Books

Politicization of taxation and state-society reciprocity in Africa

New book chapter by Marianne Ulriksen and others in "Politicization of taxation and state-society reciprocity in Africa"

Børneloven

New book by Cecilie Bjerre

The American Vagrant in Literature: Race, Work and Welfare.

New book by Bryan Yazell

Sick notes are a waste of time: doctors’ labour and medical certification at the birth of the National Health Service

Gareth Millward book chapter shows the disputes between doctors and the Ministry of Health over sick notes in the 1940s. It shows how medical certification represented a key element of doctor’s working conditions, and demonstrates the debates over GPs in the new NHS were not just about remuneration. ‘Sick notes are a waste of time: doctors’ labour and medical certification at the birth of the National Health Service’ in Jennifer Crane and Jane Hand (eds), Posters, Protests, and Prescriptions: Cultural Histories of the National Health Service (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022), pp. 54–75.

Sick Note: A History of the British Welfare State

This book details the history of medical certification in the UK since the 1940s. It argues that these notes sit at the crossroads of many welfare state policies and therefore tell us much about British welfare logics after the Second World War. By Gareth Millward, published by Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

En pro-ældre velfærdsstat i et børneorienteret samfund

Commenting on their most relevant research into age and the redistributive functions of the welfare state Pieter Vanhuysse and Robert I. Gál show that welfare states are primarily life-cycle redistribution machines, as age matters much more than socioeconomic status. Furthermore, they show that while societies as a whole direct more resources (time and money) to children, the welfare state has a clear elderly bias. The tab for both is picked by working age people, and especially by parents. The text contributes as a chapter to a new book by ROCKWOOL Fonden and Gyldendal on demographic changes and their societal consequences in Denmark.

A Racialised Social Question: Pension Reform in Apartheid South Africa

The South African Apartheid government pushed through major reforms to build a racialized and exclusionary system. However, there were no major social security reforms, even though non-desired groups received benefits. Why? Marianne S. Ulriksen explores this puzzle in this chapter.

Finding time in common: Speculative fiction and the precariat in Robinson's New York 2140

Precarious forms of life are everywhere in science fiction narratives, but this genre has largely been overlooked in accounts of the so-called precariat in art and media. This paper by Bryan Yazell addresses this oversight with an account of how Kim Stanley Robinson’s work engages directly with precarity (as well as critical concepts such as actor-network Theory) in its presentation of a submerged New York City.

Introduction: Political Demography as an Analytical Window on Our World (Global Political Demography)

This chapter introduces the overarching questions of Global Political Demography: The Politics of Population Change (Goerres & Vanhuysse eds, 2021). How do the political economy and political sociology traits of some population groups relative to others affect public policies, political actions and political order via the intermediary of political and institutional processes? Demography is not destiny: politics is key to how population change affects societies.

Krig, Rom og cola: Et festskrift til Nils Arne Sørensen

In this Festschrift Klaus Petersen and colleagues celebrate the 65th birthday of Professor Nils Arne Sørensen with essays on the history of war, the history of the city of Rome, and on cultural history.

Når staten er far og mor. Børneværnets anbringelser af børn i Danmark, 1905-1975

This book by Cecilie Bjerre examines out-of-home placements in Denmark over a seven-decade period from 1905-1975 with special emphasis on administrative practices.

The Making and Circulation of Nordic Models, Ideas and Images

What is it with the Nordic Model? It is here, there, and everywhere. In this book, Klaus Petersen and colleagues trace the global travel of the Nordic Model.

The Political Demography of Missed Opportunity: Populations and Policies in a Younger but Faster-Ageing East Central Europe, 1990–2040 (Global Political Demography)

The new democracies in East Central Europe started the postcommunist era with comparatively young populations, but they have subsequently spurned a quarter-century-long demographic window of opportunity for reform, by insufficiently adapting their policy models to prepare for predicted fast population ageing ahead. Now that the window is closed, the relative electoral power of elderly voters in East Central Europe is among the highest in the world. Chapter by Vanhuysse and Perek-Bialas.

The Cold War and the Welfare State in Western Europe

This chapter by Klaus Petersen et al. discusses how the Cold War shaped the development of welfare states in selected Western European countries in the first decades after 1945. It is argued that two mechanisms were important. First, social policies were used for securing mass loyalty and as an anti-communist strategy in Western Europe. Second, the Cold War strongly impacted political coalition-building in Western countries.