Working Papers and Reports by İbrahim Öker
STYLE Working Papers CROME, 2016
Gender differences in youth labour markets and school to work transitions are frequently under es... more Gender differences in youth labour markets and school to work transitions are frequently under estimated and there is often an assumption that gender gaps only open up around parenthood so that younger generations are largely unaffected. However, the evidence presented here from this
comparative research suggests that gender differences open up early in the lifecourse and that the policy environment across European countries is not well adapted to these gender differences on the youth labour market.
In this report we focus on two specific elements: Firstly we map vulnerability by gender across ethnic and class differences and secondly we focus on the extent to which policies for young people recognise gender differences and adopt a gender mainstreaming approach. We use a sample of countries in order to represent four types of regimes for school-to-work transitions – universalistic (Denmark and the Netherlands), liberal (the United Kingdom), employment-centred (France and Belgium) and sub-protective countries (Spain, Greece and Turkey); where the data permits we also include an analysis of Slovakia as an example of a post-communist, but we are unable to provide a policy analysis for this country. Furthermore we benefit from specific, detailed inputs from national researchers in the case of five case study countries covering four of the regimes – Denmark, Spain, France, Greece and the UK.
Book Chapters by İbrahim Öker
Routledge , 2019
Youth and the Politics of the Present presents a range of topical sociological investigations int... more Youth and the Politics of the Present presents a range of topical sociological investigations into various aspects of the everyday practices of young adults in different European contexts. Indeed, this volume provides an original and provocative investigation of various current central issues surrounding the effects of globalization and the directions in which Western societies are steering their future. Containing a wide range of empirical and comparative examples from across Europe, this title highlights how young adults are trying to implement new forms of understanding, interpretation and action to cope with unprecedented situations; developing new forms of relationships, identifications and belonging while they experience new and unprecedented forms of inclusion and exclusion. Grounding this exploration is the suggestion that careful observations of the everyday practices of young adults can be an excellent vantage point to grasp how and in what direction the future of contemporary Western societies is heading. Offering an original and provocative investigation, Youth and the Politics of the Present will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as Youth Studies, Globalization Studies, Migration Studies, Gender Studies and Social Policy. Enzo Colombo is a Professor of Sociology and Culture at the
Crome Publishing , 2017
Gender differences in youth labour markets and school-to-work transitions are frequently underest... more Gender differences in youth labour markets and school-to-work transitions are frequently underestimated and there is often an assumption that gender gaps only emerge around parenthood, so that younger generations are largely unaffected (Plantenga et al. 2013). However, the evidence presented here from this comparative research suggests that gender differences open up early in the life course and that the policy environment across European countries is not well adapted to these differences on the youth labour market. Research methods In order to illustrate the differences between young women and men on the labour market we can map vulnerability by gender across countries (Gökşen et al. 2016). Vulnerability can be considered as individual risks to low quality, precarious or low-paid employment. However, gender differences are not the only factor shaping these risks and we can observe layers of risk whereby gender interacts with other risk factors such as country of birth and class. This is known as intersectionality (Verloo 2006). We then focus on the extent to which policies for young people recognise gender differences and adopt a gender mainstreaming approach (Gökşen et al. 2016). We use a sample of countries in order to represent four types of regimes for school-to-work transitions-universalistic (Denmark and the Netherlands), liberal (the UK), employment-centred (France and Belgium) and subprotective (Spain, Greece and Turkey); where the data permits, we also include an analysis of Slovakia as an example of a post-socialist regime, but we are unable to provide a policy analysis for this country. Furthermore, we benefit from specific, detailed inputs from national researchers in the case of five case-study countries covering four of the regimes-Denmark, Spain, France, Greece and the UK. Our analysis of the EU-SILC data demonstrates that gender gaps for young people exist across almost all measures of education and labour market statuses used to assess vulnerable outcomes. We also find strong evidence of the intersectionality of youth, gender and other forms of vulnerability linked to migrant status. The extent of these vulnerabilities varies across different school-to-work regimes but is nevertheless present.
Academic Writings by İbrahim Öker
What welfare state regimes are observed when the analysis is extended globally, empirically and t... more What welfare state regimes are observed when the analysis is extended globally, empirically and theoretically? We introduce a novel perspective into the 'welfare state regimes analyses'a perspective that brings developed and developing countries together and, as such, broadens the geographical, empirical and theoretical scope of the 'welfare modelling business'. The expanding welfare regimes literature has suffered from several drawbacks: (i) it is radically slanted towards organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD) countries, (ii) the literature on non-OECD countries does not use genuine welfare policy variables and (iii) social assistance and healthcare programmes are not utilized as components of welfare state effort and generosity. To overcome these limitations, we employ advanced data reduction methods, exploit an original dataset (https://glow.ku.edu.tr/) that we assembled from several international and domestic sources covering 52 emerging markets and OECD countries and present a welfare state regime structure as of the mid-2010s. Our analysis is based on genuine welfare policy variables that are theorized to capture welfare generosity and welfare efforts across five major policy domains: old-age pensions, sickness cash benefits, unemployment insurance, social assistance and healthcare. The sample of OECD countries and emerging market economies form four distinct welfare state regime clusters: institutional, neoliberal, populist and residual. We unveil the composition and performance of welfare state components in each welfare state regime family and develop politics-based working hypotheses about the formation of these regimes. Institutional welfare state regimes perform high in social security, healthcare and social assistance, while
Global Welfare Dataset (GLOW) - glow.ku.edu.tr, 2019
The Global Welfare Dataset (GLOW) (glow.ku.edu.tr) is a cross-national panel dataset that aims at... more The Global Welfare Dataset (GLOW) (glow.ku.edu.tr) is a cross-national panel dataset that aims at facilitating comparative social policy research on the Global North and Global South. GLOW is an outcome of a comparative welfare politics research project, "Emerging Welfare," funded by the European Research Council (emw.ku.edu.tr) and based in Koç University in Istanbul.
You can find more information on GLOW and the EMW Project in the following Youtube videos:
GLOW: https://youtu.be/SjAhuzZCR08
EMW: https://youtu.be/Xlbqpcs3mn0
The GLOW dataset includes 381 variables on 61 countries from the years between 1989 and 2015. It covers comparable panel data on both Global North and South as we have compiled data from a large number of international and domestic sources, conducted compatibility checks, and standardized the data. GLOW provides comparable cross-national data on social assistance, as we applied the same methodology of the World Bank's ASPIRE dataset in order to build comparable indicators across developed and developing countries. We have also extracted employee and employer contributions from SSA reports for all case countries.
In addition to welfare policy indicators, GLOW covers three other main categories of data, namely development, economy, and politics. As such, it provides panel data not only for social policy scholars but for sociologists, economists, and political scientists, and other social scientists. Researchers will find a wide range of standardized panel data that can serve as independent, dependent, or control variables in their quantitative analyses. GLOW also provides visualizations of welfare policy indicators across time and geography, and scholars can use it for descriptive purposes, as well.
We very much hope that GLOW will contribute to the scholarly efforts to reach a global theory of welfare states and welfare regimes. It is an outcome of a collective three-year-long effort of the large team of international researchers of the Emerging Welfare project. I want to thank my colleagues for their effort in the creation of this dataset, and I hope that GLOW will be a useful source of comparative welfare policy research. I will appreciate it if you can spread the word in your circles and if you can send us any feedback on GLOW, as well.
World Development, 2019
Is social assistance being used to contain ethnic and racial unrest in developing countries? Ther... more Is social assistance being used to contain ethnic and racial unrest in developing countries? There is a growing literature on social assistance policies in the Global South, but this literature largely focuses on economic and demographic factors, underestimating the importance of contentious politics. The case of Mexico shows that social assistance programs are disproportionately directed to indigenous popula- tions, leading to diminished protest participation. Drawing on data from the 2010, 2012 and 2014 rounds of the Latin American Public Opinion Project, we apply multivariate regression analysis to examine the determinants of social assistance program participation in Mexico. Our study finds that after controlling for income, household size, age, education, and employment status, indigenous ethnic identity is a key determinant in who benefits from social assistance in Mexico. Our results show that high ethnic disparity in social assistance is not only due to higher poverty rates among the indigenous population. Rather, indigenous people receive more social assistance mainly because of their ethnic identity. In addition, this study demonstrates that indigenous people who benefit from social assistance programs are less likely to join anti-government protests. We argue that this ethnic targeting in social assistance is a result of the fact that indigenous unrest has become a political threat for Mexican governments since the 1990s. These results yield substantive support in arguing that the Mexican government uses social assistance to contain indigenous unrest. The existing literature, which is dominated by structuralist explanations, needs to strongly consider the contentious political drivers of social assistance provision in the Global South for a full grasp of the phenomenon. Social assistance in Mexico is driven by social unrest and this suggests that similar ethnic, racial, religious and contentious political factors should be examined in other developing countries to understand social assistance provisions.
Social Indicators Research, 2019
Based on a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical studies, this article points out a significant... more Based on a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical studies, this article points out a significant flaw in the Three Worlds of Welfare literature, the “variable selection problem.” Compiling, classifying, and quantitatively analysing all variables that have been employed in this literature, the article shows first that variable selection has depended more on case selection than on theory. Scholars tend to employ variables based on data availability, rather than selecting variables according to theoretical frameworks. Second, the use of welfare policy variables is mostly limited to the analysis of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, while studies analysing non-OECD countries, where data is limited, tend to use developmental outcome variables as a proxy. This tendency harms conceptualization and operationalization of welfare regimes, as well as blur the boundary between development and welfare regimes studies. Third, the use of original Esping-Andersen variables remains very limited, undermining continuity, comparability, and reliability within the literature.
Papers by İbrahim Öker
Social Indicators Research, 2019
Based on a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical studies, this article points out a significant... more Based on a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical studies, this article points out a significant flaw in the Three Worlds of Welfare literature, the "variable selection problem." Compiling, classifying, and quantitatively analysing all variables that have been employed in this literature, the article shows first that variable selection has depended more on case selection than on theory. Scholars tend to employ variables based on data availability, rather than selecting variables according to theoretical frameworks. Second, the use of welfare policy variables is mostly limited to the analysis of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, while studies analysing non-OECD countries, where data is limited, tend to use developmental outcome variables as a proxy. This tendency harms conceptualization and operationalization of welfare regimes, as well as blur the boundary between development and welfare regimes studies. Third, the use of original Esping-Andersen variables remains very limited, undermining continuity, comparability , and reliability within the literature.
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Working Papers and Reports by İbrahim Öker
comparative research suggests that gender differences open up early in the lifecourse and that the policy environment across European countries is not well adapted to these gender differences on the youth labour market.
In this report we focus on two specific elements: Firstly we map vulnerability by gender across ethnic and class differences and secondly we focus on the extent to which policies for young people recognise gender differences and adopt a gender mainstreaming approach. We use a sample of countries in order to represent four types of regimes for school-to-work transitions – universalistic (Denmark and the Netherlands), liberal (the United Kingdom), employment-centred (France and Belgium) and sub-protective countries (Spain, Greece and Turkey); where the data permits we also include an analysis of Slovakia as an example of a post-communist, but we are unable to provide a policy analysis for this country. Furthermore we benefit from specific, detailed inputs from national researchers in the case of five case study countries covering four of the regimes – Denmark, Spain, France, Greece and the UK.
Book Chapters by İbrahim Öker
Academic Writings by İbrahim Öker
You can find more information on GLOW and the EMW Project in the following Youtube videos:
GLOW: https://youtu.be/SjAhuzZCR08
EMW: https://youtu.be/Xlbqpcs3mn0
The GLOW dataset includes 381 variables on 61 countries from the years between 1989 and 2015. It covers comparable panel data on both Global North and South as we have compiled data from a large number of international and domestic sources, conducted compatibility checks, and standardized the data. GLOW provides comparable cross-national data on social assistance, as we applied the same methodology of the World Bank's ASPIRE dataset in order to build comparable indicators across developed and developing countries. We have also extracted employee and employer contributions from SSA reports for all case countries.
In addition to welfare policy indicators, GLOW covers three other main categories of data, namely development, economy, and politics. As such, it provides panel data not only for social policy scholars but for sociologists, economists, and political scientists, and other social scientists. Researchers will find a wide range of standardized panel data that can serve as independent, dependent, or control variables in their quantitative analyses. GLOW also provides visualizations of welfare policy indicators across time and geography, and scholars can use it for descriptive purposes, as well.
We very much hope that GLOW will contribute to the scholarly efforts to reach a global theory of welfare states and welfare regimes. It is an outcome of a collective three-year-long effort of the large team of international researchers of the Emerging Welfare project. I want to thank my colleagues for their effort in the creation of this dataset, and I hope that GLOW will be a useful source of comparative welfare policy research. I will appreciate it if you can spread the word in your circles and if you can send us any feedback on GLOW, as well.
Papers by İbrahim Öker
comparative research suggests that gender differences open up early in the lifecourse and that the policy environment across European countries is not well adapted to these gender differences on the youth labour market.
In this report we focus on two specific elements: Firstly we map vulnerability by gender across ethnic and class differences and secondly we focus on the extent to which policies for young people recognise gender differences and adopt a gender mainstreaming approach. We use a sample of countries in order to represent four types of regimes for school-to-work transitions – universalistic (Denmark and the Netherlands), liberal (the United Kingdom), employment-centred (France and Belgium) and sub-protective countries (Spain, Greece and Turkey); where the data permits we also include an analysis of Slovakia as an example of a post-communist, but we are unable to provide a policy analysis for this country. Furthermore we benefit from specific, detailed inputs from national researchers in the case of five case study countries covering four of the regimes – Denmark, Spain, France, Greece and the UK.
You can find more information on GLOW and the EMW Project in the following Youtube videos:
GLOW: https://youtu.be/SjAhuzZCR08
EMW: https://youtu.be/Xlbqpcs3mn0
The GLOW dataset includes 381 variables on 61 countries from the years between 1989 and 2015. It covers comparable panel data on both Global North and South as we have compiled data from a large number of international and domestic sources, conducted compatibility checks, and standardized the data. GLOW provides comparable cross-national data on social assistance, as we applied the same methodology of the World Bank's ASPIRE dataset in order to build comparable indicators across developed and developing countries. We have also extracted employee and employer contributions from SSA reports for all case countries.
In addition to welfare policy indicators, GLOW covers three other main categories of data, namely development, economy, and politics. As such, it provides panel data not only for social policy scholars but for sociologists, economists, and political scientists, and other social scientists. Researchers will find a wide range of standardized panel data that can serve as independent, dependent, or control variables in their quantitative analyses. GLOW also provides visualizations of welfare policy indicators across time and geography, and scholars can use it for descriptive purposes, as well.
We very much hope that GLOW will contribute to the scholarly efforts to reach a global theory of welfare states and welfare regimes. It is an outcome of a collective three-year-long effort of the large team of international researchers of the Emerging Welfare project. I want to thank my colleagues for their effort in the creation of this dataset, and I hope that GLOW will be a useful source of comparative welfare policy research. I will appreciate it if you can spread the word in your circles and if you can send us any feedback on GLOW, as well.