Studying the Ethnocentric Bias in the Comparative Studies of Social Welfare

This paper has two objectives. The first is to discuss three related views on the ethnocentric bias in the comparative studies of social welfare. The second objective is to demonstrate how these views can increase our understanding of the pluralistic ways in which non-western societies organise social welfare. Two analytical tasks are carried out. The first is to discuss the studies focusing on welfare regimes, cultural sensitivity of social welfare and the double attachment strategy used by governments to organise social welfare. These studies provide theoretical foundations of the three views on the ethnocentric bias. The second analytical task is to discuss the pro-market welfare reforms in Hong Kong. These reforms provide a concrete case of showing how non-western societies organise social welfare in a pluralistic way and how this pluralistic way is related to the three views on the ethnocentric bias in the comparative studies of social welfare

Developing a ‘defamilisation framework’ to examine the strategies for promoting the adult worker model and women’s welfare in eight European countries

This article is intended to explore the link between the study of defamilisation and that of the adult worker model. To meet this purpose, a defamilisation framework for studying issues concerning the adult worker model and defamilisation is developed. To show the empirical significance of these issues, evidence is drawn from a childcare gap typology covering eight European countries. Conducting these analytical tasks provides insights into the development of social work practices for enhancing women’s welfare

Government strategies for supporting the adult worker model in European countries: mixed implications for defamilisation

Purpose – This article explores the link between defamilisation studies and studies of the adult worker model and discusses the mixed implications that government strategies for supporting the adult worker model have for defamilisation. The adult worker model emphasizes that all adult men and women ought to engage in formal employment; defamilisation studies stress the importance of enhancing women’s chances of choosing (not) to perform important family roles such as the receiver of financial support and the care provider. Design/methodology/approach – Two new strategies (‘condition building’ and ‘rewarding/penalizing’) for promoting the adult worker model are identified based on literature review; their empirical significance is explored through an examination of comparative data concerning early childhood education and care policies (ECEC) and reforms in pension age in fourteen countries. Findings – The evidence shows that promoting the adult worker model does not necessarily benefit all women. While the fourteen countries provide ECEC to varying extents, the increase in pension age in most countries shows that governments adopt a ‘rewarding/penalizing’ strategy for promoting the adult worker model by allocating major welfare based on people’s labour force participation. These pension reforms may generate a negative impact on women’s chances of attaining financial autonomy. Originality/value – This study presents two new strategies for promoting the adult worker model and shows the empirical significance of these strategies based on comparative data. It also highlights the importance of searching for alternative concepts, namely economic defamilisation, for guiding pension reforms

The government’s responses to incompatibility challenges to women: the case studies of Hong Kong and Taiwan

International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank raise concerns about the financial sustainability issues of pension systems. These issues have attracted increasing attention because of the challenges presented by lower growth and financial market volatility, making it harder for governments to fulfil their promises on pension policies (Ebbinghaus, 2011). In order to tackle these challenges, it is not uncommon that governments reform pension schemes with an emphasis on individual responsibility (Yeh et al., 2018). They particularly stress the earnings-related pension measures as an important means to assist people to accumulate pension income (Foster, 2014). Employees are the target group for measures relating to earnings-related pension measures. The amount of pension income accumulated through these measures is highly related to employees’ earnings

Local deprivation and the labour market integration of new migrants to England

Using data on new migrants to England from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, we show how a key component of migrant integration - labour market progress in terms of wages and unemployment rates - is broadly positive in the early years after arrival across a range of migrant groups and across gender. However the precise level of labour market success achieved varies considerably across groups reflecting both the initial entry level and labour market trajectories after migration. Migrants from Western Europe and the Old Commonwealth countries have unemployment rates (wages) which are generally lower (higher) than other groups, particularly non-white groups, while migrants from the Accession countries experience relatively low unemployment but also low wages. Groups which have better outcomes on entry also tend to experience higher rates of progress over time in England. However, the extent of multiple deprivation in the local authority where migrants reside interacts with years since migration to dampen wage trajectories for some groups and accounting for deprivation highlights the importance of internal migration for access to employment. The results emphasise structural explanations for patterns of labour market integration of new migrants to England

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

The sexual division of care in mainland China and Hong Kong

The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which the sexual division of domestic labour in Hong Kong and mainland China is influenced by traditional Chinese values and contemporary political and economic factors. It discovers that women in these two societies assume far more caring responsibilities than men. This is similar to women in traditional Chinese society. An important reason is that the political and economic conditions in Hong Kong and mainland China favour the reproduction of traditional Chinese values. Hence it can be argued that the unequal division of domestic labour between men and women will continue as long as the political and economic conditions are unfavourable to women. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.

The Hong Kong Government's Strategy for Promoting Home Ownership - An Approach to Reducing the Decommodifying Effects of Public Housing Services

The Hong Kong Government is a well-known believer in laissez faire values and capitalism. However, it provides massive public housing programmes. In order to reduce the adverse effects of the public housing programmes on capitalism, it has tried to promote the recommodification of public housing by encouraging and assisting public housing tenants to become home owners. The aim of this paper is to study the Hong Kong Government's measures for promoting home ownership. It is argued that these measures are not very effective in reducing the decommodifying effects of the public housing services. Despite the fact that these measures aim to reduce people's dependence on the government and to help them to re-establish their relation with the private market, they are paradoxically also a kind of decommodification - people can enjoy some benefits independently of how they perform in the private market. Hence, it can be said that the government's measures for promoting home ownership serve more to change the form than to reduce the degree of the decommodification of the public housing services. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.

Defamilisation and familisation risks, adult worker models, and pro-employment/decommodification measures for women: the case of Hong Kong

This paper is concerned with the research areas of defamilisation/familisation and adult worker models. It particularly focuses on demonstrating how the study of government pro-employment and decommodification measures for reducing defamilisation and familisation risks faced by women contributes to the examination of the adult worker models. It presents three analytical tasks. The first is to categorise the adult worker models into four types (market-focused, supported, choice-focused and collective consumption) based on different combinations of the pro-employment and decommodification measures. The second is to explore the relative desirability of these four types in enhancing women’s well-being. Based on the case example of Hong Kong, the third is to examine issues concerning the application of the adult worker models in the analysis of how the government responds to defamilisation and familisation risks

Adult Worker Model Typologies: Examining Work–Family Policies in Fifteen European Countries

This article aims to advance the discussion of government policies for improving women’s work and family life. It focuses on exploring whether it is reasonable to expect that the supported adult worker model will play an important role in guiding governments to reduce the gender employment gap and, at the same time, increase women’s resources for strengthening their control over family and work life. This model posits that governments should take a proactive approach to encouraging women to take part in formal employment, such as providing care support measures. To examine the impact of the model, this article develops an ‘input adult worker model typology’ and an ‘output adult worker model typology’ using cluster analysis of comparative data covering 15 countries. The findings show that it is important not to overestimate the impact of the supported adult worker model on reducing the gender employment gap or increasing women’s control over their lives in most of the 15 countries. The evidence generated from these typologies highlights the difficulties involved in promoting women’s welfare despite the use of the adult worker model as a substitute for the male-breadwinner model