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5 The family welfare source and inequality in liberal welfare states: evidence from cohort studies

  • Sarah Weakley
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Social Policy Review 32
This chapter is in the book Social Policy Review 32

Abstract

This chapter analyses the impact of implicit and explicit family welfare resources on young people’s transition to economic independence, drawing on longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study and the 1997 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In both the UK and the US, the commonly used measure of parental socioeconomic background was a factor that persisted and intensified as cohort members moved through a transition. Rather than inequalities reducing into adulthood, inequalities widened. Trends in co-residence and labour market insecurity in the UK mirror those of the US; therefore, the US evidence can inform both future research and policy formation in the UK. The empirical evidence suggests that if social policy in the UK is interested in supporting successful youth transitions across the income spectrum, the long-lasting imbalance created by unequal family resources will need to be addressed, beginning with a restructuring of the benefit system for low-income young people alongside structural changes to the youth labour market.

Abstract

This chapter analyses the impact of implicit and explicit family welfare resources on young people’s transition to economic independence, drawing on longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study and the 1997 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In both the UK and the US, the commonly used measure of parental socioeconomic background was a factor that persisted and intensified as cohort members moved through a transition. Rather than inequalities reducing into adulthood, inequalities widened. Trends in co-residence and labour market insecurity in the UK mirror those of the US; therefore, the US evidence can inform both future research and policy formation in the UK. The empirical evidence suggests that if social policy in the UK is interested in supporting successful youth transitions across the income spectrum, the long-lasting imbalance created by unequal family resources will need to be addressed, beginning with a restructuring of the benefit system for low-income young people alongside structural changes to the youth labour market.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of figures and tables v
  4. Notes on contributors vii
  5. Race, racism and social policy
  6. Race and social policy: challenges and obstacles 5
  7. ‘Race’: the missing dimension in social policy higher education? 25
  8. Young people as cultural critics of the monocultural landscapes that fail them 51
  9. Returnees: unwanted citizens or cherished countrymen 71
  10. Social policy and young people
  11. The family welfare source and inequality in liberal welfare states: evidence from cohort studies 97
  12. Economic hardship in young adulthood: a cause for concern or a matter of course while settling into the Swedish labour market? 135
  13. Cultural education and the good citizen: a systematic analysis of a neoliberal communitarian policy trend 163
  14. How geographical and ideological proximity impact community youth justice (in)accessibility in England and Wales 183
  15. Austerity
  16. After a decade of austerity, does the UK have an income safety net worth its name? 211
  17. A new page? The public library in austerity 227
  18. No way home: the challenges of exiting homelessness in austere times 249
  19. ‘Everywhere and nowhere’: interventions and services under austerity 271
  20. Index 291
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447355601-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of figures and tables v
  4. Notes on contributors vii
  5. Race, racism and social policy
  6. Race and social policy: challenges and obstacles 5
  7. ‘Race’: the missing dimension in social policy higher education? 25
  8. Young people as cultural critics of the monocultural landscapes that fail them 51
  9. Returnees: unwanted citizens or cherished countrymen 71
  10. Social policy and young people
  11. The family welfare source and inequality in liberal welfare states: evidence from cohort studies 97
  12. Economic hardship in young adulthood: a cause for concern or a matter of course while settling into the Swedish labour market? 135
  13. Cultural education and the good citizen: a systematic analysis of a neoliberal communitarian policy trend 163
  14. How geographical and ideological proximity impact community youth justice (in)accessibility in England and Wales 183
  15. Austerity
  16. After a decade of austerity, does the UK have an income safety net worth its name? 211
  17. A new page? The public library in austerity 227
  18. No way home: the challenges of exiting homelessness in austere times 249
  19. ‘Everywhere and nowhere’: interventions and services under austerity 271
  20. Index 291
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