Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 90, Issue 2, 2015

Welcome to the club? A comparative analysis of the relation between integration policy and welfare chauvinism.

This article contributes to research on welfare chauvinism, i.e. the opinion that access to social security should be granted exclusively to people who belong to the own ethnic-cultural group. Whereas previous research has focused mainly on individual explanations for welfare chauvinism, such as education or authoritarianism, the current paper scrutinizes the relationship between national policy – and more specifically integration policy – and welfare chauvinism. For this purpose, we use three theoretical frameworks that lead to opposing hypotheses. Ethnic competition theory, on the one hand, suggests that more generous integration policies can induce welfare chauvinistic attitudes in the native population, whereas policy feedback and policy responsiveness mechanisms, on the other, predict that a more generous integration policy could lead to a decrease in welfare chauvinism. To test these hypotheses, we use data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) for 23 European countries. The results support policy feedback and policy responsiveness. More generous integration policies go hand in hand with lower levels of welfare chauvinism.

The typical truant does not exist: An empirical research on different categories of occasional truants in Flanders.1

This study provides insight into the conceptual understanding of truant behavior by exploring different types of occasional truants among 4189 youngsters in secondary education in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). Occasional truancy can be interpreted as the most accessible form of truant behavior, a category that is often not reflected in published figures of unauthorized absence and differs from problematic truant behavior. Six key indicators were employed to identify three types of occasional truants: ‘homestayers’, ‘traditional truants’ and ‘condoned social truants’. First, our findings suggest that the three types of truants each shape their truant behavior in a unique way. Second, specific social characteristics can be related to each type of truant. In the discussion we demonstrate how studying different types of truants can be important for understanding how truant behavior can be identified and prevented.

The partner relationships of male prisoners prior to incarceration

A comparative study between prisoners and the general population

The current study examines the partner relationships of male prisoners prior to incarceration. Earlier studies on prisoners’ partner relationships exclusively focused on the period during or after incarceration. However, knowledge on the pre-detention period is essential to establish any causal effects of incarceration on partner relationships. We describe a wide variety of aspects of prisoners’ partner relationships: relationship history, current relationship status, and characteristics of the current relationship (quality, support, conflict, and partner violence). In addition, we make a direct comparison with partner relationships among the general population. We use unique data from the Prison Project (N = 1,909) and the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS; N = 2,718). The results show that prisoners’ relationship histories are more instable, and characterized by less traditional relationship forms. Prior to imprisonment, partner relationships appear to be already more problematic. The findings stress the importance of including pre-detention partner relationship information in studies on the impact of incarceration. Also, they shed light on the potential role of justice officials in offering guidance on prisoners’ partner relationships.