions in the UK?

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Social and Solidarity economy (SSE) is a viable strategy in dealing with some contemporary problems known both in industrial and developing countries as discussed by the authors, which is contextualized against the background of recent developments: the liberalization of goods and capital flows worldwide, continued industrialization, and the increased global division of labour.
Abstract: The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is a viable strategy in dealing with some contemporary problems known both in industrial and developing countries. SSE is contextualized against the background of recent developments: the liberalization of goods and capital flows worldwide, continued industrialization, and the increased global division of labour. Addressed is how local populations could reach certain objectives and satisfy certain needs using techniques characteristic of SSE and, thus, carve out a social and economic space of their own vis-a-vis anonymous markets, global actors, and local and national elites. Within this self-governed space, it is suggested, a path can be laid for the necessary transition towards local, social, and ecological sustainability. The Social Economy Basel (SEB, founded 1996) will serve as an example to suggest how SSE principles could be operationalized into organizational practice.

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Anup Dash1
TL;DR: In this article, the distinctiveness of the Gandhian approach to "ecological citizenship" within his paradigm of non-violence and ethical holism as an alternative to the dominant thinking is examined.
Abstract: Dominant approaches to sustainability have focused on environmental governance with efficient mechanisms and technical quick-fixes for regulatory changes and policy reforms within the growth-centred economic model. However, they fail to develop an authentic ‘ecological citizenship’ for a more fundamental change in the framework of moral values guiding individuals' behaviour and attitude towards the environment and their choices to live lightly on earth. This article argues that the transformation to a sustainable society necessitates deeper moral changes and the development of an ecological morality at the individual level as the core of sustainability. The article examines the distinctiveness of the Gandhian approach to ‘ecological citizenship’ within his paradigm of non-violence and ethical holism as an alternative to the dominant thinking. Within his broader moral-philosophical framework, the paper focuses on Gandhi's theories of eco-localism, unity of life, economics of well-being, and the moral praxi...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper discussed the case of green credit policy in China, which was jointly announced in 2007 by financial and environmental regulators and became a more formal document entitled ‘Green Credit Guideline' in 2012.
Abstract: Financial policy impacts on a range of social issues such as poverty alleviation, education, pollution control, etc. Making good use of financial policy and applying innovation to existing financial systems can generate positive outcomes for society. This article is to discuss the case of green credit policy in China. This policy was jointly announced in 2007 by financial and environmental regulators. According to this policy, banks were encouraged to give more loans to environmental friendly companies than to others. Such policy has made great progress, and it became a more formal document entitled ‘Green Credit Guideline’ in 2012. This guideline included a comprehensive definition on green credit and specified several requirements at practical levels. Despite the great success, challenges of implementing such policy still remain. First, information about corporate environmental performance is insufficient; second, market incentives for green credit policy are not high enough; third, most banking staff l...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of the economic crisis on the sustainability of kibbutz communities is investigated, taking into account that the kiba does not exist in a vacuum but is rather embedded within a society that has undergone transformation processes from a socialistic to a capitalistic orientation.
Abstract: Kibbutz communities and organizations were originally structured to be egalitarian and democratic. The last two decades proved to be a major challenge for their sustainability due to a serious economic crisis. Many scholars have lamented the end of the kibbutz, some of them claiming that there is no place for utopias in the twenty-first century. Kibbutz communities were trying to survive within a turbulent economic and social environment. This article will attempt to analyse varieties in developing sustainability that were adopted by kibbutz communities. Focusing on the impact of the economic crisis, we will investigate processes of value change within the kibbutz, taking into consideration that the kibbutz does not exist in a vacuum but is rather embedded within a society that has undergone transformation processes from a socialistic to a capitalistic orientation. The article will look at different solutions that kibbutz communities have adopted and strategies that kibbutz members used in order to cope w...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of actors is essential, even if, in most of the climate change literature, there is scant consideration or analysis of the actors, their interests, and their ideas as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Managing the large-scale restructuring away from the previously established resource-wasting industrial mass production and consumption model towards a socially balanced and resource-efficient economy requires an adaptation of interest reconciliation mechanisms, including also new strategic approaches by the main actors. As we are speaking of a transition towards a new model, the role of actors is essential, even if, in most of the climate-change literature, there is scant consideration or analysis of the actors, their interests, and their ideas. The basic question is not simply how ‘civil issues’ can be integrated into the established forms of social dialogue and how trade unions will need to adapt their agenda accordingly, but, more fundamentally, whether these structures are capable of giving a boost to a true paradigm shift in overcoming the unsustainable production model. In other words, are trade unions and social dialogue structures indeed ‘locked into’ this production model, and, if not, what is t...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of the crisis on industrial relations and working conditions in Europe is investigated, based on the output of Eurofound's European Working Conditions Observatory and European Industrial Relations Observatory and data from the European working conditions Survey.
Abstract: This paper reports results from recent Eurofound research on the impact of the crisis on industrial relations and working conditions in Europe, based on the output of Eurofound's European Working Conditions Observatory and European Industrial Relations Observatory and data from the European Working Conditions Survey. Overall, the crisis – even if it is sometimes difficult to separate the effect of the crisis from megatrends in working conditions and industrial relations – seems to have had an impact on both domains. With reference to industrial relations, the impact of the crisis has influenced actors, processes, and outcomes. Regarding working conditions, the results appear to be in line with the literature on the topic, which relates the crisis to an increase in job insecurity, a decrease in work intensity, in working hours, and in anti-social working time arrangements, and a general improvement in terms of health risks and related outcomes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Nordic countries have been renowned for labour markets with high-quality jobs as mentioned in this paper and the key question for the article is whether this also holds in the current financial and Eurozone crisis, and indicators from the European Working Conditions Survey are used to trace changes in job quality.
Abstract: The Nordic countries have been renowned for labour markets with high-quality jobs. The key question for the article is whether this also holds in the current financial and Eurozone crisis. Focus is on the initial years of the crisis, and indicators from the European Working Conditions Survey are used to trace changes in job quality. Physical job demands are on a lower level in the Nordic region compared to the European level. Instead, time pressure and working to tight deadlines are more common. In general, the downturn in the economy seems to have decreased the intensity in the work situation of employees. Temporary employment and job insecurity are more present in Finland and Sweden than in Denmark and Norway. Still, the Nordic employment regime is characterized by a large proportion of jobs where employees have influence and autonomy, and are rather satisfied with their job. One possible explanation for these encouraging results is the high level of unionization that has persisted through the crisis.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The interest in family issues has increased in recent times among migration scholars (Kofman 2004, Grillo 2008, Baldassar and Merla 2013). This can be interpreted both as the outcome of specific 't...
Abstract: The interest in family issues has increased in recent times among migration scholars (Kofman 2004, Grillo 2008, Baldassar and Merla 2013). This can be interpreted both as the outcome of specific ‘t...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the discursive messages conveyed through everyday encounters among German-born Turkish Auslander (foreigners) and ethnic Germans in Berlin and explored how these messages operate to maintain a series of separate and unequal social relations based on gender, ethnicity, religion, and skin colour.
Abstract: This paper examines the discursive messages conveyed through everyday encounters among German-born Turkish Auslander (foreigners) and ethnic Germans in Berlin. Using narrative analysis, I explore how these messages operate to maintain a series of separate and unequal social relations based on gender, ethnicity, religion, and skin colour. The personal experiences of local residents illustrate how these discourses serve to mark some Auslander as less threatening than others, some as preferable, and others as undesirable. Some Auslander are also considered more valuable than others, and the status of one often depends on the superior or subordinate status of the other. Through exploring these complexities as experienced by local informants, this paper shows the importance of certain interactive processes that construct Auslanderness in varying ways, while still defining people's identities in relation to norms that privilege the dominant subjects.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore intergenerational transmission of values in immigrant families, focusing on the mother-child relation and the importance given to the meanings and the practices of religion that the family professes.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore intergenerational transmission of values in immigrant families, focusing on the mother–child relation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with women and young people of immigrant origin, the paper analyses how mothers and children negotiate parental styles on transmission of cultural values – the importance of language and religion. The following dimensions will be analysed: (1) the language: which language is spoken in the family – mother tongue or Italian – and how the mother tongue is transmitted to children; (2) the importance given to the meanings and the practices of religion that the family professes. For this purpose we are going to compare Asian and East European women and children living in different urban and rural contexts of the Lombardy region.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the application of ideas derived from psychotherapy to questions of economic and social policy is explored, arguing that disputes concerning human nature underlie many debates on economic theory.
Abstract: The paper explores the application of ideas derived from psychotherapy to questions of economic and social policy. It is argued that disputes concerning human nature underlie many debates on economic theory. Class is reviewed from internal and emotional perspectives. Psychological obstacles to the achievement of economic inequality are explored and ways of overcoming them critically discussed. Particular attention is paid to the operation of economic sadism in the behaviour of individuals and societies. A range of possible gender differences in relation to money is reviewed. Inherited wealth is explored from the perspective of ‘therapy thinking’. The paper proposes that we reconsider what is deemed to be realistic and what is deemed to be (hopelessly) idealistic in thinking about economics. The paper concludes by proposing a deeper discussion of the problematic of sacrifice in connection with sustainable economics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the paradox in the language, logic, and values of the larger social system vis-a-vis the market economy system and argue that confusions and tensions today in the theory, practice, and policy for recreating sustainable systems essentially arise out of a lack of conceptual clarity and an inability to distinguish the values, logic and language of competition from that of co-operation.
Abstract: The article highlights the paradox in the language, logic, and values of the larger social system vis-a-vis the market economy system. It observes that the language, logic, and values of co-operation have gradually undergone transformation over time and have been mainstreamed today to that of industrial production and organizations in a competitive market economic system. The article argues that the confusions and tensions today in the theory, practice, and policy for recreating sustainable systems essentially arise out of a lack of conceptual clarity and an inability to distinguish the values, logic, and language of competition from that of co-operation. Based on an action research project during 2008–2013 on developing transitional strategies for rebuilding a sustainable community system from within the existing competitive market economy system, the paper provides a way forward for restructuring the organizational design and institutional architecture on the principles of deep relationships, trust, and...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: El tema de la violencia y, mas especificamente, the violencia ejercida por las pandillas juveniles es ahora dominante en el debate academico, mediatico, y politico contemporaneo; sin embargo, se desa...
Abstract: El tema de la violencia y, mas especificamente, la violencia ejercida por las pandillas juveniles es ahora dominante en el debate academico, mediatico y politico contemporaneo; sin embargo, se desa...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A history of the emergence of the three main modern concepts of emotional life and their respective power strategies can be found in this paper, where the authors recount the history of these three concepts and their use in the British discourse on governmentality from the period.
Abstract: The seventeenth- and eighteenth-century statement that passions and not inactive reason are the motives that decisively influence the will and constitute the true drivers of human action promoted a new object of problematization and control on the part of the theoreticians of the art of government. Since then, a battle has waged over the general designations and definitions of what ‘emotional’ life is, and different dispositives of ‘emotional’ power (or pathospower) have been developed as central mechanisms for governing human beings. Analysing the British discourse on governmentality from the period, I recount the history of the emergence of the three main modern concepts of ‘emotional’ life and of its respective power strategies: passions in the discourse of utilitarian liberalism, moral sentiments in the discourse of conservatism, and emotions in biological and evolutionist psychology that underlies eugenic politics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors re-examine the democratic Enlightenment as a multi-dimensional, heterogeneous, non-Eurocentric and living heritage and argue that Gandhi's political contribution to the Enlightenment heritage is assessed in terms of values, epistemology and practice.
Abstract: This essay re-examines the democratic Enlightenment as a multi-dimensional, heterogeneous, non-Eurocentric and living heritage. Gandhi's political contribution to the Enlightenment heritage is assessed in terms of values, epistemology and practice. Practically, this concerns the French Revolutionary heritage as a paradigm of political action, and Gandhian innovations in terms of mass movements based on the philosophy and practice of non-violence. The essay contends that Gandhi, far from merely an heir to the Enlightenment tradition, also radically challenged, expanded and transformed it. This transformation belongs to a broader re-evaluation of Enlightenment in terms of growth over final ends, held in common with thinkers such as John Dewey. The article critiques predominant arguments that Gandhi was an ‘anti-modern’, whether in a heroic ‘post-modern’ posture or as an enemy of ‘scientific modernity’. It argues for a more sociologically nuanced and historically grounded view of Gandhi in the historical com...

Journal ArticleDOI
M. Santoro1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare the patterns of intergenerational solidarity between adult children who cohabit or are married and their own parents or their partner's parents through the analysis of 50 in-depth interviews.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to compare the patterns of intergenerational solidarity between adult children who cohabit or are married and their own parents or their partner's parents through the analysis of 50 in-depth interviews. The research did not reveal any different behavioural patterns between cohabiting and married couples. Financial support provided by own parents or partner's parents and the presence of small children constituted positive factors which intensified the frequency of contacts and improved the quality of the relationship. In the event of illness of a parent, both the married and cohabiting couples provided assistance, especially when the illness was not disabling and there were no other kin relatives. When this was not possible, a private caregiver was hired or close family members provided assistance. Only those respondents who cohabited with a partner awaiting divorce were less willing to maintain contacts with their partner's parents. The presence of a family formed by previ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the theoretical framework of a migration-development nexus as a double time-dependent process of social change, at the same time embedded both in the long duree of the reproduction/innovation of social practices and in an agent's personal reflectivity, and argue that the wide scenario of this interplay is the place for the cultural, symbolic, and moral dimensions of a migrant's membership of a network-based community, which acts as a cultural compass in determining migrants' attitudes towards the development of their home country.
Abstract: There is more and more evidence that migration and development cannot be considered as two dimensions, whose nexus emerges naturally as a mantra with reciprocal advantages both in developing and in developed countries. This article investigates the theoretical framework of a migration-development nexus as a double time-dependent process of social change, at the same time embedded both in the long duree of the reproduction/innovation of social practices and in the short duree of an agent's personal reflectivity. I argue that the wide scenario of this interplay is the place for the cultural, symbolic, and moral dimensions of a migrant's membership of a network-based community, which acts as a cultural compass in determining migrants' attitudes towards the development of their home country. Strong community membership can be associated with real engagement in the development issues of members left behind (as part of the collective self), only if we assume that membership and belonging are not necessarily sha...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the results of an empirical research project that analyzed the political socialisation processes of the students at three Portuguese public secondary schools in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in 2011.
Abstract: This article examines the results of an empirical research project that analysed the political socialisation processes of the students at three Portuguese public secondary schools in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in 2011. Against the background of the implementation of an ‘education for citizenship’ programme in the official Portuguese school curriculum (2001), the project basically sought to know what attitudes the students mobilised in the face of a hypothetical situation involving the presence of ciganos (gypsies) in a school context. In this respect, and based on a pragmatic and comprehensive perspective, we attempted to test the concept of multiculturality and how it is seen and experienced by the students at these schools. Our aim is to answer the question: In a school context, how do students think the coexistence of gypsies and non-gypsies should be managed? In seeking to answer this question, the methodology that seemed to us most appropriate to this study's objectives is founded on the mobilisati...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that in contemporary welfare states the poverty-reducing capacity of existing social security systems has inherent limitations and present and discuss empirical indications of a persistent (over a period of at least 30 years) decline in poverty reduction through social transfers, particularly among households who are highly dependent on such transfers.
Abstract: Poverty reduction rests on the mechanisms of horizontal and vertical solidarity and on prevention and repair of social risks. In this contribution, we argue that in contemporary welfare states the poverty-reducing capacity of existing social security systems has inherent limitations. Focusing on Belgium, we present and discuss empirical indications of a persistent (over a period of at least 30 years) decline in poverty reduction through social transfers, particularly among households who are highly dependent on such transfers. Firstly, we show that prevention and repair have failed to contribute to a reduction in the proportion of work-poor households who are highly dependent upon social security and face a high (rising even) poverty risk. Secondly, we find that given the fragmentation of social risks – in terms of both ex post poverty outcomes and ex ante social stratification – horizontal redistributive mechanisms through risk pooling have become less obvious, especially in respect of unemployment. Thir...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a new approach seems to be necessary, which steps aside of the international and national levels, because direct participation of citizens and institutional actors is more feasible, and also for the regional and local levels labour is the main actor, as the production and distribution are the central areas for action for sustainability.
Abstract: Twenty years after the Rio Conference of 1992 the issue of sustainability is still at the core of considerations in regard to the future of humankind. As a step forward in 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was agreed to, although the main actors have not been part of it. Since then all international congresses on the issue have failed. A new approach seems to be necessary, which steps aside of the international and national levels. The regional and local levels are definitely more appropriate, because direct participation of citizens and institutional actors is more feasible. Also for the regional and local levels labour is the main actor, as the production and distribution are the central areas for action for sustainability. That does not mean that consumption or finance have to be neglected. The trade unions in the past have often been reluctant to commit themselves for sustainability, as it seemed to endanger jobs. Slowly this attitude has been changed, and they fully engage now, e.g. with Attac and other simila...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify institutional and productive capacities acquired in the countries of the Central American region (CA) that encourage interaction on a national level and create favorable conditions to generate regional agreements to build regional interaction on STI.
Abstract: In recent years in international cooperation policies and public policies of the Central American (CA) region multilateral mechanisms were generated to form interinstitutional networks that drive science, technology, and innovation (STI) as the engine for regional economic growth. In the agreements social, political, and economic disparity were taken into account in order to stimulate the articulation between actors and potentialize local strengths to generate critical mass on the level of knowledge and build a research core base. The aim of this article is to identify institutional and productive capacities acquired in the countries of the region (CA) that encourage interaction on a national level and create favorable conditions to generate regional agreements to build regional interaction on STI. Results show deficiencies in the linking between public and private agents derived from the limited funds destined to I+D, the insufficient channels of information and the lack of interest of the investigations...