Knygos „A European Health Union“ (Europos sveikatos sąjunga) recenzija

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Social investment in the Baltic states: Benefits against poverty and distribution of social risks over the life course

Prevention against social risks through investment in human capital serves as the main focus of social investment. The social investment perspective suggests that social protection benefits should ensure adequate income maintenance over the life course. The goal of the current study is twofold: to analyze the role of social benefits that protect against poverty and to examine the distribution of social risks over the life course with a focus on social investment in the Baltic States, drawing on microdata from EU-SILC 2015. In addition, the study uses Eurostat data to explore spending on social protection and investment in human capital, classified as “Old” and “New” risks, during 2005-2014. The findings of the study suggest that low spending on social welfare in the Baltic States cannot adequately guarantee income for the population at risk, or reduce dependency on welfare state benefits

Redistribution of income through social benefits over the life course in the Baltic States

Vertical redistribution refers to the transfer of income from those who have more than they need to those who are in need and is related to the levelling of income inequality and poverty. Vertical redistribution over the life course is indicative of the capacity of the welfare state to protect against social risks over the life course. Studies that explore such redistribution often rely on the life-course perspective and use secondary cross-sectional rather than primary data.The goal of the current study is to analyse the impact of social benefits on income inequality and poverty over the life course in the Baltic States. The paper focuses on the three Baltic countries commonly characterised by successful economic performance, low income redistribution and high income inequality. With this aim, analyses of micro-level data of EU-SILC of 2015 was conducted. To evaluate inequality changes across the life course, the study used a decomposition of the Gini index. Evaluation of poverty of different cohorts rested on the gap of the poverty rate between different groups and the average poverty rate in the country. The findings of our study suggest that the impact of social benefits on the reduction of income inequality is modest. Highest poverty rates are linked with the periods of childhood, working age when unemployed and old age. Overall, the context laden with high inequality and poverty cannot ensure adequate protection against social risks over the life course and create a "buffer" for the development of human capital

Socialinio darbo studijos Vilniaus universitete: penkiolikos metų patirties refleksija

The goal of the paper is to present the development of social work studies in Vilnius University. According to authors, there are nine groups of variables for study program. There has to be a theoretical basis for a certain study program. There is no unified theoretical framework in social work and that is a problem for social work. The second condition is an existence of study program. The peculiarities of labour market for social workers imposed two different ways to organise social work study. The first one was a study program for the re-skilling workers of social care institutions. The other, was an ordinary study program. There cannot be a study program without academic stuff. The members of social work department were academics from related disciplines (psychology, education, economics and so on) in the beginning. Latter the grown ups academics joined the department. Other agencies organise social work study programs, also. In some cases, it is competition in other – cooperation. The social work study program is organised in different ways and there is a discussion about which way has to choose Lithuania. The sixth dimension is the demand for the study program. The demand is reflected by the employment of graduates. The study process primary depends on academic staff, but physical and technological conditions are also important. The university is connected with other agents in the field – social work schools, public sector organisations, civil society and research agencies. If the goal of organisation is to remain in the field, it has to react to feedback from students, employees and social partners.Straipsnyje kalbama apie socialinio darbo studijas ir jų raidą Vilniaus universitete. Autoriai išskiria devynis studijų raidą apibūdinančius kintamųjų grupes, kurias ir analizuoja. Pirmiausia steigiant socialinio darbo studijas buvo susidurta su teorinio pagrindo busimai studijų programai pasirinkimo problema. Antra, dėl specifinės padėties darbo rinkoje socialinio darbo studijos įgijo perkvalifikavimo ir įprastų studijų programų formas. Trečias studijų bruožas yra katedros personalas, kuris buvo pirmiausia formuojamas iš gretutinių sričių specialistų, o vėliau į katedrą įsiliejo ir katedroje "užaugę" dėstytojai. Ketvirta, socialinio darbo studijos yra vykdomos ir kituose universitetuose, todėl yra aptariami ir santykiai su kitomis socialinio darbo katedromis. Penkta, pasaulyje egzistuoja socialinio darbo studijų organizavimo įvairovė ir tada kyla klausimas, o kur link turėtų eiti Lietuvos socialinis darbas. Šešta, studijų programos visuomeninis poreikis, kurį geriausiai atspindi absolventų įsidarbinimas. Septinta, fizinės ir technologinės galimybės, kurios apsprendžia studijų procesą. Aštunta, santykiai su universiteto aplinka - su kitų šalių socialinio darbo mokyklomis, viešojo sektoriaus ir nevyriausybinėmis organizacijomis, moksliniais institutais. Devinta, grįžtamasis ryšys yra būtinas tobulinant studijų programą ir todėl stengiamasi įtraukti pačius studentus, darbdavių atstovus, socialinius partnerius

Socialinis teisingumas ir socialinių-ekonominių grupių reprezentavimas skirtingo prestižo studijų programose Lietuvoje

In this article, access to higher education is presented from several perspectives of social justice. It is shown that the Lithuanian higher education policy is based on the utilitarian and meritocratic principles noted in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.As higher education becomes universal, the researchers should differentiate between research of social justice at different prestige universities and study programs. The results of a survey in which students of two Lithuanian universities were questioned show that young people from the lower economic and educational layers are less represented in the most prestigious study programs in Lithuania and more often study in low-prestige study programs.The state provides financial support to students (in the form of study vouchers and scholarships) depending on their academic achievements. That is why children from wealthier families more often receive this support. The survey has also revealed that the well-being of students who are studying in the most popular and prestigious study programs is much higher than of their colleagues who are less successful in the academic aspect. The living conditions, income and the need to work during their studies are very different between those two groups of students.It may seem paradoxical that the students’ division by the prestigious and low-prestige study programs on the socio-economic background and the state-provided financial assistance which depends on the academic achievements of students themselves are not considered negative. A large number of students face the problem of evaluating the higher education system in terms of social justice, while the devotion criteria of study vouchers and scholarships are considered to be fair.Profesorius socialinių mokslųdaktaras (ekonomika)Vilniaus universitetoSocialinio darbo katedraUniversiteto g. 9/1, LT-01513 VilniusEl. paštas: [email protected]. 8 614 53248Socialinio darbo magistrėVilniaus universitetoSocialinio darbo katedraUniversiteto g. 9/1, LT-01513 VilniusEl. paštas: dovilė[email protected]. 268 7191Straipsnyje parodoma socialinio teisingumo sampratos svarba tiriant studijų prieinamumą. Jis straipsnio autorių tiriamas socialinių sluoksnių atstovavimo skirtingo prestižo studijų programose aspektu. Parodyta, kad Lietuvoje studijos pagal prestižines programas daug mažiau prieinamos ekonominiu ir išsilavinimo požiūriu silpnesnių šeimų vaikams. Jie dažniau studijuoja neprestižines programas ir rečiau gauna finansinę valstybės pagalbą. Tai rodo, kad studijų politika Lietuvoje labiau remiasi meritokratiniu socialinio teisingumo principu

Tarptautinės patirties taikymo sudarant Lietuvos skurdo žemėlapį galimybės

The possibilities to utilise the international experience of poverty mapping is discussed in the paper. The conceptualisation of poverty map is presented in the first part. The authors present the main groups of poverty indicators, the dimensions of the indicators, methods and factors, the indicators used by international organisations. The exploration of data sufficiency is analysed in the second part. The authors combine the data from household research and census. The results suggest the data sufficiency for the composition of poverty map in Lithuania.       Straipsnyje aptariamos tarptautinės patirties taikymo sudarant Lietuvos skurdo žemėlapį galimybės. Pirmoje straipsnio dalis yra skirta skurdo žemėlapių konceptualizavimui. Pristatomos pagrindinės skurdo rodiklių grupės, skurdo žemėlapio rodiklių lygmenys, sudarymo metodai ir veiksniai, tarptautinių organizacijų taikomi socialinę padėtį charakterizuojantys rodikliai. Antroje straipsnio dalyje siekiama išanalizuoti, ar Lietuvoje atliekamų tyrimų duomenų pakanka šalies skurdo žemėlapiui sudaryti. Naudojamas darbo metodas yra namų ūkių biudžetų tyrimo bei visuotinio gyventojų ir būstų surašymo duomenų derinimas. Atlikus skurdo žemėlapių galimybių analizę, teigiama, jog Lietuvoje visuotinio gyventojų ir būstų surašymo bei namų ūkių biudžetų tyrimo duomenų pakanka šalies skurdo žemėlapiui sudaryti

Jaunimo dalyvavimas politikoje: Lietuvos atvejis

The goal of this paper is to analyze the political participation of youth in Lithuania. Political participation can be analyzed in different ways; in this work, the institutional structure of participation is analyzed. We use the rational choice neoinstitutionalism as a tool for the conceptualization of youth political participation. According to Elinor Ostrom, one of the representatives of rational choice neoinstitutionalism, an act ofpolitical participation is conditioned by seven sets of institutions as rules: position rules, boundary rules, choice rules, aggregation rules, information rules, payoff rules and scope rules. These are the elements of institutional structure of youth political participation in Lithuania that were analyzed. The institutions are written in legislation. The selected legislation was qualitatively analyzed using the software MaxQda 12.The results were grouped according with the seven sets of institutions that determine the actions of actors in an action arena. It can be said that there are opportunities for youths to participate in politics and policy implementation process. However, the main function of the youth is to provide information for policy makers. There are direct ways to get the opinion of youth related to certain policies – surveys, legislative initiatives, and indirect ways through collective agents, such as JRT, SJOT and LiJOT. The political participation of youths requires a lot of expenses (especially in human resources, headquarters establishment and management as well as other material resources and access to mass media), but the benefits of political participation are weak.Straipsnyje analizuojama jaunimo dalyvavimą politikoje lemianti institucinė struktūra. Darbo tikslas – pateikti jaunimo dalyvavimą politikoje lemiančių institucijų aprašą. Institucijos yra suprantamos racionalaus pasirinkimo neoinstitucionalizmo teorijos perspektyvoje. Jaunimo dalyvavimą politikoje lemianti institucinė struktūra yra analizuojama remiantis Elinor Ostrom pasiūlyta institucijų analizės perspektyva. Institucijas išreiškiantys teisės aktai buvo analizuojami naudojant kokybinę turinio analizę. Rezultatai atskleidžia, kad Lietuvoje iš esmės jaunimas gali dalyvauti politikoje. Tačiau jaunimo dalyvavimas politikoje nėra pastiprinamas ir žvelgiant pro racionalaus pasirinkimo teorijos prizmę nelabai motyvuojamas – yra daug išlaidų, susijusių su dalyvavimu, o nauda ir pastiprinimas yra menki

II kasmetinė nacionalinė socialinės politikos konferencija „Gyvenimo kelias ir jo krizės: kaip (ar) veikia Lietuvos socialinė politika?“

2022 m. spalio 14 d. Vilniaus universitete vyko II kasmetinė nacionalinė socialinės politikos konferencija „Gyvenimo kelias ir jo krizės: kaip (ar) veikia Lietuvos socialinė politika?“Universiteto g. 3, Vilniushttps://youtu.be/oBGfbjJijPY2022 m. spalio 14 d. Vilniaus universitete vyko II kasmetinė nacionalinė socialinės politikos konferencija „Gyvenimo kelias ir jo krizės: kaip (ar) veikia Lietuvos socialinė politika?“Universiteto g. 3, Vilniushttps://youtu.be/oBGfbjJijP