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Street‐level Perceptions of Procedural Rights for Young Unemployed People – A Comparative Study between S weden and A ustralia
Author(s) -
Ulmestig Rickard,
Marston Greg
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12085
Subject(s) - conditionality , procedural justice , welfare , perception , service (business) , convergence (economics) , power (physics) , economic justice , business , political science , labour economics , psychology , economics , economic growth , law , politics , marketing , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Two types of welfare states are compared in this article. Differences in procedural rights for young unemployed at the level of service delivery are analyzed. In A ustralia, rights are regulated through a rigid procedural justice system. The young unemployed within the social assistance system in S weden encounter staff with high discretionary powers, which makes the legal status weak for the unemployed but, on the other hand, the system is more flexible. Despite the differences, there is striking convergence in how the young unemployed describe how discretionary power among street‐level staff affects their procedural rights. This result can be understood as a result of similar professional norms, work customs and occupational cultures of street‐level staff, and that there is a basic logic of conditionality in all developed welfare states where procedural rights are tightly coupled with responsibilities.