Sonja Blum
Biographic Data
| ID | 4137780 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja Blum |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja |
| FAMILY NAME | Blum |
| SIGNATURE | BLUM S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Austrian Institute for Family Studies University of Vienna Vienna Austria |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8877-7321 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
What defines deservingness? Specifying the criteria for target groups constructions in public policy
As policies are rarely enacted universally for the entire population, an essential part of policy design is to decide which target groups are addressed by policy benefits or burdens, and which are not. For this, next to the power position of different groups, their ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ construction has proven to be essential – famously captured in the Schneider/Ingram typology of target populations (advantaged, contenders, dependents, deviant…
Policy advisory bodies during crises: A scoping review of the Covid-19 literature in Europe
Background: The COVID-19 policy context was characterised by high levels of uncertainty, imperfect knowledge and the need for immediate action. Therefore, governments in Europe tended to rely on expertise provided by advisory bodies to design their crisis response. Advisory bodies played a fundamental part in policy making during the crisis to optimise policy formulation. Aims and objectives: During the COVID-19 crisis, the literature on policy a…
Setting the Stage for the Sun: Interrogations of performance of flicker
Flicker is a coordinated beat which can be superimposed on the brain’s alpha rhythm, through a flickering light source, and is associated with hallucinatory or visionary states of mind. In this experimental piece, I weave ideas and performance into a poetic image and text piece proposing some hypotheses and questions surrounding the relationship of moving bodies, the sun, and eureka moments of visions and dreams of new worlds
Failure to Perceive Change: From Neurons to Social Networks
The lesson learned from Covid-19 and the climate crisis is not to let experts decide on policies: A response to Robert C. Schmidt
This is a response to the commentary by Robert C. Schmidt in this journal, in which the author suggests that for specific problems such as climate change or the current pandemic, decisions on policies should be made by scientific experts rather than by politicians. We argue that such ideas, which were brought up in the late 1960s and reconsidered more recently, do not take sufficient account of the nature of science politics, and their interactio…
Routledge Handbook of European Welfare Systems
"Published ten years after the first edition, this new handbook offers topical, and comprehensive information on the welfare systems of all twenty-eight EU member states and their recent reforms, giving the reader an invaluable introduction and basis for comparative welfare research. Additional chapters provide detailed information on EU social policy, as well as comparative analyses of European welfare systems and their reform pathways. For this…
Inclusiveness of Parental-Leave Benefits in Twenty-One European Countries: Measuring Social and Gender Inequalities in Leave Eligibility
This article analyzes eligibility for parental-leave benefits in twenty-one European countries. It distinguishes four ideal-type approaches to how leave-related benefits are granted (in-)dependent of parents’ labor market position: universal parenthood model, selective parenthood model, universal adult-worker model, and selective adult-worker model. An eligibility index is created to measure the inclusiveness of parental-leave benefits, alongside…
The role of discourse in family policy reform: The case of Finland
Since 2010 and the onset of the economic crisis, Finnish governments have pressed for structural reforms, including unpopular cuts to family benefits and services. This article analyses the government discourse used for legitimating some of these reforms: the cutbacks in child benefit and the restriction of full-time childcare. It also assesses whether this discourse bore the hallmarks of a neoliberal austerity discourse, which could suggest that…
Wer hat Zugang zu Elterngeld? Soziale Rechte und Anspruchsbedingungen in vergleichender Perspektive
Die vergleichende Forschung hat sich bislang mit den Anspruchsbedingungen für Elterngeldleistungen, v. a. aber mit den Rechtsansprüchen von Eltern mit geringerer Arbeitsmarktbindung, wenig auseinandergesetzt. Hierdurch blieben soziale Ungleichheiten beim Zugang zu Elterngeld weitgehend unerforscht. Sie sind insbesondere in denjenigen Ländern von Bedeutung, in denen Elterngeldansprüche an eine bestimmte Form oder Dauer des Beschäftigungsverhältnis…
Family Policies in ‘Hybrid’ Welfare States after the Crisis: Pathways between Policy Expansion and Retrenchment
The economic crisis has significantly challenged national welfare states and has often led to retrenchment. The question arises how countries have reacted to the crisis in the area of family policy – not directly connected to rising unemployment and also not as demanding for state spending as for example the pension system. This article analyzes family policy reforms during the crisis in three small European welfare states – A ustria, the C zech …
No need to reinvent the wheel: Family policy transfers in Germany and Austria
Family policies have recently been raised high on the political agendas for action in many welfare states and have constituted a major reform area. This is especially the case in Germany and in Austria, where the literature has identified surprisingly far-reaching reforms, particularly in the fields of parental leave and childcare services. This article addresses the observation that there has not only been an intensive exchange between these two…
Familienpolitik als Reformprozess: Deutschland und Österreich im Vergleich
Die Familienpolitik stellte während der letzten Jahre sowohl in Deutschland als auch in Österreich eines der Politikfelder mit der höchsten Reformtätigkeit dar. Für die vergleichende Wohlfahrtsstaatsforschung kam dies überraschend, war doch regelmäßig auf die Reformunfähigkeit der sogenannten konservativen, familialistischen Wohlfahrtsstaaten v.a. im Bereich neuer sozialer Risiken wie der Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf hingewiesen worden. Wi…
Politikfeldanalyse
Politikfeldanalyse
Inclusiveness of Parental-Leave Benefits in Twenty-One European Countries: Measuring Social and Gender Inequalities in Leave Eligibility
This article analyzes eligibility for parental-leave benefits in twenty-one European countries. It distinguishes four ideal-type approaches to how leave-related benefits are granted (in-)dependent of parents’ labor market position: universal parenthood model, selective parenthood model, universal adult-worker model, and selective adult-worker model. An eligibility index is created to measure the inclusiveness of parental-leave benefits, alongside…
Family Policies in ‘Hybrid’ Welfare States after the Crisis: Pathways between Policy Expansion and Retrenchment
The economic crisis has significantly challenged national welfare states and has often led to retrenchment. The question arises how countries have reacted to the crisis in the area of family policy – not directly connected to rising unemployment and also not as demanding for state spending as for example the pension system. This article analyzes family policy reforms during the crisis in three small European welfare states – A ustria, the C zech …
No need to reinvent the wheel: Family policy transfers in Germany and Austria
Family policies have recently been raised high on the political agendas for action in many welfare states and have constituted a major reform area. This is especially the case in Germany and in Austria, where the literature has identified surprisingly far-reaching reforms, particularly in the fields of parental leave and childcare services. This article addresses the observation that there has not only been an intensive exchange between these two…
What defines deservingness? Specifying the criteria for target groups constructions in public policy
As policies are rarely enacted universally for the entire population, an essential part of policy design is to decide which target groups are addressed by policy benefits or burdens, and which are not. For this, next to the power position of different groups, their ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ construction has proven to be essential – famously captured in the Schneider/Ingram typology of target populations (advantaged, contenders, dependents, deviant…
The role of discourse in family policy reform: The case of Finland
Since 2010 and the onset of the economic crisis, Finnish governments have pressed for structural reforms, including unpopular cuts to family benefits and services. This article analyses the government discourse used for legitimating some of these reforms: the cutbacks in child benefit and the restriction of full-time childcare. It also assesses whether this discourse bore the hallmarks of a neoliberal austerity discourse, which could suggest that…
Wer hat Zugang zu Elterngeld? Soziale Rechte und Anspruchsbedingungen in vergleichender Perspektive
Die vergleichende Forschung hat sich bislang mit den Anspruchsbedingungen für Elterngeldleistungen, v. a. aber mit den Rechtsansprüchen von Eltern mit geringerer Arbeitsmarktbindung, wenig auseinandergesetzt. Hierdurch blieben soziale Ungleichheiten beim Zugang zu Elterngeld weitgehend unerforscht. Sie sind insbesondere in denjenigen Ländern von Bedeutung, in denen Elterngeldansprüche an eine bestimmte Form oder Dauer des Beschäftigungsverhältnis…
Politikfeldanalyse
Politikfeldanalyse
Familienpolitik als Reformprozess: Deutschland und Österreich im Vergleich
Die Familienpolitik stellte während der letzten Jahre sowohl in Deutschland als auch in Österreich eines der Politikfelder mit der höchsten Reformtätigkeit dar. Für die vergleichende Wohlfahrtsstaatsforschung kam dies überraschend, war doch regelmäßig auf die Reformunfähigkeit der sogenannten konservativen, familialistischen Wohlfahrtsstaaten v.a. im Bereich neuer sozialer Risiken wie der Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf hingewiesen worden. Wi…
Family Policies in ‘Hybrid’ Welfare States after the Crisis: Pathways between Policy Expansion and Retrenchment
The economic crisis has significantly challenged national welfare states and has often led to retrenchment. The question arises how countries have reacted to the crisis in the area of family policy – not directly connected to rising unemployment and also not as demanding for state spending as for example the pension system. This article analyzes family policy reforms during the crisis in three small European welfare states – A ustria, the C zech …
No need to reinvent the wheel: Family policy transfers in Germany and Austria
Family policies have recently been raised high on the political agendas for action in many welfare states and have constituted a major reform area. This is especially the case in Germany and in Austria, where the literature has identified surprisingly far-reaching reforms, particularly in the fields of parental leave and childcare services. This article addresses the observation that there has not only been an intensive exchange between these two…
The role of discourse in family policy reform: The case of Finland
Since 2010 and the onset of the economic crisis, Finnish governments have pressed for structural reforms, including unpopular cuts to family benefits and services. This article analyses the government discourse used for legitimating some of these reforms: the cutbacks in child benefit and the restriction of full-time childcare. It also assesses whether this discourse bore the hallmarks of a neoliberal austerity discourse, which could suggest that…
Wer hat Zugang zu Elterngeld? Soziale Rechte und Anspruchsbedingungen in vergleichender Perspektive
Die vergleichende Forschung hat sich bislang mit den Anspruchsbedingungen für Elterngeldleistungen, v. a. aber mit den Rechtsansprüchen von Eltern mit geringerer Arbeitsmarktbindung, wenig auseinandergesetzt. Hierdurch blieben soziale Ungleichheiten beim Zugang zu Elterngeld weitgehend unerforscht. Sie sind insbesondere in denjenigen Ländern von Bedeutung, in denen Elterngeldansprüche an eine bestimmte Form oder Dauer des Beschäftigungsverhältnis…
Routledge Handbook of European Welfare Systems
"Published ten years after the first edition, this new handbook offers topical, and comprehensive information on the welfare systems of all twenty-eight EU member states and their recent reforms, giving the reader an invaluable introduction and basis for comparative welfare research. Additional chapters provide detailed information on EU social policy, as well as comparative analyses of European welfare systems and their reform pathways. For this…
Inclusiveness of Parental-Leave Benefits in Twenty-One European Countries: Measuring Social and Gender Inequalities in Leave Eligibility
This article analyzes eligibility for parental-leave benefits in twenty-one European countries. It distinguishes four ideal-type approaches to how leave-related benefits are granted (in-)dependent of parents’ labor market position: universal parenthood model, selective parenthood model, universal adult-worker model, and selective adult-worker model. An eligibility index is created to measure the inclusiveness of parental-leave benefits, alongside…
The lesson learned from Covid-19 and the climate crisis is not to let experts decide on policies: A response to Robert C. Schmidt
This is a response to the commentary by Robert C. Schmidt in this journal, in which the author suggests that for specific problems such as climate change or the current pandemic, decisions on policies should be made by scientific experts rather than by politicians. We argue that such ideas, which were brought up in the late 1960s and reconsidered more recently, do not take sufficient account of the nature of science politics, and their interactio…
Setting the Stage for the Sun: Interrogations of performance of flicker
Flicker is a coordinated beat which can be superimposed on the brain’s alpha rhythm, through a flickering light source, and is associated with hallucinatory or visionary states of mind. In this experimental piece, I weave ideas and performance into a poetic image and text piece proposing some hypotheses and questions surrounding the relationship of moving bodies, the sun, and eureka moments of visions and dreams of new worlds
Failure to Perceive Change: From Neurons to Social Networks
Policy advisory bodies during crises: A scoping review of the Covid-19 literature in Europe
Background: The COVID-19 policy context was characterised by high levels of uncertainty, imperfect knowledge and the need for immediate action. Therefore, governments in Europe tended to rely on expertise provided by advisory bodies to design their crisis response. Advisory bodies played a fundamental part in policy making during the crisis to optimise policy formulation. Aims and objectives: During the COVID-19 crisis, the literature on policy a…
What defines deservingness? Specifying the criteria for target groups constructions in public policy
As policies are rarely enacted universally for the entire population, an essential part of policy design is to decide which target groups are addressed by policy benefits or burdens, and which are not. For this, next to the power position of different groups, their ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ construction has proven to be essential – famously captured in the Schneider/Ingram typology of target populations (advantaged, contenders, dependents, deviant…
Political science (10 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Welfare (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (3 works) · Political economy (3 works)