The Trajectory of Care Policies in the Process of the Transformation of the Welfare System: An Evaluation Based on the Conservative Welfare Regime
Mehmet Merve Özaydın, Nursel KaramanThe concept of care has gone beyond being an issue attributed to the private sphere in line with the social service policies undertaken by the modern welfare state since its emergence and its scope has been discussed in a wider framework covering the public sphere. The inclusion of the concept of care in welfare regime analyses is important in terms of how care responsibilities are shared between the state, the market and the family in society and how this sharing affects the social and economic relations of the society. In line with the transformation in the welfare system with the economic, social and demographic developments since 1970s, the family institution’s efficiency, which has traditionally played an active role in welfare provision, especially in care services, has started to decrease. Thus, with the loss of functionality of the “familialism” principle, which is explicitly or implicitly accepted in most of the European welfare states, various reforms in care policies have been brought to the agenda. These reforms are shaped in line with the economic conditions of the countries and especially the situation in the labor markets within the framework of the characteristics of welfare regimes. The aim of this study is to present the reforms in care policies on the axis of the conservative welfare regime through the examples of Germany, France and Belgium which are thought to have the general characteristics of this regime. The evaluation shows that care policies in these countries in the post-1980 period have been implemented for similar purposes as a result of similar stimuli in two main periods: (i) 1980-2000 and (ii) 2000 and beyond. Finally, the study tried to draw a general policy framework for care in the last decade in Turkey and highlight different and similar spots in the conservative welfare regime.
Refah Sisteminin Dönüşümü Sürecinde Bakım Politikalarının Yörüngesi: Muhafazakâr Refah Rejimi Temelinde Bir Değerlendirme
Mehmet Merve Özaydın, Nursel KaramanModern refah devletinin ortaya çıkışından itibaren üstlendiği sosyal hizmet politikaları gereğince bakım kavramı, özel alana atfedilen bir konu olmanın ötesine geçmiş ve kapsamı kamusal alanı kapsayacak biçimde daha geniş bir çerçevede tartışılmaya başlanmıştır. Refah rejimi analizlerine bakım kavramının dâhil edilmesi, bakım sorumluluklarının toplumda devlet, piyasa ve aile arasında nasıl paylaşıldığı ve bu paylaşımın toplumun sosyal ve ekonomik ilişkiler bütününü ne şekilde etkilediği noktasında önemli olmaktadır. 1970’li yıllardan itibaren yaşanan ekonomik, sosyal ve demografik gelişmelerle refah sisteminde yaşanan dönüşüm doğrultusunda geleneksel olarak refah sunumunda, özellikle de bakım hizmetlerinde etkin bir role sahip olan aile kurumunun bu etkinliği azalmaya başlamıştır. Böylelikle Avrupa refah devletlerinin çoğunda gerek açık gerekse örtük bir biçimde kabul edilen “ailecilik” ilkesinin işlevselliğini kaybetmesiyle bakım politikalarında çeşitli reformlar gündeme gelmiştir. Bu reformların ise refah rejimlerinin karakteristik özellikleri çerçevesinde ülkelerin ekonomik koşullarıyla ve özellikle işgücü piyasalarının içinde bulunduğu durumla eşgüdümlü olarak şekillendiği görülmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bakım politikalarındaki reformları muhafazakâr refah rejimi ekseninde, bu rejimin genel özelliklerini taşıdığı düşünülen Almanya, Fransa ve Belçika örnekleri üzerinden hareket ederek ortaya koyabilmektir. Yapılan değerlendirmede, söz konusu ülkelerde 1980 sonrası süreçte bakım politikalarının, (i)1980-2000 ve (ii)2000 ve sonrası şeklinde iki ana dönem içerisinde benzer uyarıcılar sonucu, benzer amaçlara yönelik olarak uygulamaya konduğu ortaya konulmaktadır. Çalışmada son olarak, Türkiye’de son dönemdeki bakım politikalarına ilişkin genel bir çerçeve çizilmiş ve muhafazakâr refah rejimindeki karakteristiklerle farklılaştığı ve benzeştiği noktalar vurgulanmaya çalışılmıştır.
The concept of care can generally be defined as showing the necessary emotional, physical and socio-psychological attention and care to a person (s). In this context, care services cover a wide range of tasks and activities aimed at providing for those who are unable to provide personal health and wellbeing themselves. Whoever performs these tasks and activities is important for the social importance of care because its social meaning, which does not limit care to the private sphere, brings with it the institutional provision of care services and is one of the main welfare state practices. The inclusion of the concept of care in welfare regime analysis also means analyzing how care responsibilities are shared between the state, the market and the family in society, and how this sharing affects the social and economic relations of society as a whole. This situation especially emerged as a result of economic, social and demographic developments and transformation in welfare system since the 1970s. It is seen that the early periods of the modern welfare state were based on the principle of “familialism”, in which the man provided the livelihood of the house by way of paid work in the market, and the woman fulfilled the care and reproduction responsibilities as above unpaid labor in the house. However, during the transformation of the welfare system, increasing female employment, changing family structures, declining fertility rates and aging of the population etc. developments have made it necessary to introduce alternatives to the family-wide choice of care in the past. During this period, a “care crisis” has begun to be experienced in many European countries due to the supply deficit resulting from the increasing demand for care services, and welfare states have started to seek policies to solve this crisis. This has been a common search for all welfare regimes in the restructuring of welfare systems since the late 1970s. However, the trajectory of the policies pursued has varied according to the characteristics of the regimes.The gender structure on which welfare regimes are shaped and the structural conditions of the labor markets have determined the trajectory of care policies and the party which is primarily responsible for the provision of care services and the way in which funding and services are provided has differentiated. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal the main features and trajectory of care policies in the transformation process of the welfare system in the axis of the conservative welfare regime. For this purpose, the examples of Germany, France and Belgium, which have the characteristics of the conservative welfare regime,were taken into consideration and an attempt was made to evaluate the policies regarding the care services implemented by these countries in the post-1980 period with their basic features. In the evaluation, it was seen that care policies in these countries in the post-1980 period were implemented for similar purposes as a result of similar stimuli in two main periods: (i) 1980-2000 and (ii) 2000 and later. Traditionally, care-oriented policies in the conservative welfare regime were built on three main characteristics. These are: a strong commitment to the principle of familialism, a micro-to-macro devolution of care responsibilities, and generous financial assistance to families to support their priorities in care roles. Care policies pursued in the first period after 1980 were shaped in coordination with the labor market situation within the framework of these basic characteristics. During the period from the mid1980s to the end of the 1990s, when unemployment rates remained high, in order to provide additional employment opportunities for the male labor force who traditionally supported the house, the care policies in these three countries were mainly configured on detering women from entering the labor markets and cash transfers encouraging care at home. With the paradigmatic change after the late 1990s, efforts to increase female employment rates have led to the extension of care policies with the emphasis on gender equality, and the government taking more responsibility in this area by focusing on institutional care services. In the same period, the threat of the care crisis, which has arisen as a result of the aging population and low birth rates and which is expected to deepen in the following period, has led the government to take more responsibility in this area. Therefore, instead of an approach that prioritizes care within the family, an approach that gives support to different alternatives and how to fulfill the responsibility of care is left to the parents’ own preferences has come into prominence. This approach, which has been supported by the development of institutional care services and flexible working practices in addition to cash transfers since the 2000s, represents the most defining characteristic of the changing trajectory of the care policies of countries with a conservative welfare regime under the discourse of “freedom of choice ”. Finally, in the last part of the study, on the axis care policies implemented in recent years in Turkey, an attempt has been made to demonstrate the issues which are similar and differentiated with the trajectory followed by care policies in the conservative welfare regime.
