• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.79-101
• /
• 2004

This paper examines the characteristics and determinants of welfare attitudes in Korea. Based on Survey data, this study focuses mainly on how social-economic position variables, welfare status and welfare compliances influence attitudes towards welfare. Welfare attitudes can be classified by five areas as follows: legitimacy of welfare functions, affordability of welfare costs, need-based welfare principles, responsibility of welfare provision and adequacy of welfare spending. There are the major findings. First, attitudes towards welfare is identified state-friendly or pro-welfare attitudes. Second, among the social-economic position variables, welfare status and welfare norms variables, welfare compliance has statistically the most significant effects on welfare attitudes. Third, the level of pro-welfare attitudes is largely determined by welfare norms and images espoused by individuals. These findings suggest that we can not apply cleavages thesis which are developed by studies on the support for welfare state.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• no.39
• /
• pp.167-187
• /
• 2008

This study explores the trends of social security expenditures after financial crisis in welfare states. For the purpose, this study analyzes changes in social expenditures during 1980~2003 in 22 OECD countries. The results show that average total social security expenditure(as a percentage of GDP) among the 22 countries increased from 18.0% in 1980 to 22.3% in 2003. Compared to sharp increases during the great expansion period of the welfare state before 1980s, the increase in social expenditures after 1980s is substantially weakened. The slowdown in the increases of social expenditures is remarkable in the social democratic welfare states where social expenditures have already reached a high level. On the other hand, social expenditures are considerably increased in the lagged welfare states such as South European countries and Japan. As a result, the cross-national difference in social expenditures has continuously decreased. These findings suggest that financial crisis is a key factor of welfare-state reorganization. Countries where social expenditures are in high level need more reforms under the pressure of financial deficits. Since 1980s, they have tried various reforms especially in pensions and unemployment benefits. Facing new and increasing demands for social security as well as financial limitations, the welfare state needs major reforms in the social security system to increase effectiveness/efficiency of existing programs and to iron out priorities among programs.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.403-442
• /
• 2010

This study aims to configurate the contents of social policy strategies of European welfare states in the postindustrial society. The social policy strategy of the socialdemocratic regime consists of 'maintenance of statecentrism' and 'inclusion'. The contents of social policy strategy of the liberal regime are 'expansion of market forces' and 'increase of individual' self-responsibility'. The conservative regime adheres to the 'protection of male breadwinner; and 'income maintenance programs'. Due to these social policy strategies, the conservative regime has very high rate of unemployment. In the liberal regime, the high rate of poverty exists. In contrast, the socialdemocratic regime has low rates of unemployment and poverty and shows best social outcomes among the welfare regimes.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.42
• /
• pp.199-224
• /
• 2000

Homelessness became a major social problem in Korea. And the homeless presents many kinds of problems in social functioning. In studies on the homeless, Physical and mental health, alcohol and subtance abuse, the vulnerability of the social support have been frequently described as major characteristics of the homeless. Of the homeless' psychosocial characteristics, this article focused on the lack of the social support, which plays a important role on the exit from homelessness. The lack of social support has been mentioned as cause for homelessness. But a few researchers stressed the perspective that the homelessness causes the lack of social support. This article analyzed empirically the lack of social support among the homeless in terms of "social disaffiliation". This article hypothesized: (a) as longer homeless duration, the extent of the perceived social support would be decreased, (b) as longer homeless duration, the magnitude of the social network would be decreased, (c) as longer homeless duration, the ratio of the homeless in social network would be increased. Survey data collected from 355 homeless persons (sheltered homeless) at 82 shelters in Seoul. The result of analysis supports 'social disaffiliation hypotheses'. The result of this study suggests that the social work intervention to strengthen social support and social network be critically important in homeless shelter.

• 한국사회정책
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.185-214
• /
• 2012

After the introduction of the three welfare regimes by Esping-Andersen, discussion on 'other' types of welfare regimes was facilitated and the scholarly focus on East Asian economic development gradually shifted to the East Asian welfare states discussion from the late 1990s. Literature on East Asian welfare states increased our understanding on the characteristics of not only the East Asian welfare state as a whole but also of each country in the region. However, compared the attention given to developing variables and empirical studies on the East Asian welfare state, less attention has been given to the concept of East Asian welfare states. Recognizing the limitation in developing comparable variables without a concept analysis of the East Asian welfare states, this study highlights the importance of conceptualization and concept analysis in comparative social policy studies. This paper first discusses on the concepts, conceptualization and on the use of set theory in comparative social policy research. Next, the study argues the validity of 'functional equivalence' in the East Asian welfare state studies and critically reviews the existing literature. Lastly, this paper suggests how the concept of functional equivalence can be successfully employed for the East Asian welfare states studies with a concept analysis and by applying a set theory including the fuzzy set theory.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study is to suggest the basic data on the direction of housing research trends by dividing both research methods and research contents through precedent studies related to elderly housing. We drew four major conclusions through this research. First, in general, the research activities for elderly housing has been conducted actively since 2000 to begin in earnest after 1990. This result shows that it is related with the reform of welfare laws for the elderly in 1993, with the change of government policies and the increase of social interest in elderly people's lives. Second, early studies had been started to focus on elderly home residents if we look into research results according to research methods. In 1993, The Elderly Welfare Act was reformed by the government and then researches for elderly welfare facilities were also increased by a permission of government to run private elderly welfare facilities for making profit. This movement caused to expand research targets from general elderly people to their families, facility staffs and experts. Third, in case of research contents past studies were mostly conducted on the space planning and its actual situation. However, current studies are made under diverse viewpoint with the increase of elderly housing and elderly welfare facilities according to reforms of laws and changes of resident's perception. Fourth, because of rapid transition to an aging society the studies of elderly housing were influenced by the changes of policies and social consciousness.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.309-334
• /
• 2010

This study explores gender mechanism of welfare politics in Korea from the perspective of welfare status theory. In the simplistic analysis, it is found that there is no gender difference in welfare attitudes. In the more sophisticated analysis of welfare-status-beased SEM, however, it is found that Korean welfare politics is to be understood in terms of gender-related politics. Three major findings of this study are as follows. Firstly, Korean women possess less pro-welfare attitudes in terms of the status of welfare beneficiary. This is due to the visible gender segregation in the Korean labor market on the one hand and due to the centrality of social insurance programs in the structure of Korean public welfare system on the other hand. Secondly, Korean women have relatively higher level of pro-welfare attitude when it comes to the status of welfare service provider. Thirdly, Korean women tend to be more supportive to pro-welfare parties as they have less chance to be a higher taxpayer. Based on the above mentioned findings, this study concludes that it is possible to make Korean women be more pro-welfare if the Korean welfare state expands more social services that tend to meet urgent needs of women.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.25 no.6_3
• /
• pp.1261-1273
• /
• 2022

Homeownership is much more than a financial calculation. It is a socio-psychological phenomenon. During the last decade studies of homeownership have demonstrated a positive link between homeownership and positive social outcomes including welfare perceptions and attitudes. This study compared welfare perceptions between homeowners and renters in Korean Welfare Panel Survey using data collected in 2019. The study analyzed six continuous outcomes of welfare perceptions. Six variables indicating welfare perceptions included: (1) welfare and work disincentives; (2) welfare recipients are lazy; (3) welfare selectivism; (4) national minimum; (5) free university education and; (6) free child care and kindergarten. This study acknowledged bias arising from selection on observables. To control these biases, this study employed analytical approaches including the treatment effect model. Results of this study confirmed that attainment of homeownership is not possible for everyone. Findings from this study have provided some evidence that homeowners and renters have different perceptions on welfare listed above. Finally, issues relating to homeownership and welfare perceptions were discussed. Implications for social work practice and research were further discussed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.327-337
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Considering the importance of social determinants of health (SDHs) in promoting the health of residents of informal settlements and their diversity, abundance, and breadth, this study aimed to identify, measure, and rank SDHs for health promotion interventions targeting informal settlement residents in a metropolitan area in Iran. Methods: Using a hybrid method, this study was conducted in 3 phases from 2019 to 2020. SDHs were identified by reviewing studies and using the Delphi method. To examine the SDHs among informal settlement residents, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted using researcher-made questionnaires. Multilayer perceptron analysis using an artificial neural network was used to rank the SDHs by priority. Results: Of the 96 determinants identified in the first phase of the study, 43 were examined, and 15 were identified as high-priority SDHs for use in health-promotion interventions for informal settlement residents in the study area. They included individual health literacy, nutrition, occupational factors, housing-related factors, and access to public resources. Conclusions: Since identifying and addressing SDHs could improve health justice and mitigate the poor health status of settlement residents, ranking these determinants by priority using artificial intelligence will enable policymakers to improve the health of settlement residents through interventions targeting the most important SDHs.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.257-295
• /
• 2018

This study delineates how recipients access, understand, and make use of social welfare information in their life-worlds. Through this vivid illustration about recipients' information behaviors, this research aims to suggest that government-centred welfare informatization policy should be readjusted. South Korean government has made enormous efforts to deliver and share social welfare information and knowledge with recipients, by organizing IT eduction programmes, offering free computers, and opening welfare portals. However, despite of such endeavors, not a few recipients find difficulty in gaining, grasping, and using welfare information. In fact, welfare informatization programmes have so far been initiated by the governmental bureaucratic system, and the voice of recipients have hardly been reflected on the informatization policy. Starting from this problem, this study examines how low-income recipients perceive and accept social welfare information in their daily lives and reflects on social welfare information at their point. For this purpose, this research conducted in-depth interviews with 14 recipients and analyzed the data using a framework analysis method. Based on the results, it raises the need for the remodelling of current welfare informatization measures from the perspective of recipients rather than following the custom of the bureaucratic system.