Social Investment and the Challenge of Long-Term Care in ageing European countries
Hans-Joachim Reinhard
Conference “Institutional Reforms in Ageing Societies”, 8 June 2017, Budapest, Hungary
Social Investment and the Challenge of Long-Term Care in ageing European countries
Tracking demand and supply for Long Term Care in Europe 2007-2015: A cross-national analysis
Platon Tinios, Antigone Lyberaki, Thomas Georgiadis and Zafiris Valvis
(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities – 13th European Sociological Association Conference, 29.08.2017 – 01.09.2017 Athens, Greece
Tracking demand and supply for Long Term Care in Europe 2007-2015: A cross-national analysis
Did austerity affect long term care? Investigating micro data spanning the Greek crisis
Antigone Lyberaki, Platon Tinios , Thomas Georgiadis Zafiris Valvis
(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities – 13th European Sociological Association Conference, 29.08.2017 – 01.09.2017 Athens, Greece
Did austerity affect long term care? Investigating micro data spanning the Greek crisis
Do stakeholders in Denmark know about social investment?
Bent Greve
Transforming Care Conference, 26-28 June 2017, Milan, Italy
Abstract:
Social investment has become a buzzword in recent years; see for example European Commission, 2013, Morel et.al. 2012. The concept is like other concepts not always precise or being used in the same way in all European countries. The central tenet of the social investment approach is to treat public expenditures not just as an economic burden but also as an investment in the future. This is also a part of the development in the discourse. In this sense the social investment perspective is an example of how new ideas might influence social policy development. However, the use of concept at the political level does not imply that it is also known by stakeholders, or that types of spending that can be argued to be social investments are perceived as such.
This article has its focus on long-term care in the context of a universal welfare state (e.g. Denmark). The article has three purposes:
- To discuss and present analysis of initiatives that can be considered social investments in LTC
- Present existing analysis mainly from Denmark related to rehabilitation, re-enablement and the use of welfare technology
- To analyse based upon a focus-group interview conducted in January, 2017 stakeholder’s perception of quality in LTC and the use of the concept social investment.
The article explains the dichotomy between the use of a concept on an overarching political and academic level with a practical understanding among actors without using the concept. Furthermore, that despite there is social investment in long-term care in the universal welfare state of Denmark, this is not a common phrase thereby raising the question whether the concept by now is grounded within welfare state understanding.
The article concludes that social investment can be used in the field and that actors have an understanding hereof, and knows example hereof, but it is not included in their daily vocabulary.
