Social classes, national settings, and the welfare State: The public pension systems in Canada and Australia / Karimi, Sirvan
- Bib ID:
- 7124338
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Karimi, Sirvan, author
- Description:
-
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2013
- 433 p.
- ISBN:
- 9780499001641
- Summary:
-
The divergent patterns of postwar retirement income expansion and subsequent differentiation in retirement income restructuring and retrenchment in Canada and Australia reveal the explanatory weaknesses of mainstream theoretical perspectives. The shortcomings of these mainstream theoretical approaches in explaining variation in the trajectory of public pension systems in these two countries emanate from their failure to account for the differentiation in postwar social class settlements that not only structured the postwar expansion of public pension systems but also shaped the responses to neoliberal pressure for retirement income restructuring and retrenchment. A synthesis of modified power resources model and Marxian class analysis can provide a theoretical foundation to explain the divergent pattern of public pension systems in Australia and Canada. Though all postwar social class compromises were politically constructed, they nonetheless acquired different characteristics.
The postwar social compromise in Australia which can be characterized as market-based social class settlement, put emphasis on full employment and centralized wage-setting as surrogate to social welfare protection. Consequently, the market-based class settlement in Australia reinforced the continuity of selectivity, encouraged private arrangements for old age income, and stymied the collectivization of retirement income through establishing a publicly administered earnings-related pension plan. The postwar social class settlement in Canada which can be described as redistributive-oriented social class compromise, put emphasis on income redistribution rather than market regulation as means to maintain social protection. Since the redistributive-oriented postwar social settlement in Canada was designed to promote national unity, it was conducive to strengthening the link between the welfare state, social citizenship, universalism and national identity.
The responses to neoliberal pressure for retirement income restructuring and retrenchment in these two countries were also shaped by the nature of their postwar social class settlements. The market-based social class settlement in Australia was conducive to the intensification of residualism and privatization of retirement income. Since the redistributive-oriented social class settlement in Canada hinged on maintaining national unity, the discourse of national unity was geared to slowing down the neoliberal inroads into the domain of pension policy.
- Notes:
-
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 75-07(E), Section: A.
- English
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- York University (Canada), degree granting institution
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
You may copy under some circumstances, for example you may copy a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2013
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.