Publications

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"

Theorising the collective in British estate literature

This article by Yazell, Hogg, Aarhus, Simonsen, Haarder, and Fegitz attends to recent examples of British estate literature, a literary form which extends across disparate genres and media. Published in Textual Practice.

Precarity, Temporality, & Public Housing

Read this new article by Bryan Yazell and Emily Hogg, published in ASAP/Journal

Has Trust in the European Parliament Polarized?

In this study, Davide Morisi and Paul Bauer investigate how the distribution of trust in the European Parliament has changed over time and across European Union member states. Published in Sucius.

Migrancy and Utopia: The Global Network in Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange and Hamid’s Exit West

This paper by Bryan Yazell attends to the utopian imagination circulating in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West (2017) and Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange (1997). It is published in Textual Practice.

Når velfærd bliver til straf

Lea Cecilie Brinkgaard and Cecilie Bjerre have published the article 'Når velfærd bliver til straf' in the online magazine Eftertryk.

Memes in the Literature Studies Classroom

New article by Bryan Yazell and Anita Wholmann, where they consider memes through the lens of riddles and discusses the generative or creative aspect of the meme format as applied in the classroom. Published in Narrative Works, 12, 1–17 (2023)

The Human Costs of the War on Drugs. Attitudes Towards Militarization of Security in Mexico

Do people approve of militarization even in the face of human fatalities? Davide Morisi with Juan Masullo explore this question in the context of Mexico’s “war on drugs in this new article published in Comparative Political Studies.

Børneloven

New book by Cecilie Bjerre

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

New book by Bryan Yazell

Bargaining strategies in recent tax reforms in Tanzania

Can taxpayers mobilize to negotiate with governments in semi-autocratic settings? Yes, in this study, Jamal Msami, Lucas Katera and Marianne S. Ulriksen explore how Tanzanian taxpayers bargain to reduce imposed tax burdens. It is published as a PRSB Working Paper.

The German Welfare State

This chapter by Peter Starke gives a condensed overview of developments of the German welfare state since reunification in 1990 until the Covid pandemic. Roughly chronologically structured, it portrays the events as a series of problem-solving attempts that fundamentally changed the nature of the German welfare state. Published in The Oxford Handbook of German Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2022)

A game theoretic approach identifies conditions that foster vaccine-rich to vaccine-poor country donation of surplus vaccines.

This article by Lampert, A., Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R., Vanhuysse, P, Tepe, M. develops a new game, the ‘Rich-to-Poor Vaccine Donation Game,’ and shows that there are hard foundations for modest hope about pandemic cooperation. There is a narrow corridor of conditions under which it is both optimal and stable strategy for the rich world to donate surplus vaccines to the poor world.

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.

Historisk udredning vedrørende børn, unge og voksne anbragt i særforsorgens institutioner 1933-1980

Historisk udredning af særforsorgens nyere historie med særlig henblik på børn, unge og voksne, der som følge af en anbringelse i sær- og åndssvageforsorgens institutioner kan have været udsat for svigt og overgreb (in danish) af Klaus Petersen, Mette Seidelin, Sarah Smed, Poul Duedahl & Annemarie Borregaard.

Social Policy in Denmark

A guide and introduction to social policy in Denmark. By Klaus Petersen and Cecilie Bjerre and published in Oxford Bibliographies: Social Work

Brændte børn i velfærdsstaten

An interview with the late author Charlotte Strandgaard (1943-2021) about her work for the socially marginalized in the welfare state – both as an artist and as an activist (in danish). By Cecilie Bjerre in Eftertryk.

Making Policies: The History of the Danish Child Welfare System at the Local Level

New article by Cecilie Bjerre in Journal of Policy History.

COVID vaccine prioritization in low- and middle-income countries may justifiably depart from high-income countries’ age priorities

New paper by Isabella Trifan and co-authors on the COVID vaccine prioritisation by age in low- and middle-income countries.

Alderisme i Sundhedsvæsenet

New article by Anne Hagen Berg on ageism in the health care sector

Fighting Rubella without Vaccines: The Danish Exception, 1941–1987

New article in Social History of Medicine by Anne Hagen Berg.

Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines: Why the piggy bank dwarfs Robin Hood in Europe

Studying over 400,000 Europeans from EU countries, this paper by Vanhuysse, Medgyesi and Gal shows that European welfare states, often maligned as ineffective Robin Hood vehicles riddled with Matthew effects, are better characterized as inter-age redistribution machines performing a more important second task rather well: lifecycle consumption smoothing. Social policies serve multiple goals in Europe, but empirically they are neither primarily nor solely responsible for poverty relief and inequality reduction.

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.

Ny Viden: "The welfare state is more of a piggy bank than Robin Hood"

Ny Viden: "Velfærdsstaten er mere en sparegris end Robin Hood"

Literature, Economics, and a Turn to Content

This article by Patrick Fessenbecker and Bryan Yazell offers an overview of the developments in the field of literature and economics. By focusing on a range of recent publications, we diagnose several emergent trends in this interdisciplinary push to make the study of literature and the economy accountable to each other.

Merit, Luck, and Taxes: Societal Reward Rules, Self-Interest, and Ideology in a Real-Effort Voting Experiment

People are willing to tax the rich substantially, but only if the income obtained by luck. New paper by Tepe, Vanhuysse, and Lutz finds that the distinction between merit and luck matters for people's judgement on the deservingness of incomes.

Social policy responses to COVID-19: New issues, old solutions?

What have been social policy responses to COVID-19? In this article, Sarah Cook and Marianne S. Ulriksen collect and discuss findings across a range of articles presented in the special issue Global Social Policy vol.21 issue 3

There’s a Hole in the Fence: Civil Pragmatism in Ambiguous Encounters on Lampedusa, Italy

The article by Laust Lund Elbek is an ethnographic analysis of relations and interactions between migrants and locals on the Italian island of Lampedusa. It poses a critique of discourses on 'crisis' by highlighting the everyday importance of ‘civil pragmatism.’

Vaccine alliance building blocks: a conjoint experiment on popular support for international COVID‑19 cooperation formats

Analyzing popular support for international Covid-19 vaccine alliance principles, this paper by Vanhuysse and colleagues shows that support increases with lower costs and larger coverage for own-nation citizens and with own-national producer origin. A realist and technocratic outlook is warranted at the cognitive stage in pandemic cycles when no solutions have been found, yet the worst already seems to be over, as vaccine nationalism reigns supreme in popular attitudes.

Welfare States as Life-Cycle Redistribution Machines

Studying over 400,000 Europeans from EU countries, this paper by Vanhuysse, Medgyesi and Gal shows that European welfare states, often maligned as ineffective Robin Hood vehicles riddled with Matthew effects, are better characterized as inter-age redistribution machines performing a more important second task rather well: lifecycle consumption smoothing. Social policies serve multiple goals in Europe, but empirically they are neither primarily nor solely responsible for poverty relief and inequality reduction.

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.

New York Times: "Trumpism without borders"

Kate Raworth: Doughnut economics - seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist

Frederik Pfeiffer reviews Kate Raworth's book "Doughnut economics - seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist" for the Czech Sociological Review.

Taking social policy personally: How does neuroticism affect welfare state attitudes?

Using cross-sectional data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, Tepe and Vanhuysse study three distinct attitude types (dissatisfaction with the social security system, feelings of personal financial insecurity, and preferences for state provision) and multiple social need contexts (including unemployment, ill health, old age, and nursing care) and how they are affected by the "Big Five" personality traits. Neurotic people are found to be less happy with welfare state programmes across the board, yet they also appear to need these programmes more.

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.

The role of literary fiction in facilitating social science research

Why does social scientist read fiction and how does it impact their research? Paper by Bryan Yazell, Klaus Petersen, Paul Marx, and Patrick Fessenbecker.

Translating social policy ideas: The Beveridge Report, transnational diffusion, and post-war welfare state development in Canada, Denmark and France

The Beveridge Report is a key document in British welfare state history but did it also have impact outside Britain? Paper by Daniel Béland, Gregery P. Marchildon, Michele Mioni, and Klaus Petersen.