The gender dimension of outsiderness in Western Europe: a comparative cross-model analysis

Purpose – The article investigates whether and to what extent outsiderness is gendered in Western Europe, both in terms of its spread and degree. It thus explores which male and female post-Fordist social classes are more exposed to the risk of this phenomenon. It also scrutinizes whether such a gendered characterization has varied over time and across clusters of Western European countries. Design/methodology/approach – Relying on a comparative analysis of the data provided by the European Social Survey (ESS) dataset and comparing two points in time – the early/mid-2000s and the late 2010s – the work provides both a dichotomous and continuous variable of outsiderness, which measure its spread and degree in the female and male workforces of a pooled set of growth models. Findings – The empirical analysis shows that outsiderness is profoundly gendered in Western Europe and thus a feminized social phenomenon. However, the comparative investigation highlights that outsiderness has been genderized in diverse ways across the four growth models. Different patterns of gendered outsiderness can be identified. Originality/value – The article provides a comparative and diachronic analysis of outsiderness from a gender lens, putting into a mutual dialogue different literature on labour market, and shows that outsiderness represents a key analytical dimension for assessing gender inequalities

Italy and Spain at a crossroads: the politics of active social policies in southern Europe under a gender perspective

Purpose – The article explores to what extent party politics has influenced the different trajectories in Spain and Italy in terms of gendered active social policies (ASPs) (i.e. ALMPs and WLBPs). Second, it investigates how social and political modernization in the two countries has facilitated or hindered party competition on gendered ASPs. Design/methodology/approach – To investigate to what extent parties support gendered ASPs, the article relies on an original content analysis of party manifestos issued during the 2010s national elections. A total of 1387 quasi-sentences have been coded. The results were then quantified to graphically show how positions differentiate across parties and countries. Findings – The content analysis of party manifestos displays that party politics matters: gendered ASPs are backed in a very different way by the Spanish and Italian parties. While in Spain all political parties have strongly championed ALMPs and WLBPs, this is not the case for the Italian parties. The research has also stressed that the specific path of social and political modernization is an important intervening variable that alters positively or negatively parties’ support for gendered ASPs. Originality/value – The article contributes to widen theoretically and empirically the literature on ASPs in the Southern European countries. Theoretically, it questions the supposed homogeneity of the Southern social model and investigated the alleged bifurcation between Italy and Spain, focusing on those policies – ASPs – that constitute the foundations of the Southern model: familialism and dualization. Furthermore, this bifurcation was analyzed adopting a gender perspective, and exploring adherence to or departure from the Southern model. Third, the article focuses on the politics of ASPs demonstrating that inspecting the political arena can contribute to explain policy change

The makers get it all? The coalitional welfare politics of Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. The case studies of Austria and Italy

The article investigates whether and to what extent the welfare policies of Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRPs) vary in diverse government coalitions. Relying on a multidimensional framework differentiating coalitional politics along the welfare size and deservingness dimension, we conduct a comparative case study analysing welfare reforms of the ‘standard’ centre-right/PRRP government coalition ÖVP-FPÖ in Austria and the ‘new’ populist government coalition M5S-Lega in Italy. We find that both PRRPs do not promote pro-welfare policies in general, but rather opt for selective expansion of benefits for ‘mak- ers’, while aiming at retrenching benefits for ‘takers’. This welfare strategy includes pensioners and male breadwinner families but excludes migrants or long-term unemployed. The analysis furthermore shows that the central line of conflict with the centre-right ÖVP is mostly about the size of welfare policies, espe- cially for ‘deserving’ citizens, while with the socially more left-leaning M5S it is rather centred around the deservingness dimension, e.g., benefits for takers. These results offer a more fine-grained understanding of the PRRPs’ welfare agenda and their coalitional welfare politics in office

Lavoro povero e politiche per le famiglie in Italia: riforme, criticità e prospettive future

L’ articolo fornisce un’analisi del fenomeno del lavoro povero in Italia – in-work poverty (IWP) – attraverso la lente delle politiche familiari. Adottando una prospettiva evolutiva, il lavoro si sofferma sullo studio analitico di tre specifici programmi: a) i trasferimenti mone- tari, con particolare attenzione agli assegni familiari e al recente Assegno Unico Universale (AUU); 2) il sistema dei congedi; e 3) il sistema integrato dei servizi per l’infanzia. A livel- lo teorico, la ricerca mostra che le politiche per le famiglie possono essere strumenti utili per contrastare il lavoro povero, sia direttamente che indirettamente. Da un lato forniscono un sostegno diretto al reddito delle famiglie più svantaggiate, dall’altro promuovono l’occupazione femminile, incentivando così il passaggio ad un modello di famiglia dual- earner. L’analisi del caso italiano evidenza, tuttavia, che gli effetti positivi nel contrastare la IWP sono potenziali, e non automatici. L’efficacia delle politiche della famiglia dipende dal design della policy e da quanto tale design sia coerente con l’obiettivo di diminuire le diseguaglianze.The article provides an analysis of in-work poverty (IWP) in Italy through the lens of family policies. Adopting an evolutionary perspective, the work focuses on the analytical study of three specific programs: a) cash transfers, with particular attention to family allowances and the recent “Assegno Unico Universale” (AUU); 2) leaves; and 3) the early childhood education and care system (ECEC). From a theoretical perspective, the paper shows that family policies can be a useful tool to tackle in-work poverty, both directly and indirectly. On the one hand, they provide direct income support for the most disadvantaged families, on the other they increase the female employment rate, thus encouraging the transition to a dual-earner family model. However, the analysis of the Italian case showcases that the positive effects in countering IWP are only potential, and not automatic. The effectiveness of family policies depends on the design of the policy and on the extent to which this design is consistent with the goal of decreasing inequalities

Anxiety and depression in keratotic oral lichen planus: a multicentric study from the SIPMO

Objectives: Oral lichen planus with exclusive keratotic reticular, papular, and/or plaque-like lesions (K-OLP) is a clinical pattern of OLP that may be associated with a complex symptomatology and psychological alteration. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety (A) and depression (D) in patients with K-OLP, analyzing the potential predictors which can affect mental health status. Methods: Three hundred K-OLP patients versus 300 healthy controls (HC) were recruited in 15 Italian universities. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Total Pain Rating Index (T-PRI), and Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression and for Anxiety (HAM-D and HAM-A) were administered. Results: The K-OLP patients showed statistically higher scores in the NRS, T-PRI, HAM-D, and HAM-A compared with the HC (p-value < 0.001**). A and D were found in 158 (52.7%) and 148 (49.3%) K-OLP patients. Strong linear correlations were identified between HAM-A, HAM-D, NRS, T-PRI, and employment status and between HAM-D, HAM-A, NRS, T-PRI, employment status, and female gender. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that HAM-D and HAM-A showed the greatest increase in the R2 value for A and D in the K-OLP patients, respectively (DR2 = 55.5% p-value < 0.001**; DR2 = 56.5% p-value < 0.001**). Conclusions: The prevalence of A and D is higher in the K-OLP patients compared with the HC, also found in K-OLP subjects without pain, suggesting that the processing of pain may be in a certain way independent of the processing of mood. Clinical relevance: Mood disorders and pain assessment should be carefully performed in relation to K-OLP to obtain a complete analysis of the patients

Investigating the radical right's family policy agenda: evidence from six European countries

The positions of the radical right parties (RRPs) concerning the family have generally been examined through a socio-cultural lens, but very little is known about their distributive preferences. Based on the theoretical insights from the literature on varieties of familialism and social investment, the article investigates the RRPs' family policy agenda in terms of preference and support for familialism and de-familialism. Furthermore, cross-country similarities and differences will be investigated through an explanatory framework that combines the literature on partisan politics with that on historical institutionalism. A content analysis of party manifestos has shown that the RRPs adopt a male-breadwinner policy agenda, mostly intended to please their authoritarian electorate. However, comparative empirical research has highlighted some cross-country differences. These are explained by considering the counter-feedback mechanism triggered by the policy legacies, which provides RRPs with divergent electoral incentives and disincentives to promote their family policy agenda

When opposites attract? : the relationship between foreign policy and the migration-terrorism nexus in the French radical right and radical left discourse

Forms of political violence such as terrorism, as well as, migration flows have traditionally been interpreted and discussed in very different ways by the right wing and left wing parties. Yet, during the 2017 presidential campaign, Marine le Pen, leader for the National Front (FN) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed (FI), despite obvious differences in terms of conceptualisation of justice and legitimation of violence, presented an agenda on the two phenomena revealing some critical overlapping points. The literature, however, does not yet provide a clear framework to understand party competition in relation to the terrorism-migration nexus here understood and analysed in relation to EU integration and national foreign policy. Hence, by building on studies on the cultural dimension of political competition, this paper analyses the positioning of the two parties over the four key issues, namely EU integration, foreign policy, migration and terrorism. Our study reveals and discusses what kind of nexus these two parties recognise and elaborate and how the party competition dynamics has been altered accordingly. In particular, we show that an ‘U-Curve’ is visible also in relation of an alleged migrationterrorism nexus revealing an increased convergence of opposing radical parties

Stratificazione sociale, offerta politica e declino dei partiti di sinistra

During the last thirty years, the Left’s electoral strength has constantly decreased in most of the advanced democracies. At the same time, the social composition of its electorate has changed considerably, with a substantial loss of votes among the less privileged social groups – first of all, the blue collars. This article focuses on the relationship between these two phenomena and investigates whether the main left-wing parties’ reduced representation of the more disadvantaged groups may have influenced their electoral decline. Our starting point is the change in social stratification that has affected the Western democracies since the 1980s. Then we tried to highlight the relationship between the old and new occupational classes and their vote for the left-wing parties through a longitudinal analysis that covers the last two decades. Although the new profile of social stratification has created many problems for the Left’s electoral support, it seems also necessary to consider the influence of political strategies and political supply. In all advanced democracies the main left-wing parties tried to compensate the decline of the old working class, and to bypass the serious difficulties in attracting the new low- skilled service workers, by redirecting their political supply toward the new middle classes. However, the electoral results were not satisfactory. The ability to attract the vote of the less privileged groups decreased and many workers were attracted by the new radical right. At the same time – contrary to what is often thought – the middle classes’ support did not grow significantly. Only the Nordic parties have been able to reduce the electoral decline by building a coalition based both on the less privileged groups and on those employed in the socio-cultural sector

Assessment of sleep disturbance in oral lichen planus and validation of PSQI: A case-control multicenter study from the SIPMO (Italian Society of Oral Pathology and Medicine)

Background The wellbeing of oral lichen planus patients (OLPs) may be strongly influenced by a poor quality of sleep (QoS) and psychological impairment. The aims were to analyze the prevalence of sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression in OLPs and to validate the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in OLPs. Methods Three hundred keratotic OLPs (K-OLPs), 300 with predominant non-keratotic OLP (nK-OLPs), and 300 controls were recruited in 15 Italian universities. The PSQI, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression and Anxiety (HAM-D and HAM-A), Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), and Total Pain Rating Index (T-PRI) were administered. Results Oral lichen planus patients had statistically higher scores than the controls in the majority of the PSQI sub-items (p-values &lt; 0.001**). Moreover, OLPs had higher scores in the HAM-D, HAM-A, NRS, and T-PRI (p-values &lt; 0.001**). No differences in the PSQI sub-items' scores were found between the K-OLPs and nK-OLPs, although nK-OLPs suffered from higher levels of anxiety, depression, and pain (p-values: HAM-A, 0.007**, HAM-D, 0.009**, NRS, &lt;0.001**, T-PRI, &lt;0.001**). The female gender, anxiety, depression (p-value: 0.007**, 0.001**, 0.020*) and the intensity of pain, anxiety, and depression (p-value: 0.006**, &lt;0.001**, 0.014*) were independent predictors of poor sleep (PSQI &gt; 5) in K-OLPs and nK-OLPs, respectively. The PSQI's validation demonstrated good internal consistency and reliability of both the total and subscale of the PSQI. Conclusions The OLPs reported an overall impaired QoS, which seemed to be an independent parameter according to the regression analysis. Hence, clinicians should assess QoS in OLPs and treat sleep disturbances in order to improve OLPs management

Where do you live? North versus Central-South differences in relation to Italian patients with oral lichen planus: a cross-sectional study from the SIPMO (Italian Society of Oral Pathology and Medicine)

Background Oral lichen planus (OLP) is an immune-mediated inflammatory chronic disease of the oral mucosa, with different patterns of clinical manifestations which range from keratotic manifestations (K-OLP) to predominantly non-keratotic lesions (nK-OLP). The aim of the study was to analyze the differences in the clinical, psychological profile and symptoms between Italian patients of the North and Central-South with K-OLP and nK-OLP. Methods 270 K-OLP and 270 nK-OLP patients were recruited in 15 Italian universities. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Total Pain Rating Index (T-PRI), Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression and for Anxiety (HAM-D and HAM-A), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were administered. Results The Central-South K-OLP (CS-K-OLP) patients reported a higher frequency of pain/burning compared with the K-OLP patients of the North (N-K-OLP) with higher scores in the NRS and T-PRI (p value &lt; 0.001**). The CS-K-OLP and the CS-nK-OLP patients showed higher scores in the HAM-D, HAM-A, PSQI and ESS compared with the Northern patients (p value &lt; 0.001**). Multivariate logistic regression revealed that the NRS and T-PRI showed the greatest increase in the R2 value for the CS-K-OLP (DR2 = 9.6%; p value &lt; 0.001**; DR2 = 9.7% p value &lt; 0.001**; respectively) and that the oral symptoms (globus, itching and intraoral foreign body sensation) and PSQI showed the greatest increase in the R2 value for the CS-nK-OLP (DR2 = 5.6%; p value &lt; 0.001**; DR2 = 4.5% p value &lt; 0.001** respectively). Conclusions Pain and mood disorders are predominant in patients with OLP in the Central-South of Italy. Clinicians should consider that the geographical living area may explain the differences in oral symptoms and psychological profile in OLP