John Gal
Biographic Data
| ID | 256184 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Gal |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Gal |
| SIGNATURE | GAL J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7610-2498 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 50 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 402 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
The policy role of social workers as heads of local government social services: מנהלות ומנהלי מחלקות לשירותים חברתיים כשחקני מדיניות ברמה המקומית
You Need to be a Diplomat”: Political Acumen in Policy Practice
Factors affecting the policy role of social workers in local government leadership positions
Social workers who lead local social services hold key leadership positions within local government. As such, they have the potential to influence the development of local social policies, which significantly impact the well-being of service users in their communities. However, this level of social work leadership has received little scholarly attention. Conducted in Israel, where heads of local government social services (HLGSSs) are legally req…
Social work education as foreign policy: An Israeli school of social work in Kenya in the 1960s
The global growth of social work entailed the transnational translation of professional knowledge and practice, primarily through social work education. The difficulties involved in this process are evident in a case study of an Israeli initiative to establish a school of social work in Kenya in the early 1960s. The school was opened in 1962 and remained active for most of the decade. Its establishment was a part of a drive to further Israeli inf…
Types of administrative burden reduction strategies: Who, What, and How
This article contributes to the growing body of research on administrative burdens by providing a theoretically and empirically driven typology of governments’ burden reduction strategies. Despite the mounting interest in burden reduction, the literature still lacks a typology for systematically identifying and classifying such strategies. The article identifies three analytical dimensions of burden reduction: distributive (who bears the burden),…
The Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the Global South
Ethical dilemmas in policy practice: A Conceptual Framework
Policy practice refers to the engagement of social workers in policy processes as part of their job. Over the last decades the discourse on policy practice has expanded significantly. However, missing still is a comprehensive and systematic discussion focused on the ethical dilemmas that emerge when social workers engage in policy practice. The aim of this article is to offer a novel conceptual framework that identifies and categorises the divers…
A Fast Track to Social Rights? Passported Benefits and Administrative Burden
Passported benefits are additional benefits provided to individual or households based on a previous eligibility to a 'primary' social security benefit. Although passported benefits should be easier to claim, in reality the claiming process is often cumbersome and results in low take-up. Drawing on an Israeli case study, we offer a conceptual framework to categorize and analyse the varieties of passported benefits along five dimensions: the eligi…
The limits of burden-reducing policies: A case study of unemployment insurance during the Covid-19 crisis in Israel
This study examines policy efforts to reduce administrative burden and to increase accessibility to unemployment insurance (UI) during the COVID-19 crisis in Israel and the consequences of these for claimants. A mixed-method approach was applied, utilising administrative documents, interviews and survey data. The findings suggest a mixed trend: burden-reducing measures were introduced but were constrained by the system’s preexisting infrastructur…
Social workers as street‐level policy entrepreneurs
Knowledge on street‐level bureaucrats as policy entrepreneurs is in its infancy. This article contributes to this emerging field by examining three cases of successful efforts by social workers employed by local social services in Israel to introduce local policy change. These processes varied in the issues that they addressed and the length of time that the policy process took. In each case, a small number of low‐ and meso‐street level community…
The Settlement House Movement Revisited: A Transnational History
This book explores the role and impact of the settlement house movement in the global development of social welfare and the social work profession. It traces the transnational history of settlement houses and examines the interconnections between the settlement house movement, other social and professional movements and social research. Looking at how the settlement house movement developed across different national, cultural and social boundarie…
Settlement House Movement Revisited: A Transnational History
Social workers’ policy practice in Israel: Internal, indirect, informal and role contingent
Social work is strongly committed to furthering social justice, among others, by incorporating efforts to influence policies into social work practice. However, there is little empirical data on if, and how, social workers seek to impact social policy as an integral part of their job. This article explores the policy-related activities which Israeli social workers engage in as part of their job. The sample consisted of 621 social workers: 300 dir…
Social work educators and social policy: A cross-professional perspective
This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate within European social work on the role of social work educators in influencing social policy. It reports on a study that examined the role of social work educators in furthering social policy by comparing Israeli social work educators’ engagement in policy with faculty members in professional schools with strong ties to social policy, namely education and healthcare. While the findings show …
Social Policy in Social Work PhD Programs in the United States
While there has been a long-standing concern about the role of policy within social work education and social work practice, most of the emphasis has been on social work education at the BSW and MSW levels. This article examines policy education at the PhD level. It first explores how policy is taught in social work PhD programs in the United States, with an emphasis on how policy theory and research methods are included. Next, it explores the na…
Social Workers’ Policy Practice in Non-Profit Human Service Organisations in Israel
The study’s aim is to expand knowledge on the level of involvement in policy-related interventions (‘policy practice’, PP) among social workers employed by non-profit human service organisations (NPHSOs) in Israel, and on the motivational and facilitating factors associated with this. The sample consisted of 106 social workers employed in NPHSOs that include social advocacy as one of their goals. Findings revealed a relatively low level of involv…
Teacher, Researcher and … Policy Actor? Social Work Academics’ Involvement in Social Policy
This cross‐sectional quantitative study expands the knowledge on the level of involvement of social work academics (SWAs) in social policy formulation processes, and the factors associated with this. SWAs are an interesting case for exploring the academia–policy nexus because they are affiliated with a profession in which the discourse regards social policy as a target of intervention. The study took place in Israel, where social work is strongly…
The 'Why' and the 'How' of Policy Practice: An Eight-Country Comparison
This article deals with the engagement of social workers in the policy arena. It offers a conceptual framework for the examination of why social workers engage in policy practice and how they actually do so. Drawing upon examples from a cross-national study comprising eight countries, the Policy Practice Engagement (PPE) conceptual framework presented in the article comprises three legs—Opportunity, Facilitation and Motivation. It is asserted tha…
The development of social policy research in Israel
The study of social policy in Israel has undergone major changes both since its initial steps during the 1950s and since the early 1970s, a period in which the first significant efforts to institutionalize it as an academic field took place. Based on a theoretical perspective that regards the scientific system as a social arena, this article seeks to identify the trends that have characterized this development as reflected in journal publications…
Social Workers as Policy Actors
This article offers an empirical analysis of the role of social workers as policy actors in parliamentary committees. Based on an initial finding that social workers participated in 14 per cent of all the deliberations of parliamentary committees in the Israeli parliament, the article examines the actual inputs of these social workers in the committee discussions. In order to examine the inputs of social workers in these committees and to identif…
Social Workers Affecting Social Policy: An international perspective on policy practice
Social Workers Affecting Social Policy An International Perspective
The Long Path from a Soup Kitchen to a Welfare State in Israel
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Children, Gender and Families in Mediterranean Welfare States
Social policy formulation and the role of professionals: The involvement of social workers in parliamentary committees in Israel
The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of social care professionals in the social policy formulation process by studying social workers' involvement in parliamentary committees in Israel. The study methodology is a quantitative content analysis of the minutes of parliamentary committees that met between the years 1999 and 2006. The findings indicate that social workers participated in 13% of the deliberations…
Is there an extended family of Mediterranean welfare states
The goal of this article is to suggest that an extended family of Mediterranean welfare states exists and that it consists of eight different nations, some of which have been ignored in the ongoing discourse on Mediterranean welfare states. More specifically, it is claimed that the extended family of Mediterranean welfare states includes Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. The article underscores a number of features…
The 'Why' and the 'How' of Policy Practice: An Eight-Country Comparison
This article deals with the engagement of social workers in the policy arena. It offers a conceptual framework for the examination of why social workers engage in policy practice and how they actually do so. Drawing upon examples from a cross-national study comprising eight countries, the Policy Practice Engagement (PPE) conceptual framework presented in the article comprises three legs—Opportunity, Facilitation and Motivation. It is asserted tha…
Immigration and the Categorical Welfare State in Israel
Immigration is an issue of growing relevance in welfare states. This article seeks to better understand the link between social welfare and immigration in Israel, a welfare state that has absorbed a greater proportion of immigrants than any other. Employing a conceptual framework that looks at both immigration policy and the structuring of the social welfare system, the article examines the impact of the Israeli system on the welfare of immigrant…
Social workers as street‐level policy entrepreneurs
Knowledge on street‐level bureaucrats as policy entrepreneurs is in its infancy. This article contributes to this emerging field by examining three cases of successful efforts by social workers employed by local social services in Israel to introduce local policy change. These processes varied in the issues that they addressed and the length of time that the policy process took. In each case, a small number of low‐ and meso‐street level community…
Social workers’ policy practice in Israel: Internal, indirect, informal and role contingent
Social work is strongly committed to furthering social justice, among others, by incorporating efforts to influence policies into social work practice. However, there is little empirical data on if, and how, social workers seek to impact social policy as an integral part of their job. This article explores the policy-related activities which Israeli social workers engage in as part of their job. The sample consisted of 621 social workers: 300 dir…
Types of administrative burden reduction strategies: Who, What, and How
This article contributes to the growing body of research on administrative burdens by providing a theoretically and empirically driven typology of governments’ burden reduction strategies. Despite the mounting interest in burden reduction, the literature still lacks a typology for systematically identifying and classifying such strategies. The article identifies three analytical dimensions of burden reduction: distributive (who bears the burden),…
Realizing Rights in Social Work
Non‐take‐up of rights is a problem that plagues many social programs. The premise in this article is that enhancing access to benefits, services, and labor rights is an integral part of social work. The article examines the engagement of social workers in Israel in case advocacy for welfare and labor rights. It also considers the factors that have an impact on this type of activity. It finds that the actual involvement of social workers in case a…
What kind of social policy do social work students prefer: A comparison of students in three countries
The goal of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the way in which students at the very beginning of their social work training view the sources of social problems and the way in which society should deal with these problems. This is part of an effort to determine the contemporary role of social change in the thinking of social workers in different national settings. Traditionally, social work has regarded social change as one of …
Who Has the Power? The Role of NPOs in Local Authorities
Recent years have seen accelerated processes of decentralization and devolution of social services from central government toward local authorities and from them to non-profit organizations (NPOs). This article describes a case study of the process of transition of power from a local authority to a NPO and the outcomes of this transition on public policy making. The findings presented in the article are based on a qualitative analysis of document…
Social Workers’ Policy Practice in Non-Profit Human Service Organisations in Israel
The study’s aim is to expand knowledge on the level of involvement in policy-related interventions (‘policy practice’, PP) among social workers employed by non-profit human service organisations (NPHSOs) in Israel, and on the motivational and facilitating factors associated with this. The sample consisted of 106 social workers employed in NPHSOs that include social advocacy as one of their goals. Findings revealed a relatively low level of involv…
Social Workers as Policy Actors
This article offers an empirical analysis of the role of social workers as policy actors in parliamentary committees. Based on an initial finding that social workers participated in 14 per cent of all the deliberations of parliamentary committees in the Israeli parliament, the article examines the actual inputs of these social workers in the committee discussions. In order to examine the inputs of social workers in these committees and to identif…
The Perils of Compensation in Social Welfare Policy: Disability Policy in Israel
This article explores different notions of social justice implied in the concept of compensation in social welfare. Compensation is a primary allocative principle according to which programs are structured and eligibility for benefits is determined. While familiar in legal terms, the notion of compensation within the social welfare domain has a very different meaning. This article clarifies the meaning of compensation in the social welfare contex…
Decommodification and beyond: A Comparative Analysis of Work-Injury Programmes
This article examines work-injury programmes in different welfare states. The article’s goals are to provide a better understanding of these programmes and to further develop concepts for comparison between welfare states. Work-injury programmes are a component in the social security systems of most countries throughout the world. Nevertheless, cross-national comparative research into this field of social protection has been very limited. This ar…
Social Work Education as Professional Socialization: A Study of the Impact of Social Work Education Upon Students' Professional Preferences
Professional socialization in social work is the subject of the panel study described in this article. It focuses upon the impact of different social work education programs upon the professional preferences of students in the United States and Israel. The findings indicate that significant change with regard to some of the variables did occur between the beginning and completion of studies. This generally took the form of a declinein preferences…
Poverty in the Eyes of the Beholder: Social Workers Compared to Other Middle-Class Professionals
This study examines the differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty of social workersand other middle-class professionals in Israel. A large-scale sample of 647 participants, ofwhom 482 were social workers and 165 middle-class professionals, was employed. Initially,the attitudes of the 482 social workers were analysed. The findings indicated that socialworkers preferred structural over psychological or individualistic explanations. Howeve…
Critical Junctures, Labor Movements and the Development of Occupational Welfare in Israel
The role of occupational welfare, and in particular that of occupational pensions, has gained growing attention in the study of welfare states in recent years. This article draws on a variety of primary and secondary data and two theoretical models, power resources and path dependency, in order to analyze the emergence of occupational welfare in the Israeli welfare state. In particular, it explores the notion of "critical junctures" and their rol…
Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values
Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic ori…
Categorical Benefits in Welfare States: Findings from Great Britain and Israel
This paper examines the role of categorical benefits; i.e. non‐means‐tested and non‐contributory cash benefits, in Great Britain and Israel. After introducing a more rigorous definition of the term and differentiating between various types of categorical benefits, it looks at the role and recent development of these benefits in the two countries. It finds that they play a growing and significant role in the social security systems of Great Britai…
Social work educators and social policy: A cross-professional perspective
This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate within European social work on the role of social work educators in influencing social policy. It reports on a study that examined the role of social work educators in furthering social policy by comparing Israeli social work educators’ engagement in policy with faculty members in professional schools with strong ties to social policy, namely education and healthcare. While the findings show …
Unemployment Insurance, Trade Unions and the Strange Case of the Israeli Labour Movement
The goal of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the labour movement and unemployment insurance (UI). Following a brief overview of the evolution of the approach of labour movements towards UI, the focus shifts to an analysis of a case study of the Israeli labour movement. The study traces the development of the approach of this movement towards UI during the pre-state period and following the establishment of Israel. It indicate…
The Long Path from a Soup Kitchen to a Welfare State in Israel
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Social workers’ attitudes towards social welfare policy
As social workers are widely called upon to take an active role in influencing social welfare policy, a better understanding of their views on the welfare state is crucial. This study examines the attitudes of 422 Israeli social workers from diverse social welfare agencies regarding social welfare policy. The framework for understanding these attitudes includes the notions of professionalisation processes, social work values, and the class positi…
The Puzzling Warfare—Welfare Nexus
Dealing with the Elusive Welfare‐to‐work Issue: The Case of Poverty Traps in Israel
A Fast Track to Social Rights? Passported Benefits and Administrative Burden
Passported benefits are additional benefits provided to individual or households based on a previous eligibility to a 'primary' social security benefit. Although passported benefits should be easier to claim, in reality the claiming process is often cumbersome and results in low take-up. Drawing on an Israeli case study, we offer a conceptual framework to categorize and analyse the varieties of passported benefits along five dimensions: the eligi…
Commodification, the Welfare State and Israeli Kibbutz
The notion of commodification refers to the degree to which the individual is dependent upon the market for the satisfaction of his economic and social needs. The welfare state has been described as having a decommodifying influence in that it provides the individual with the means to maintain a reasonable standard of living while not working. An examination of the Israeli Kibbutz is undertaken in order to understand the workings of an extreme ca…
Unemployment Insurance, Trade Unions and the Strange Case of the Israeli Labour Movement
The goal of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the labour movement and unemployment insurance (UI). Following a brief overview of the evolution of the approach of labour movements towards UI, the focus shifts to an analysis of a case study of the Israeli labour movement. The study traces the development of the approach of this movement towards UI during the pre-state period and following the establishment of Israel. It indicate…
Formulating the Matthew Principle: On the role of the middle classes in the welfare state
The Matthew Principle, which formulates the role of the middle classes in the welfare state, is discussed in this article. The middle classes are described as primary beneficiaries of the welfare state. This status is achieved through the ability of this social group to influence the policy‐formulating process by way of six different channels of influence. It is also facilitated due to the impact of middle‐class clients upon the implementation st…
The paradox of child poverty in israel: Window on the World
Data on the levels of child poverty in Israel indicate that it has remained consistently high and indeed is higher than that in most welfare states. This finding is paradoxical given the fact that, since its establishment fifty years ago, Israel has emphasized its commitment to the well-being of its children and to their welfare. Indeed, this approach has been reflected in a wide variety of social programmes aimed at bettering the living standard…
Categorical Benefits in Welfare States: Findings from Great Britain and Israel
This paper examines the role of categorical benefits; i.e. non‐means‐tested and non‐contributory cash benefits, in Great Britain and Israel. After introducing a more rigorous definition of the term and differentiating between various types of categorical benefits, it looks at the role and recent development of these benefits in the two countries. It finds that they play a growing and significant role in the social security systems of Great Britai…
Examining changes in settlement policies for immigrants: The Israeli case
Settlement policies for immigrants seek to provide services for the needs of the newcomers during their initial stay in their new country. These services can be differentiated by the degree of discretion clients have over the manner in which the services are provided, i.e., in the form of in‐kind or cash benefits, and by the conditions linked to receipt of these services. In recent years, the Israeli government has implemented an unusually libera…
Dealing with the Elusive Welfare‐to‐work Issue: The Case of Poverty Traps in Israel
The Needed and the Needy: The Policy Legacies of Benefits for Disabled War Veterans in Israel
In contrast to most other welfare states, the development of the Israeli welfare state has occurred in the shadow of an ongoing military conflict. This study examines one of the consequences of this development by focusing on the impact of benefits for disabled war veterans upon the country's social security system. Not only are the benefits for Israeli disabled veterans more generous and expensive than those in other welfare states but they have…
The Perils of Compensation in Social Welfare Policy: Disability Policy in Israel
This article explores different notions of social justice implied in the concept of compensation in social welfare. Compensation is a primary allocative principle according to which programs are structured and eligibility for benefits is determined. While familiar in legal terms, the notion of compensation within the social welfare domain has a very different meaning. This article clarifies the meaning of compensation in the social welfare contex…
How well does a partnership in pensions really work? The Israeli public/private pension mix
This paper takes the old-age pension system in Israel as a test case to examine the implications of proposals for pension reform now being debated or implemented in many welfare states. For over a decade, high on the agenda of decision-makers on both national and international levels, there has been the notion of moving towards a changing ‘partnership in pensions’ or, to put it more bluntly, towards greater privatisation of social security. Virtu…
What kind of social policy do social work students prefer: A comparison of students in three countries
The goal of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the way in which students at the very beginning of their social work training view the sources of social problems and the way in which society should deal with these problems. This is part of an effort to determine the contemporary role of social change in the thinking of social workers in different national settings. Traditionally, social work has regarded social change as one of …
Critical Junctures, Labor Movements and the Development of Occupational Welfare in Israel
The role of occupational welfare, and in particular that of occupational pensions, has gained growing attention in the study of welfare states in recent years. This article draws on a variety of primary and secondary data and two theoretical models, power resources and path dependency, in order to analyze the emergence of occupational welfare in the Israeli welfare state. In particular, it explores the notion of "critical junctures" and their rol…
Decommodification and beyond: A Comparative Analysis of Work-Injury Programmes
This article examines work-injury programmes in different welfare states. The article’s goals are to provide a better understanding of these programmes and to further develop concepts for comparison between welfare states. Work-injury programmes are a component in the social security systems of most countries throughout the world. Nevertheless, cross-national comparative research into this field of social protection has been very limited. This ar…
Social Work Education as Professional Socialization: A Study of the Impact of Social Work Education Upon Students' Professional Preferences
Professional socialization in social work is the subject of the panel study described in this article. It focuses upon the impact of different social work education programs upon the professional preferences of students in the United States and Israel. The findings indicate that significant change with regard to some of the variables did occur between the beginning and completion of studies. This generally took the form of a declinein preferences…
Business and Social Policy: A Case Study of the Adoption of Workers’ Compensation in Israel
This article explores how business firms participated in the social policy formulation process in the context of the adoption of a state monopoly over workers' compensation in Israel. The analyses suggest that the adoption of a monopolistic state strategy for the provision of workers' compensation in Israel primarily resulted from the inability of business to mobilize successful opposition to labor. The findings suggest the need for a more nuance…
The Rise and Fall of Unemployment Insurance in Israel
The Israeli unemployment insurance (UI) programme was adopted in 1972 but, in the three decades since, it has undergone major changes. As a result of these changes, the programme is currently far less accessible and less generous than it was in its original form. This article documents the policy process that led to retrenchment of UI in Israel. This process was justified by a professed desire on the part of decision‐makers to deal with the probl…
Poverty in the Eyes of the Beholder: Social Workers Compared to Other Middle-Class Professionals
This study examines the differences in perceptions of the causes of poverty of social workersand other middle-class professionals in Israel. A large-scale sample of 647 participants, ofwhom 482 were social workers and 165 middle-class professionals, was employed. Initially,the attitudes of the 482 social workers were analysed. The findings indicated that socialworkers preferred structural over psychological or individualistic explanations. Howeve…
Social workers’ attitudes towards social welfare policy
As social workers are widely called upon to take an active role in influencing social welfare policy, a better understanding of their views on the welfare state is crucial. This study examines the attitudes of 422 Israeli social workers from diverse social welfare agencies regarding social welfare policy. The framework for understanding these attitudes includes the notions of professionalisation processes, social work values, and the class positi…
The Puzzling Warfare—Welfare Nexus
Child and Family Outcomes in New York and Tel Aviv: Using Social Indicators in a City Level Comparative Analysis
Social Workers and Policy- Practice: The Role of Social and Professional Values
Although policy practice is regarded as an essential component of social work, the actual involvement of social workers in policy practice is apparently very limited. This article presents the findings of a study that seeks to explore the role of social and professional values in support by social workers in Israel for engagement in policy practice and their actual involvement in this type of practice. The findings indicate that socioeconomic ori…
Immigration and the Categorical Welfare State in Israel
Immigration is an issue of growing relevance in welfare states. This article seeks to better understand the link between social welfare and immigration in Israel, a welfare state that has absorbed a greater proportion of immigrants than any other. Employing a conceptual framework that looks at both immigration policy and the structuring of the social welfare system, the article examines the impact of the Israeli system on the welfare of immigrant…
Realizing Rights in Social Work
Non‐take‐up of rights is a problem that plagues many social programs. The premise in this article is that enhancing access to benefits, services, and labor rights is an integral part of social work. The article examines the engagement of social workers in Israel in case advocacy for welfare and labor rights. It also considers the factors that have an impact on this type of activity. It finds that the actual involvement of social workers in case a…
Children, Gender and Families in Mediterranean Welfare States
Social policy formulation and the role of professionals: The involvement of social workers in parliamentary committees in Israel
The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of social care professionals in the social policy formulation process by studying social workers' involvement in parliamentary committees in Israel. The study methodology is a quantitative content analysis of the minutes of parliamentary committees that met between the years 1999 and 2006. The findings indicate that social workers participated in 13% of the deliberations…
Political science (45 works) · Law (32 works) · Sociology (32 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (26 works) · Economics (25 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (22 works) · Social policy (21 works) · Law (20 works) · Social Work (20 works) · Welfare (19 works)