"Waste of resources"? Poverty management and financial education of welfare recipients in Poland 3502-FAKL28-LIC
What does it mean to waste reliefs or welfare service support? When the reliefs are being wasted and what actions should be taken against the welfare recipients who do that? Does the “financial pathology” is common and appropriate term to describe “waste of money” by the poor? What measures are being taken to prevent the “financial pathology”? What are the consequences of this phenomenon for the individuals? Participants of the course will investigate what answers to the above questions have workers in the welfare offices in Poland. Popular critics of the money transfers and programs like “Family 500+” are often based on the stereotypical view of welfare recipient as unable or incompetent to manage their budgets “rationally”. Trying to prevent this problem welfare institutions are taking actions to correct habits of the beneficiaries. This actions have various forms: organized and classified as education activities, like budget trainings, financial workshop, help of the family assistant; sanctions for the “bad” budgeting (refusal of benefits); based on the control of household budgets (checking receipts, control of shopping list etc.). The course will aim at characterizing these practices.
The participants of the course will get acquainted with the literature on the problem of poverty and social assistance in Poland. A review of the research (Polish and foreign) on the problem described as financial literacy in relation to the poor will also be made. Next, the participants of the workshop will formulate the concept of research, arrange a research schedule and prepare research tools.
The research methods will include discourse analysis, data analysis (desk research), observation and individual in-depth interviews (IDI) with employees of social welfare offices.
During the summer semester participants of the workshop will carry out research in selected welfare offices in Poland. The material from the study will be analyzed using the Atlas ti. program based on the previously prepared code key. The final product of the research will be report prepared by the participants.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Has basic knowledge about the tools and goals of social policy
Knows basic methods and techniques of social research and can choose appropriate methods to solve basic research problems
Knows how to plan and carry out a simple quantitative and qualitative study
Can record and observe social phenomena in a methodologically correct way
Can independently find facts and materials needed to conduct simple sociological analyses, using various sources in both Polish and a foreign language, and using modern technologies
Can use ethical norms and rules in research practice
Can select proper research methods and techniques to conduct an analysis of a particular problem
Can plan and carry out a social study using basic quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques
Can use the basic functions of a chosen computer program for data analysis
Can discuss measures presented as solutions to particular social problems (in micro and macro scale), based on acquired knowledge
Can formulate a general evaluation of a measure undertaken to solve a particular social problem, based on acquired knowledge
Can form judgments on motives of human behavior and predict its social consequences
Can effectively collaborate with members of a task team
Can find, gather and synthesize information about social phenomena
Can participate in a discussion
Can argue a thesis
Can critically assess sources
Can present results of his/her own research
Assessment criteria
Participation in the preparation of research tools and research plan (semester I). Participation in the implementation of the study and in the preparation of the study report based on the analysis in the Atlas program ti. (II semester)
Practical placement
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Bibliography
Dubois V. (2010) The bureaucrat and the poor, Ashgate
Lipsky, Michael (2010). Street Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services. 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition. The Russell Sage Foundation: New York
Banerjee A. (2013), Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Program, MIT
Ann Netten, Karen Jones, Martin Knapp, Jose Luis Fernandez, David Challis, Caroline Glendinning, Sally Jacobs, Jill Manthorpe, Nicola Moran, Martin Stevens, and Mark Wilberforce (2012) Personalisation through Individual Budgets: Does It Work and for Whom?, British Journal of Social Work 42, 1556–1573
Colin Slasberg, Peter Beresford and Peter Schofield (2012) How self directed support is failing to deliver personal budgets and Personalisation, Research, Policy and Planning 29(3), 161-177
Jill Manthorpe, Sally Jacobs, Joan Rapaport, David Challis, Ann Netten (2009) Training for Change: Early Days of Individual Budgets and the Implications for Social Work and Care Management Practice: A Qualitative Study of the Views of Trainers, British Journal of Social Work 39, 1291–1305
Gray M., Webb S. (2013) Praca socjalna. Teorie i metody, wyd. PWN
Fiszbein A., Schady N. (2009) Conditional Cash Transfers. Reducing Present and Future Poverty, The World Bank, Washington
Haushofer J., Fehr E. (2014) On the psychology of poverty, Science Vol. 344 No. 862
Kudlińska I. (2012) Stygmatyzacja społeczna jako strategia dyskursywna biedy i jej rola w procesie wykluczania społecznego, Kultura i Społeczeństwo nr 1, s. 175-189
Lusardi A. (2008) Household Saving Behavior: The Role of Financial Literacy, Information, and Financial Education Programs. Discussion Paper 2008 – 009
Palska H. (2000) Ludzie “w opiece”. Przyjmowanie darów i zaciąganie długów jako element stylu życia ubogich, [w:] Zrozumieć biednego. O dawnej i obecnej biedzie w Polsce, E. Tarkowska (red.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź
Zelizer V. (1996) Social meaning of money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief and Other Currencies, Princeton University Press
Additional information
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