Michael Orton
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 267681 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Michael Orton |
| NOMBRES | Michael |
| APELLIDO | Orton |
| FIRMA | ORTON M |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Warwick |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8096-9652 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 21 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 93 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 21 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2002 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2023 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Covid-19 and (mis)understanding public attitudes to social security
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen emerging debate about a possible shift in ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ i.e. the orthodoxy previously described in this journal as solidifying negative public attitudes towards ‘welfare’. While a shift in attitudes might be ascribed to the circumstances of the crisis it would still be remarkable for such a strongly established orthodoxy to have changed quite so rapidly. It is appropriate, therefore, to reflect on wheth…
Guiding principles for social security policy
Covid‐19 has highlighted the inadequacy of UK social security but also the lack of consensus among progressive actors about what would be a better system. One way forward is to focus on the principles that should underpin social security. We present outcomes from a project in which principles were considered by a panel of Expert by Experience benefit claimants. We argue that while scholars often engage in descriptively identifying social security…
No Voice, No Choice
Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) are the subject of ongoing interest, which has included the framing of ALMPs as the re-commodification of labour. It has also been argued that Sen's Capability Approach (CA) offers the potential to reconsider ALMPs from a more progressive viewpoint - so, is this the case and to what extent is, or can, the CA be a helpful research and analytical tool with which to study ALMPs? These questions are addressed thr…
Challenges for anti-poverty action
Employer Participation in Active Labour Market Policy
Active labour market policy (ALMP) is a well-established strategy but one aspect is greatly neglected - employer participation - about which there is a lack of systematic evidence. The question of why and how employers participate in ALMP, and whether there may be some shift from employers solely being passive recipients of job-ready candidates to having a more proactive and strategic role, is addressed by drawing on new research into Talent Matc…
An agenda for fixing the social security/welfare benefits system
Social security/welfare benefits are a fundamental and critical element in tackling economic disadvantage but as Lister (2016) has noted, the current UK system is not preventing poverty, relieves it inadequately and the growing reliance on food banks is me rely the most visible tip of an iceberg of unmet needs. There is much criticism of the current system – from the bedroom tax to the benefits cap, and sanctions to work capability assessments – …
Flourishing lives
Even before the onset of economic downturn in 2008-9, UK policy on employment, work and welfare had reached an impasse, with little evidence of new ideas, either in relation to the final years of New Labour or the Coalition Government, as to how to tackle deeply entrenched problems beyond adherence to neo-liberalism. This article explores whether a capabilities approach, as originally developed in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, offe…
Do We Still Care about Inequality?
The annual British Social Attitudes survey is carried out by Britain's largest independent social research organisation, the National Centre for Social Research. It provides an indispensable guide to political and social issues in contemporary Britain, summarising and interpreting data from the most recent nationwide survey, as well as drawing invaluable comparisons with the findings of previous years to provide a richer picture and deeper unders…
Comparing Foreclosure Counseling Policies in the US and UK
This article reviews recent developments in the US and UK in response to rising foreclosures, with an emphasis on the provision of advice or counseling to borrowers in mortgage default. Both nations have increased support for counseling programs despite the lack of evidence that counseling is effective. Based on a quantitative study in the US and a qualitative study in the UK, this article provides preliminary evidence that counseling strategies …
Policy Innovation in a Fragmented and Complex Multilevel Governance Context
Green A. E. and Orton M. Policy innovation in a fragmented and complex multilevel governance context: worklessness and the City Strategy in Great Britain, Regional Studies. This paper examines whether innovative policy development within fragmented and complex multilevel governance frameworks provides a paradox in that fragmentation and complexity justify, enable, and even require the launch of initiatives to deliver ‘joined-up thinking’, but at …
Understanding the exercise of agency within structural inequality
This article contributes to debates about agency (meaning the behaviour of individuals) and structure, by drawing on empirical research into personal debt. Consideration of debt allows for debate about agency and structure beyond the narrow confines of welfare, and for the examination of agency in relation to citizens at different points in the broader socio-economic structure, not solely poor people. Based on the research findings, themselves gr…
Exploring Neglected Dimensions of Social Policy
Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfa…
Activation policies and organisational innovation
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to activation policies, then discuss the capability approach, in particular highlighting a number of key concepts relevant to the analysis of active labour market policies. The second section presents the articles in this special issue, which address organisational innovation in activation policies and cover: six European countries (including Scandinavia and East and West Europe…
The integration of activation policy at sub‐national level
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to engage with the theme of activation policies and organisational innovation in the capability perspective, from the viewpoint of active labour market policies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach The focus of the article is the City Strategy initiative in Great Britain, which encourages institutions to work together to develop solutions to concentrations of worklessness. The article presents findings from …
A Problem of Riches
The distribution of economic resources in society is a central concern for social policy. But research in this area has primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely 'the poor'. In this article, we argue that it is time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of bette…
How to help people pay local tax
Council tax featured as a significant issue in the 2005 General Election and with ongoing debate about the reform of local taxation, council tax benefit is receiving increasing attention. This article examines the developing debate and argues that while the current focus is largely on improving take-up of council tax benefit, there is an opportunity for new thinking about ways of assisting people on low incomes to pay local tax
Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility
The retheorisation of citizenship since the 1980s has been marked by an emphasis on responsibility over rights, and a focus on poor citizens. The article discusses why an interest in wealthy citizens is timely, including the argument in the UK that the citizenship responsibilities of those with high incomes should be expressed through the notion of active citizenship, not solely by paying tax. Findings are presented from empirical research in the…
Inequality and the Reform of a Regressive Local Tax
The concern of this article is with the current debate about the reform of local taxation in the UK. In particular, the article examines the consideration given to issues of equity in the policy debate that has taken place through the government's ‘Balance of Funding Review’. It is argued that while the outcome of the reform process remains to be seen, the current debate indicates that decisions regarding local tax will serve as an illuminating e…
New Labour Ambiguity, or Neo-liberal Consistency? The Debate About Racial Inequality in Employment and the Use of Contract Compliance
In 2003 the UK government set an objective that in ten years' time Britain's minority ethnic groups should not face disproportionate barriers in the labour market. A key 'barrier' is discrimination by employers. This article examines one potential way forward: the use of contract compliance. First, the article presents findings from the authors' study of an innovative use of contract compliance by a group of local authorities in the West Midlands…
Irresponsible citizens? New Labour, citizenship and the case of non-payment of local taxation
This article engages with the debate about citizenship and responsibility by drawing on the experience of citizens whose voice is rarely heard in that debate. The article draws on a study of a specific citizenship obligation, the payment of local taxation, and in particular interviews with people who had failed to pay local tax - a group who could potentially be characterized as ‘irresponsible citizens’. From the perspective of these citizens the…
Council Tax
This article takes as its starting point the local government White Paper of December 2001 in which the government expressed its willingness to listen to views about Council Tax. The role of Council Tax Benefit is considered, but is located within the context of the underlying structure of the Council Tax scheme. It is argued that the principal issue that should be debated is the extent to which Council Tax itself favours the rich over the poor
Flourishing lives
Even before the onset of economic downturn in 2008-9, UK policy on employment, work and welfare had reached an impasse, with little evidence of new ideas, either in relation to the final years of New Labour or the Coalition Government, as to how to tackle deeply entrenched problems beyond adherence to neo-liberalism. This article explores whether a capabilities approach, as originally developed in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, offe…
Activation policies and organisational innovation
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to activation policies, then discuss the capability approach, in particular highlighting a number of key concepts relevant to the analysis of active labour market policies. The second section presents the articles in this special issue, which address organisational innovation in activation policies and cover: six European countries (including Scandinavia and East and West Europe…
A Problem of Riches
The distribution of economic resources in society is a central concern for social policy. But research in this area has primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely 'the poor'. In this article, we argue that it is time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of bette…
Employer Participation in Active Labour Market Policy
Active labour market policy (ALMP) is a well-established strategy but one aspect is greatly neglected - employer participation - about which there is a lack of systematic evidence. The question of why and how employers participate in ALMP, and whether there may be some shift from employers solely being passive recipients of job-ready candidates to having a more proactive and strategic role, is addressed by drawing on new research into Talent Matc…
No Voice, No Choice
Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) are the subject of ongoing interest, which has included the framing of ALMPs as the re-commodification of labour. It has also been argued that Sen's Capability Approach (CA) offers the potential to reconsider ALMPs from a more progressive viewpoint - so, is this the case and to what extent is, or can, the CA be a helpful research and analytical tool with which to study ALMPs? These questions are addressed thr…
Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility
The retheorisation of citizenship since the 1980s has been marked by an emphasis on responsibility over rights, and a focus on poor citizens. The article discusses why an interest in wealthy citizens is timely, including the argument in the UK that the citizenship responsibilities of those with high incomes should be expressed through the notion of active citizenship, not solely by paying tax. Findings are presented from empirical research in the…
Policy Innovation in a Fragmented and Complex Multilevel Governance Context
Green A. E. and Orton M. Policy innovation in a fragmented and complex multilevel governance context: worklessness and the City Strategy in Great Britain, Regional Studies. This paper examines whether innovative policy development within fragmented and complex multilevel governance frameworks provides a paradox in that fragmentation and complexity justify, enable, and even require the launch of initiatives to deliver ‘joined-up thinking’, but at …
An agenda for fixing the social security/welfare benefits system
Social security/welfare benefits are a fundamental and critical element in tackling economic disadvantage but as Lister (2016) has noted, the current UK system is not preventing poverty, relieves it inadequately and the growing reliance on food banks is me rely the most visible tip of an iceberg of unmet needs. There is much criticism of the current system – from the bedroom tax to the benefits cap, and sanctions to work capability assessments – …
The integration of activation policy at sub‐national level
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to engage with the theme of activation policies and organisational innovation in the capability perspective, from the viewpoint of active labour market policies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach The focus of the article is the City Strategy initiative in Great Britain, which encourages institutions to work together to develop solutions to concentrations of worklessness. The article presents findings from …
Covid-19 and (mis)understanding public attitudes to social security
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen emerging debate about a possible shift in ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ i.e. the orthodoxy previously described in this journal as solidifying negative public attitudes towards ‘welfare’. While a shift in attitudes might be ascribed to the circumstances of the crisis it would still be remarkable for such a strongly established orthodoxy to have changed quite so rapidly. It is appropriate, therefore, to reflect on wheth…
Comparing Foreclosure Counseling Policies in the US and UK
This article reviews recent developments in the US and UK in response to rising foreclosures, with an emphasis on the provision of advice or counseling to borrowers in mortgage default. Both nations have increased support for counseling programs despite the lack of evidence that counseling is effective. Based on a quantitative study in the US and a qualitative study in the UK, this article provides preliminary evidence that counseling strategies …
Understanding the exercise of agency within structural inequality
This article contributes to debates about agency (meaning the behaviour of individuals) and structure, by drawing on empirical research into personal debt. Consideration of debt allows for debate about agency and structure beyond the narrow confines of welfare, and for the examination of agency in relation to citizens at different points in the broader socio-economic structure, not solely poor people. Based on the research findings, themselves gr…
Exploring Neglected Dimensions of Social Policy
Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfa…
Guiding principles for social security policy
Covid‐19 has highlighted the inadequacy of UK social security but also the lack of consensus among progressive actors about what would be a better system. One way forward is to focus on the principles that should underpin social security. We present outcomes from a project in which principles were considered by a panel of Expert by Experience benefit claimants. We argue that while scholars often engage in descriptively identifying social security…
Challenges for anti-poverty action
Inequality and the Reform of a Regressive Local Tax
The concern of this article is with the current debate about the reform of local taxation in the UK. In particular, the article examines the consideration given to issues of equity in the policy debate that has taken place through the government's ‘Balance of Funding Review’. It is argued that while the outcome of the reform process remains to be seen, the current debate indicates that decisions regarding local tax will serve as an illuminating e…
New Labour Ambiguity, or Neo-liberal Consistency? The Debate About Racial Inequality in Employment and the Use of Contract Compliance
In 2003 the UK government set an objective that in ten years' time Britain's minority ethnic groups should not face disproportionate barriers in the labour market. A key 'barrier' is discrimination by employers. This article examines one potential way forward: the use of contract compliance. First, the article presents findings from the authors' study of an innovative use of contract compliance by a group of local authorities in the West Midlands…
Irresponsible citizens? New Labour, citizenship and the case of non-payment of local taxation
This article engages with the debate about citizenship and responsibility by drawing on the experience of citizens whose voice is rarely heard in that debate. The article draws on a study of a specific citizenship obligation, the payment of local taxation, and in particular interviews with people who had failed to pay local tax - a group who could potentially be characterized as ‘irresponsible citizens’. From the perspective of these citizens the…
Council Tax
This article takes as its starting point the local government White Paper of December 2001 in which the government expressed its willingness to listen to views about Council Tax. The role of Council Tax Benefit is considered, but is located within the context of the underlying structure of the Council Tax scheme. It is argued that the principal issue that should be debated is the extent to which Council Tax itself favours the rich over the poor
Irresponsible citizens? New Labour, citizenship and the case of non-payment of local taxation
This article engages with the debate about citizenship and responsibility by drawing on the experience of citizens whose voice is rarely heard in that debate. The article draws on a study of a specific citizenship obligation, the payment of local taxation, and in particular interviews with people who had failed to pay local tax - a group who could potentially be characterized as ‘irresponsible citizens’. From the perspective of these citizens the…
Inequality and the Reform of a Regressive Local Tax
The concern of this article is with the current debate about the reform of local taxation in the UK. In particular, the article examines the consideration given to issues of equity in the policy debate that has taken place through the government's ‘Balance of Funding Review’. It is argued that while the outcome of the reform process remains to be seen, the current debate indicates that decisions regarding local tax will serve as an illuminating e…
New Labour Ambiguity, or Neo-liberal Consistency? The Debate About Racial Inequality in Employment and the Use of Contract Compliance
In 2003 the UK government set an objective that in ten years' time Britain's minority ethnic groups should not face disproportionate barriers in the labour market. A key 'barrier' is discrimination by employers. This article examines one potential way forward: the use of contract compliance. First, the article presents findings from the authors' study of an innovative use of contract compliance by a group of local authorities in the West Midlands…
How to help people pay local tax
Council tax featured as a significant issue in the 2005 General Election and with ongoing debate about the reform of local taxation, council tax benefit is receiving increasing attention. This article examines the developing debate and argues that while the current focus is largely on improving take-up of council tax benefit, there is an opportunity for new thinking about ways of assisting people on low incomes to pay local tax
Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility
The retheorisation of citizenship since the 1980s has been marked by an emphasis on responsibility over rights, and a focus on poor citizens. The article discusses why an interest in wealthy citizens is timely, including the argument in the UK that the citizenship responsibilities of those with high incomes should be expressed through the notion of active citizenship, not solely by paying tax. Findings are presented from empirical research in the…
A Problem of Riches
The distribution of economic resources in society is a central concern for social policy. But research in this area has primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely 'the poor'. In this article, we argue that it is time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of bette…
Understanding the exercise of agency within structural inequality
This article contributes to debates about agency (meaning the behaviour of individuals) and structure, by drawing on empirical research into personal debt. Consideration of debt allows for debate about agency and structure beyond the narrow confines of welfare, and for the examination of agency in relation to citizens at different points in the broader socio-economic structure, not solely poor people. Based on the research findings, themselves gr…
Exploring Neglected Dimensions of Social Policy
Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfa…
Activation policies and organisational innovation
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to activation policies, then discuss the capability approach, in particular highlighting a number of key concepts relevant to the analysis of active labour market policies. The second section presents the articles in this special issue, which address organisational innovation in activation policies and cover: six European countries (including Scandinavia and East and West Europe…
The integration of activation policy at sub‐national level
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to engage with the theme of activation policies and organisational innovation in the capability perspective, from the viewpoint of active labour market policies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach The focus of the article is the City Strategy initiative in Great Britain, which encourages institutions to work together to develop solutions to concentrations of worklessness. The article presents findings from …
Do We Still Care about Inequality?
The annual British Social Attitudes survey is carried out by Britain's largest independent social research organisation, the National Centre for Social Research. It provides an indispensable guide to political and social issues in contemporary Britain, summarising and interpreting data from the most recent nationwide survey, as well as drawing invaluable comparisons with the findings of previous years to provide a richer picture and deeper unders…
Comparing Foreclosure Counseling Policies in the US and UK
This article reviews recent developments in the US and UK in response to rising foreclosures, with an emphasis on the provision of advice or counseling to borrowers in mortgage default. Both nations have increased support for counseling programs despite the lack of evidence that counseling is effective. Based on a quantitative study in the US and a qualitative study in the UK, this article provides preliminary evidence that counseling strategies …
Policy Innovation in a Fragmented and Complex Multilevel Governance Context
Green A. E. and Orton M. Policy innovation in a fragmented and complex multilevel governance context: worklessness and the City Strategy in Great Britain, Regional Studies. This paper examines whether innovative policy development within fragmented and complex multilevel governance frameworks provides a paradox in that fragmentation and complexity justify, enable, and even require the launch of initiatives to deliver ‘joined-up thinking’, but at …
Flourishing lives
Even before the onset of economic downturn in 2008-9, UK policy on employment, work and welfare had reached an impasse, with little evidence of new ideas, either in relation to the final years of New Labour or the Coalition Government, as to how to tackle deeply entrenched problems beyond adherence to neo-liberalism. This article explores whether a capabilities approach, as originally developed in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, offe…
An agenda for fixing the social security/welfare benefits system
Social security/welfare benefits are a fundamental and critical element in tackling economic disadvantage but as Lister (2016) has noted, the current UK system is not preventing poverty, relieves it inadequately and the growing reliance on food banks is me rely the most visible tip of an iceberg of unmet needs. There is much criticism of the current system – from the bedroom tax to the benefits cap, and sanctions to work capability assessments – …
Challenges for anti-poverty action
Employer Participation in Active Labour Market Policy
Active labour market policy (ALMP) is a well-established strategy but one aspect is greatly neglected - employer participation - about which there is a lack of systematic evidence. The question of why and how employers participate in ALMP, and whether there may be some shift from employers solely being passive recipients of job-ready candidates to having a more proactive and strategic role, is addressed by drawing on new research into Talent Matc…
No Voice, No Choice
Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) are the subject of ongoing interest, which has included the framing of ALMPs as the re-commodification of labour. It has also been argued that Sen's Capability Approach (CA) offers the potential to reconsider ALMPs from a more progressive viewpoint - so, is this the case and to what extent is, or can, the CA be a helpful research and analytical tool with which to study ALMPs? These questions are addressed thr…
Guiding principles for social security policy
Covid‐19 has highlighted the inadequacy of UK social security but also the lack of consensus among progressive actors about what would be a better system. One way forward is to focus on the principles that should underpin social security. We present outcomes from a project in which principles were considered by a panel of Expert by Experience benefit claimants. We argue that while scholars often engage in descriptively identifying social security…
Covid-19 and (mis)understanding public attitudes to social security
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen emerging debate about a possible shift in ‘anti-welfare commonsense’ i.e. the orthodoxy previously described in this journal as solidifying negative public attitudes towards ‘welfare’. While a shift in attitudes might be ascribed to the circumstances of the crisis it would still be remarkable for such a strongly established orthodoxy to have changed quite so rapidly. It is appropriate, therefore, to reflect on wheth…
Political science (20 obras) · Economics (18 obras) · Law (13 obras) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (13 obras) · Sociology (13 obras) · Law (11 obras) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (9 obras) · Employment and Welfare Studies (8 obras) · Politics (7 obras) · Public economics (6 obras)