The Welfare System assignment

There is a certain assignment that every year causes ASS second years some 'consternation' (for consternation read  FULL FAT, NO HOLDS BARRED TURMOIL), but I assure you it's not as bad you might think.
Think of it as a rites of passage.

Here's four suggestions to make the welfare systems assignment more manageable...

1. Don't get hung up on the phrase 'Welfare System'; if you use "Welfare State" in its place you'll probably find.some material too.

2. The 'Ebooks on Demand' project is still running. I sat with a student this week who rented two e-books for herself covering welfare, one on Nigeria and one on China and it's really helped.

3. You almost certainly WON'T find one single journal article covering the three countries you're looking for. So don't look for it. Instead do separate DISCOVER journal article searches for three countries and then compare them yourself afterwards. You'll write a better essay as a result.

4. Marketline is a database you probably won't have used before, but it has 'country profiles' which might be useful to obtain statistics on population and social provision. They're known as PEST reports which stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological. Go here to see previous blog posts I've written about it. It's look has changed a little, however you can still search for individual countries via the geography option.

Finally, remember that 2000 words for this assignment is quite tight, so be precise in your analysis.

If you want to see me for some further support regarding this assignment be sure to contact me soon.

The much delayed welfare system post has arrived

There's a lot to read here but if you're looking for information on welfare systems stay with it-it'll help.

I've been getting a lot of enquiries about the welfare assignment, as I do every year.
So this post points you towards specific resources which may help you tackle what is a tricky assignment.

Firstly, a database that you probably won't have used before called Marketline offers very up to date social information (unemployment rates, economic forecasts, population distribution and social care statistics) on any country you can think of. I've blogged about how to use Marketline before so if you click here it'll take you to my previous instructions. Current statistics are invaluable in getting a good mark for this assignment. We know how fast the economic situation is changing in many countries at present and the research you'll find on Marketline is the most recent reliable data you can get. The reports are big (100 pages isn't unusual) so target the sections of the reports which are looking at social factors.

I also have two specific and quite new e-books I think are worth a recommendation.

The first of these is The Cameron-Clegg government: coalition politics in an age of austerity edited by Simon Lee and Matt Beech. It's from 2011. Chapter 7 is specifically looking at welfare reform so that's where I'd head first.


The second is The welfare state in post-industrial society: a global perspective by Jason Powell and Jon (Joe) Hendricks. It's from 2009. This book is split into two sections; the first half is looking at different issues relating to welfare (aging, immigration, healthcare...) and the second half is examining specific countries and how their welfare systems operate. Just bear in mind that things will have moved on in some countries in the last 2 and a bit years!


What I haven't mentioned yet is how to locate journal articles. From those training sessions I've done with individuals on this assignment, the most common problem is caused by students trying to find journals which compare two or three systems in one perfectly presented article. You're asking for too much! I think you need to separate out your searches and target individual countries (for example, search for "welfare state" or "welfare system" and Australia). Then your job is to compare the findings with whichever countries you decide to target. 


I told you there was a lot to read! Hope it all makes things a bit clearer and at least gives you some new ideas.

A database to find social information on different countries.

You may on occasion be given assignments where you're asked to compare different countries across a whole range of perspectives.
These assignments may touch on health provision, wealth, employment or any number of other social factors.

We have a database called Marketline which has in-depth reports on 100's of individual countries from all around the world. Marketline is primarily a business studies database but that's no barrier to anyone using it.

Let me give you a quick overview of how to use it.

I'll give you the link to log in to Marketline shortly but if you scroll down you'll see a screenshot of what the Marketline homepage looks like.

If you want to find a profile on a particular country click where it says 'Browse All Countries Information' and choose an option. On average the reports are around 80 pages covering many aspects of a country's make up.

Okay? The link to log-in (use the same log-in details as usual) to Marketline is here.

If you'd like me to go through the database again in preparation for a future assignment then just ask.