Through the lens of single parenthood: a comparative snapshot of the impact of neoliberal welfare, housing and employment policies on single mothers in the UK and Sweden

Cohen, Sue; Samzelius, Tove

doi:10.14198/fem.2020.35.05

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…När Bristol One Parent Project (BOPP) initierades av en grupp ensamstående mammor i mitten av 1980-talet var stödet för självorganiserade aktivistiska grupper mycket begränsat i Storbritannien (Cohen & Samzelius 2021). I stället vände BOPP blicken mot den Europeiska Gemenskapen, som under denna tid lanserade ett nytt ambitiöst fattigdomsprogram (Room 1984).…”

Section: En Möjliggörande Kontextunclassified

Kontext och deltagande kunskapsprojekt

Samzelius

2023

SVT

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Based on 20 years of experience involving marginalized singles mothers in participatory knowledge projects, this article provides a personal and critical reflection on the importance of the contexts within which such projects develop. Through concrete examples of projects, developed during different historical periods and welfare regimes, the author illustrates how the political and economic context can create both opportunities and barriers for the participation of the disadvantaged groups and the grassroots organizations that represent them. Some of the tensions too as benefits that can arise when more radical self-organized grassroots groups collaborate with academic institutions are also highlighted. Finally, ethical issues regarding the ideals of commitment of marginalized groups within a welfare context where the time to participate is regulated and limited raises. Consequently, it is argued, there is a need for wider critical reflection and continuous dialogue about how the basic principles of more radical traditions, both in research and social work, can be adapted and incorporated in new ways, whilst also learning from past experiences.

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Section: En Möjliggörande Kontextunclassified

Kontext och deltagande kunskapsprojekt

Samzelius

2023

SVT

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“…Universality could be maintained particularly through funding municipal services, including education, healthcare and welfare. More recently, scholars indicated that even social-democratic welfare systems, such as Sweden, embrace conditionality in its cash transfers (Samzelius and Cohen, 2020). At the same time, in-kind support, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Budgeting poverty alleviation: justifying in-kind conditionality in Israeli municipal authorities

Benjamin

Krigel

Cohen

et al. 2023

IJSSP

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PurposeWelfare reforms introduced conditionality into cash transfers often by diverse welfare-to-work programs achieving its vast legitimization. Meanwhile in-kind poverty alleviation policies maintained their universal character in the forms of national budgeting of municipal services. Utilizing justification work, the authors aim at showing how conditionality of in-kind support is replacing universalism. The authors ask which justification work assist administrators in shaping the relationship between in-kind and cash transfer and the changing meanings of poverty alleviation practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with senior administrators in Israeli local governments analysing them along principles of critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2010). Further, seeking to elicit the justification work, the authors added some guidelines from the discourse interaction approach.FindingsThe findings identified administrators' justification work as taking two major shapes. The first is an emphasis on conditionality in their in-kind support projects, which is limited in time, contingent upon co-operation and sometimes even enhancing choice for those in need. The second is the manifestation of pride anchored in the skilful budget management enabling the achievement of conditional in-kind support projects based on the effort involved.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors did not prompt the interviewees for the proportions of specific categories, such as whether they are attending and benefitting of the in-kind support programs. This is a limitation of this study that prevented the authors from contrasting perceived achievements against the actual coverage of their projects.Practical implicationsIt is important that government funding is increased for municipal anti-poverty policies engaging municipal administrator in the struggle for full and better coverage so that capability deprivation is combatted by a combination of cash transfer and quality social services that are universal and at the same time secure mentoring and supervision to all households in need.Social implicationsFuture research should present the analysis that associates different budgets of each city with its anti-poverty polices and its different socio-economic ranking. Critical social-policy scholars may apply this study’s findings in future analyses of municipal administrators' power position as reinforced by national level policy makers, particularly when introducing controversial policies.Originality/valueAnti-poverty policy and the specific combination between conditional cash transfers and in-kind support have been explained at the level of political–economic decision making. The authors conceptualize the need to explain anti-poverty policy by focussing on municipal administrators’ embedded agency, particularly around controversial issues. By building the professional self of municipal welfare administrators, inter alia by ignoring past meanings of in-kind support as depriving recipients of autonomy, conditionality is extended into in-kind services.

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“…In the UK, welfare rights advocates, feminist activists, academics and policy-makers had turned to Sweden for inspiration and it was in particular the access to affordable wrap-around childcare that was envied. However, the large disparity in poverty rates between different household types in Sweden suggested that this question was more complex (see Cohen & Samzelius 2020;Lister 2009).…”

Section: On the Motive Forcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Contrary to places where a breadwinner model continued to dominate, the central guiding principle of social policy towards single mothers in Sweden has, since the 1970s, been one of integration and inclusion within policies for gender equality and labour-market participation (Hobson & Takahashi 1997). In contrast, during this time, in the UK a large proportion of single mothers lived in poverty and faced discrimination when trying to access public housing, because of their status as 'single' and sometimes also because of their ethnic background (Cohen & Samzelius 2020).…”

Section: Welfare Divergence and Retrenchmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has, in my view also played an important role for the understanding of women's poverty more broadly and that of single migrant mothers in particular. While single mothers were already expected to work in Sweden, in the UK the lack of policies that 'resourced' women to work meant that many in effect had been 'abandoned by the state' while destined to live in poverty (Cohen & Samzelius 2020). This also meant that the 'welfare dependency' discourse that seeped into the political language in most welfare states during the 1980s and 1990s, became more strongly associated with single mothers as a group that was stereotyped as 'welfare scroungers'.…”

Section: 'The Problem' Of Single Motherhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A vicious circle of silent exclusion: Family homelessness and poverty in Sweden from a single mother perspective

Samzelius¹

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Within the confines of the receding Swedish welfare state, family homelessness and poverty are on the rise among one-parent families, in particular those headed by a single migrant mother. This development follows a trend that is noticeable across advanced welfare states, where female-headed households are facing an increased risk of being locked into vicious circles of low-paid work, inadequate income protection schemes and poor housing options. Contextualized against a wider global political-economic backdrop of rising inequalities and structural changes that take localized forms, this thesis investigates family homelessness and poverty in Sweden through what is referred to as a ‘singlemother perspective’. This is an approach where welfare policy and politicalinstitutional arrangements are analysed through the lens of everyday experiences and struggles conveyed by marginalized single mothers. By placing the ideas and experiences of single mothers at the centre of the analysis, the intention is to invoke a different epistemology concerning what type of knowledge is represented and recognised in public. Drawing on insights from critical social theory and feminist ethnographic research, the study uses an approach to the development of new poverty knowledge, found at the junction between lived experience, activism, empirical research and social theory. The thesis departs from the experiences of homelessness and poverty as articulated by the research participants rather than from official definitions and categories. The findings suggest that unwarranted pain and suffering are caused by insufficient incomes, inadequate housing options, and a failure of public authorities to recognise the degree to which policies in the areas of housing, social security, employment, migration and child welfare intersect in complex ways in the lives of disadvantaged single mothers. The narratives shared by the informants further put into question the image of Sweden as an inclusive ‘women- and child-friendly’ welfare state that protects vulnerable citizens from destitution. Instead, the study concludes that the misrecognition and misrepresentation of the living conditions and hardships facing vulnerable mothers and children, combined with a maldistribution of resources, contribute to a vicious circle of silent exclusion. Finally, the study suggests that although it is the women and children who bear the brunt of this crisis and who feel it the most, its causes and consequences infest the whole fabric of society. It also warrants a return to fundamental ethical questions with regard to how people in poverty are viewed and treated and with regard to the role of solidarity within the welfare state. In particular, it argues that there is an urgent need to re-consider the role of social work practice within the receding welfare state and to scrutinize the impact of conditional welfare on vulnerable clients. The thesis ends by proposing a framework for a ‘politics of the heart’ that encompasses the pursuit of social justice and an ethics of care that recognises that the empowerment of mothering and motherhood needs to be at the centre of policy and practice that engage with single mothers suffering from poverty and homelessness, as this also tends to be ‘in the best interest of the child’.

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Through the lens of single parenthood: a comparative snapshot of the impact of neoliberal welfare, housing and employment policies on single mothers in the UK and Sweden

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Kontext och deltagande kunskapsprojekt

Kontext och deltagande kunskapsprojekt

Budgeting poverty alleviation: justifying in-kind conditionality in Israeli municipal authorities

A vicious circle of silent exclusion: Family homelessness and poverty in Sweden from a single mother perspective

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