International journal of environmental research and public health, Apr 17, 2018
Persons with chronic diseases (PwCDs) often experience work-related problems, and innovative acti... more Persons with chronic diseases (PwCDs) often experience work-related problems, and innovative actions to improve their participation in the labor market are needed. In the frame of the European (EU) Pathways Project, the aim of the study is to compare existing strategies (policies, systems, and services) for professional (re-)integration of PwCDs and mental health conditions available at both European and national level between different European welfare models: Scandinavian, Continental, Anglo-Saxon, Mediterranean, and “Post-Communist”. : The European strategies were identified by an overview of relevant academic and grey literature searched through Medline and internet searches, while national strategies were explored through questionnaires and in-depth interviews with national relevant stakeholders. : The mapping of existing strategies revealed that, both at European and national level, PwCDs are often considered as part of the group of “persons with disabilities...
The article argues that the Capability Approach can enrich sociology’s capacity to link human age... more The article argues that the Capability Approach can enrich sociology’s capacity to link human agency and structure in dynamic analyses of social inequality and marginality. While many read the Capability Approach as excessively individualistic, the validity of this view is less obvious if we take into account the key role of conversion processes in this approach. People’s possibilities to convert given resources into valued functionings do not only depend on individual characteristics (e.g. having a physical or mental impairment) but also on the multi-layered structures (e.g. of a physical, attitudinal, social, economic or political nature) they face. Conversion processes can help us to capture the factors hampering or enabling human agency (individual and collective) – and of the transformation of such factors. As an empirical case, the article discusses the efforts of persons with disabilities to combat exclusion and achieve full and effective participation in society on an equal ...
For much of the 20th century, the Norwegian authorities pursued a strict assimilation policy towa... more For much of the 20th century, the Norwegian authorities pursued a strict assimilation policy towards Travellers (tatere/ romanifolket) and their culture. As was the case in many other countries, Travellers were constructed as "the other" (Riggins 1997, MacLaughlin 1999). When compared to other Western European countries, it is, however, surprising that Norwegian Travellers were seen as such a serious problem and threat during the 20th century. The 1845 census counted 1145 Travellers out of a total population of 1.3 million in Norway (Sundt 1852, SSB 1968: Table 13). A private charity organisation acting on behalf of the state registered 5129 "itinerants" in their archives from 1900 to 1959 (Haave 2000). These were the figures that worried the elites. This paper examines the modern assimilation policy and Travellers' reactions to this policy. In particular the paper analyses the internal relation between the modern assimilation policy and the emergence of coll...
... En tant que conservateur je pense il est important de donner aux homosexuels la possibilité u... more ... En tant que conservateur je pense il est important de donner aux homosexuels la possibilité une vie en couple avec une stabilité et des obligations mutuelles Et encore plus pendant ce temps de sida il me semble que cela est une conclusion natu relle tirer egh députée de la ...
The Nordic countries are admired for high employment, low levels of poverty and inequality, encom... more The Nordic countries are admired for high employment, low levels of poverty and inequality, encompassing welfare states, and peaceful industrial relations. Yet the model is criticised for hampering the employment opportunities of vulnerable groups. The literature identifies several potential mechanisms of exclusion. Compressed wage structures may make employers reluctant to hire certain workers for fear that their productivity is too low to justify the cost. Second, generous benefits lower individuals’ incentive to work. Third, businesses increasingly specialise in high-skill activities. We explore these arguments comparatively by considering the employment chances of two vulnerable groups: disabled persons and migrants. The Nordic countries are compared with other rich democracies that take different approaches to social protection and wage dispersion. The Nordic countries do not perform systematically worse than other ‘varieties of capitalism’. In line with recent research, we als...
Including youth in the labour market is a major challenge facing many European countries, includi... more Including youth in the labour market is a major challenge facing many European countries, including the Nordic countries. Since 2007 many European countries have witnessed an increase in the rate of young adults neither in education, training nor employment (NEET) and an increase in the number of young adults registered as ‘unemployed’. Despite efforts at adopting counter-offensives to change the negative economic conjuncture through new measures to promote education, training and inclusion in the labour market the rate of inactive young adults has increased the last decade in Europe. Possibly we also see the impact of more long-term trends and structural changes making transitions from school to employment more difficult or variable. This paper discusses how the Nordic governments have responded to diversity in the youth population and whether country differences in policy measures may account for the differences in unemployment and NEET rates in the Nordic countries. The paper dem...
This paper argues that social policy scholars have good reasons to engage with the literature on ... more This paper argues that social policy scholars have good reasons to engage with the literature on sustainable development when analysing the challenges of how to make polices and welfare states sustainable. While many analysts have discussed the need to ensure the sustainability of welfare states and concerns for future generations, they rarely spell out the conditions for achieving welfare sustainability or provide an adequate theory of what such sustainability involves. Attempting to address these shortcomings, the paper asks what the scholarship on social policy can learn from perspectives on sustainable development. In a European context, current debates on the need to create sustainable welfare states and how to promote sustainable development both raise difficult issues of intergenerational fairness and governance problems including tensions between policymaking and democratic legitimacy. The mantra is: ‘for a better future, citizens must make sacrifices today!’ Thus, the propo...
International journal of environmental research and public health, Apr 17, 2018
Persons with chronic diseases (PwCDs) often experience work-related problems, and innovative acti... more Persons with chronic diseases (PwCDs) often experience work-related problems, and innovative actions to improve their participation in the labor market are needed. In the frame of the European (EU) Pathways Project, the aim of the study is to compare existing strategies (policies, systems, and services) for professional (re-)integration of PwCDs and mental health conditions available at both European and national level between different European welfare models: Scandinavian, Continental, Anglo-Saxon, Mediterranean, and “Post-Communist”. : The European strategies were identified by an overview of relevant academic and grey literature searched through Medline and internet searches, while national strategies were explored through questionnaires and in-depth interviews with national relevant stakeholders. : The mapping of existing strategies revealed that, both at European and national level, PwCDs are often considered as part of the group of “persons with disabilities...
The article argues that the Capability Approach can enrich sociology’s capacity to link human age... more The article argues that the Capability Approach can enrich sociology’s capacity to link human agency and structure in dynamic analyses of social inequality and marginality. While many read the Capability Approach as excessively individualistic, the validity of this view is less obvious if we take into account the key role of conversion processes in this approach. People’s possibilities to convert given resources into valued functionings do not only depend on individual characteristics (e.g. having a physical or mental impairment) but also on the multi-layered structures (e.g. of a physical, attitudinal, social, economic or political nature) they face. Conversion processes can help us to capture the factors hampering or enabling human agency (individual and collective) – and of the transformation of such factors. As an empirical case, the article discusses the efforts of persons with disabilities to combat exclusion and achieve full and effective participation in society on an equal ...
For much of the 20th century, the Norwegian authorities pursued a strict assimilation policy towa... more For much of the 20th century, the Norwegian authorities pursued a strict assimilation policy towards Travellers (tatere/ romanifolket) and their culture. As was the case in many other countries, Travellers were constructed as "the other" (Riggins 1997, MacLaughlin 1999). When compared to other Western European countries, it is, however, surprising that Norwegian Travellers were seen as such a serious problem and threat during the 20th century. The 1845 census counted 1145 Travellers out of a total population of 1.3 million in Norway (Sundt 1852, SSB 1968: Table 13). A private charity organisation acting on behalf of the state registered 5129 "itinerants" in their archives from 1900 to 1959 (Haave 2000). These were the figures that worried the elites. This paper examines the modern assimilation policy and Travellers' reactions to this policy. In particular the paper analyses the internal relation between the modern assimilation policy and the emergence of coll...
... En tant que conservateur je pense il est important de donner aux homosexuels la possibilité u... more ... En tant que conservateur je pense il est important de donner aux homosexuels la possibilité une vie en couple avec une stabilité et des obligations mutuelles Et encore plus pendant ce temps de sida il me semble que cela est une conclusion natu relle tirer egh députée de la ...
The Nordic countries are admired for high employment, low levels of poverty and inequality, encom... more The Nordic countries are admired for high employment, low levels of poverty and inequality, encompassing welfare states, and peaceful industrial relations. Yet the model is criticised for hampering the employment opportunities of vulnerable groups. The literature identifies several potential mechanisms of exclusion. Compressed wage structures may make employers reluctant to hire certain workers for fear that their productivity is too low to justify the cost. Second, generous benefits lower individuals’ incentive to work. Third, businesses increasingly specialise in high-skill activities. We explore these arguments comparatively by considering the employment chances of two vulnerable groups: disabled persons and migrants. The Nordic countries are compared with other rich democracies that take different approaches to social protection and wage dispersion. The Nordic countries do not perform systematically worse than other ‘varieties of capitalism’. In line with recent research, we als...
Including youth in the labour market is a major challenge facing many European countries, includi... more Including youth in the labour market is a major challenge facing many European countries, including the Nordic countries. Since 2007 many European countries have witnessed an increase in the rate of young adults neither in education, training nor employment (NEET) and an increase in the number of young adults registered as ‘unemployed’. Despite efforts at adopting counter-offensives to change the negative economic conjuncture through new measures to promote education, training and inclusion in the labour market the rate of inactive young adults has increased the last decade in Europe. Possibly we also see the impact of more long-term trends and structural changes making transitions from school to employment more difficult or variable. This paper discusses how the Nordic governments have responded to diversity in the youth population and whether country differences in policy measures may account for the differences in unemployment and NEET rates in the Nordic countries. The paper dem...
This paper argues that social policy scholars have good reasons to engage with the literature on ... more This paper argues that social policy scholars have good reasons to engage with the literature on sustainable development when analysing the challenges of how to make polices and welfare states sustainable. While many analysts have discussed the need to ensure the sustainability of welfare states and concerns for future generations, they rarely spell out the conditions for achieving welfare sustainability or provide an adequate theory of what such sustainability involves. Attempting to address these shortcomings, the paper asks what the scholarship on social policy can learn from perspectives on sustainable development. In a European context, current debates on the need to create sustainable welfare states and how to promote sustainable development both raise difficult issues of intergenerational fairness and governance problems including tensions between policymaking and democratic legitimacy. The mantra is: ‘for a better future, citizens must make sacrifices today!’ Thus, the propo...
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Papers by Rune Halvorsen