Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T07:17:53.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Innovation: Worklessness, Welfare and Well-being

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

Michael J. Roy ,
Neil McHugh  and
Clementine Hill O'Connor
Michael J. Roy
Affiliation:
Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University E-mail: [email protected]
Neil McHugh
Affiliation:
Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University E-mail: [email protected]
Clementine Hill O'Connor
Affiliation:
Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The UK Government has recently implemented large-scale public-sector funding cuts and substantial welfare reform. Groups within civil society are being encouraged to fill gaps in service provision, and ‘social innovation’ has been championed as a means of addressing social exclusion, such as that caused by worklessness, a major impediment to citizens being able to access money, power and resources, which are key social determinants of health. The aim of this article is to make the case for innovative ‘upstream’ approaches to addressing health inequalities, and we discuss three prominent social innovations gaining traction: microcredit for enterprise; social enterprise in the form of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs); and Self Reliant Groups (SRGs). We find that while certain social innovations may have the potential to address health inequalities, large-scale research programmes that will yield the quality and range of empirical evidence to demonstrate impact, and, in particular, an understanding of the causal pathways and mechanisms of action, simply do not yet exist.

Keywords

Social Innovationself-reliance groupsmicrocreditpublic health
Type
Themed Section on Social Innovation and Social Policy
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 457 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armendaáriz de Aghion, B. and Morduch, J. (2005) The Economics of Microfinance, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bambra, C. (2014) ‘Tackling health-related worklessness: a “health first” approach’, in Newby, L. and Denison, N. (eds.), ‘If You Could Do One Thing. . .’: Nine Local Actions to Reduce Health Inequalities, London: The British Academy, pp. 62–71, http://www.britac.ac.uk/templates/assetrelay.cfm?frmAssetFileID=13276.Google Scholar
Bambra, C., Gibson, M., Sowden, A., Wright, K., Whitehead, M. and Petticrew, M. (2010) ‘Tackling the wider social determinants of health and health inequalities: evidence from systematic reviews’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 64, 4, 284–91.Google Scholar
Bartley, M., Blane, D. and Montgomery, S. (1997) ‘Health and the life course: why safety nets matter’, British Medical Journal (Clinical Research edn), 314, 7088, 1194–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baumberg, B., Bell, K., Gaffney, D., Deacon, R., Hood, C. and Sage, D. (2012) Benefits Stigma in Britain, London: Turn2us (Elizabeth Finn Care)/University of Kent.Google Scholar
Blas, E., Gilson, L., Kelly, M. P., Labonté, R., Lapitan, J., Muntaner, C., Östlin, P., Popay, J., Sadana, R. and Sen, G. (2008) ‘Addressing social determinants of health inequities: what can the state and civil society do?’, The Lancet, 372, 9650, 1684–9.Google Scholar
Borzaga, C. and Defourny, J. (eds.) (2001) The Emergence of Social Enterprise, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland (2011) Health in Scotland 2010: Assets for Health, Edinburgh: Scottish Government.Google Scholar
Collins, D., Morduch, J., Rutherford, S. and Ruthven, O. (2009) Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Corlett, S. (2012) ‘Policy watch: fighting stigma and discrimination’, Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 16, 3, 112–15.Google Scholar
Dees, J. G. (1998) ‘Enterprising nonprofits’, Harvard Business Review, 76, 1, 54–67.Google ScholarPubMed
Defourny, J. (2009) ‘Foreword’, in Kerlin, J. A. (ed.), Social Enterprise: A Global Comparison, Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, pp. xi–xviii.Google Scholar
Defourny, J. and Nyssens, M. (2010) ‘Conceptions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: convergences and divergences’, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1, 1, 32–53.Google Scholar
Dobbie, L. and Gillespie, M. (2010) The Health Benefits of Financial Inclusion: A Literature Review, Glasgow: Scottish Poverty Information Unit.Google Scholar
Donaldson, C., Baker, R., Cheater, F., Gillespie, M., McHugh, N. and Sinclair, S. (2011) ‘Social business, health and well-being’, Social Business, 1, 1, 17–35.Google Scholar
Duflo, E., Banerjee, A., Glennerster, R. and Kinnan, C. (2013) ‘The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation’, NBER Working Paper Series WP 18950, National Bureau or Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, http://www.nber.org/papers/w18950.pdf (accessed 15 November 2013).Google Scholar
Duvendack, M., Palmer-Jones, R., Copestake, J. G., Hooper, L., Loke, Y. and Rao, N. (2011) What Is the Evidence of the Impact of Microfinance on the Well-Being of Poor People?, University of London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, http://opus.bath.ac.uk/26940/1/Microfinance_2011Duvendack_report.pdf (accessed 15 November 2013].Google Scholar
Ferguson, K. M. (2012) ‘Merging the fields of mental health and social enterprise: lessons from abroad and cumulative findings from research with homeless youths’, Community Mental Health Journal, 48, 4, 490–502.Google Scholar
Ferguson, K. M. and Islam, N. (2008) ‘Conceptualizing outcomes with street-living young adults: grounded theory approach to evaluating the social enterprise intervention’, Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 7, 2, 217–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasgow Caledonian University (2013) £2m Study Will Examine Impact of Social Enterprise on Health in Scotland, http://www.gcu.ac.uk/yunuscentre/newsevents/news/article.php?id=68021 (accessed 9 December 2013).Google Scholar
Goldstein, H. (1968) ‘Longitudinal studies and the measurement of change’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series D (The Statistician), 18, 2, 93–117.Google Scholar
Grimm, R., Fox, C., Baines, S. and Albertson, K. (2013) ‘Social innovation, an answer to contemporary societal challenges? Locating the concept in theory and practice’, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 26, 4, 436–55.Google Scholar
Hanlon, P., Carlisle, S., Hannah, M., Reilly, D. and Lyon, A. (2011) ‘Making the case for a “fifth wave” in public health’, Public Health, 125, 1, 30–6.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R. L. and Maurer, K. (2010) ‘Bonding, bridging and linking: how social capital operated in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina’, British Journal of Social Work, 40, 6, 1777–93.Google Scholar
Hill O'Connor, C. (2013) ‘The role of Self Reliant Groups (SRGs) in improving individual health and wellbeing’, If Not for Profit, for What? And How?, The 4th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise, 1–4 July, University of Liege, http://www.iap-socent.be/sites/default/files/Hill%20O%27Connor%20ECSP-LG13-70.pdf (accessed 7 December 2013).Google Scholar
Ho, A. P. and Chan, K. (2010) ‘The social impact of work-integration social enterprise in Hong Kong’, International Social Work, 53, 1, 33–45.Google Scholar
Hulme, D. (2000) ‘Impact assessment methodologies for microfinance: theory, experience and better practice’, World development, 28, 1, 79–98.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. (2013) ‘The work programme's only success is at “creaming and parking”’, The Guardian, 20 February, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/20/work-programme-success-creaming-parking (accessed 21 August 2013.Google Scholar
Karlan, D. and Zinman, J. (2010) ‘Expanding credit access: using randomized supply decisions to estimate the impacts’, Review of Financial Studies, 23, 1, 433–64.Google Scholar
Kerlin, J. A. (2010) ‘A comparative analysis of the global emergence of social enterprise’, Voluntas, 21, 2, 162–79.Google Scholar
Khatibi, F. and Indira, M. (2011) ‘Empowerment of women through self help groups and environmental management: experiences of NGOsin Karnataka State, India’, Journal of Human Ecology, 34, 1, 29–40.Google Scholar
Kivimäki, M., Feldt, T., Vahtera, J. and Nurmi, J.-E. (2000) ‘Sense of coherence and health: evidence from two cross-lagged longitudinal samples’, Social Science and Medicine, 50, 4, 583–97.Google Scholar
Krupa, T., Lagarde, M. and Carmichael, K. (2003) ‘Transforming sheltered workshops into affirmative businesses: an outcome evaluation’, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 26, 4, 359–67.Google Scholar
Leatherman, S. and Dunford, C. (2010) ‘Linking health to microfinance to reduce poverty’, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 88, 6, 470–1.Google Scholar
Lenton, P. and Mosley, P. (2012) Financial Exclusion and the Poverty Trap: Overcoming Deprivation in the Inner City, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lomas, J. (1998) ‘Social capital and health: implications for public health and epidemiology’, Social Science and Medicine, 47, 9, 1181–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacCallum, D, Moulaert, F., Hillier, J. and Haddock, S. V. (2009) ‘Introduction’, in MacCallum, D., Moulaert, F., Hillier, J. and Haddock, S. V. (eds.), Social Innovation and Territorial Development, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Marmot, M. G. (1999) ‘Job insecurity in a broader social and health context’, in Ferrie, J. E., Griffiths, J., Marmot, M. G. and Ziglio, E. (eds.), Labour Market Changes and Job Insecurity: A Challenge for Social Welfare and Health Promotion, Copenhagen: World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar
Marmot, M. G. (2010) Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review – Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England Post-2010, London: The Marmot Review.Google Scholar
Marmot, M. G. and Wilkinson, R. G. (2006) Social Determinants of Health, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McHugh, N., Gillespie, M., Loew, J., and Donaldson, C. (forthcoming) ‘First steps towards self employment – microcredit for enterprise in Scotland’, Scottish Affairs.Google Scholar
McHugh, N., Sinclair, S., Roy, M. J., Huckfield, L. and Donaldson, C. (2013) ‘Social impact bonds: a wolf in sheep's clothing?’, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 21, 3, 247–57.Google Scholar
McKinlay, J. (1974) ‘A case for refocusing upstream: the political economy of illness’, Proceedings of American Heart Association Conference on Applying Behavioural Science to Cardiovascular Risk, American Heart Association, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
McLean, J. and McNeice, V. (2012) Assets in Action: Illustrating Asset Based Approaches for Health Improvement, Glasgow: Glasgow Centre for Population Health.Google Scholar
Mohindra, K. S., Haddad, S. and Narayana, D. (2008) ‘Can microcredit help improve the health of poor women? Some findings from a cross-sectional study in Kerala, India’, International Journal for Equity in Health, 7, 1, 2.Google Scholar
Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A. and Hamdouch, A. (eds.) (2013) The International Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Mulgan, G., Tucker, S., Ali, R. and Sanders, B. (2007) Social Innovation What It Is, Why It Matters and How It Can Be Accelerated, Oxford: Saïd Business School/The Young Foundation/Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.Google Scholar
Mumford, M. D. (2002) ‘Social innovation: ten cases from Benjamin Franklin’, Creativity Research Journal, 14, 2, 253–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
New Economics Foundation (2012) Everyday Insecurity: Life at the End of the Welfare State, London: New Economics Foundation, http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/everyday-insecurity (accessed 11 December 2012).Google Scholar
Nicholls, A. and Murdock, A. (2012) ‘The nature of social innovation’, in Nicholls, A. and Murdock, A. (eds.), Social Innovation: Blurring Boundaries to Reconfigure Markets, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odell, K. (2010) Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Taking Another Look, Washington, DC: Grameen Foundation, http://business.dom.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Measuring-the-Impact.pdf (accessed 15 November 2013).Google Scholar
Office for National Stastics (2013) Statistical Bulletin: Labour Market Statistics, July 2013, London: Office for National Statistics, http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/july-2013/statistical-bulletin.html (accessed 21 August 2013).Google Scholar
Ray, K., Hoggart, L., Vegeris, S. and Taylor, R. (2010) Better Off Working? Work, Poverty and Benefit Cycling, London: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/better-off-working (accessed 15 November 2013).Google Scholar
Rees, J., Taylor, R. and Damm, C. (2013) Does Sector Matter? Understanding the Experiences of Providers in the Work Programme, TSRC Working Paper 92, Birmingham: Third Sector Research Centre.Google Scholar
Roy, M. J., Donaldson, C., Baker, R. and Kay, A. (2013) ‘Social enterprise: new pathways to health and well-being?’, Journal of Public Health Policy, 34, 1, 55–68.Google Scholar
Roy, M. J., Donaldson, C., Baker, R. and Kerr, S. (2012) ‘The impacts of social enterprise-led activity on health and well-being: an integrative review’, Prospero – International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews.Google Scholar
Schreiner, M. and Woller, G. (2003) ‘Microenterprise development programs in the United States and in the Developing World’, World Development, 31, 9, 1567–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, M., Dorling, D. and Davey Smith, G. (2005) ‘Poverty, social exclusion and minorities’, in Marmot, M. and Wilkinson, R. (eds.), Social Determinants of Health, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sibbald, B. and Roland, M. (1998) ‘Understanding controlled trials: why are randomised controlled trials important?’, British Medical Journal, 316, 7126, 201.Google Scholar
Sinfield, A. (2011) ‘Credit crunch, inequality and social policy’, in Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (eds.), Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 65–80.Google Scholar
Spear, R. and Bidet, E. (2005) ‘Social enterprise for work integration in 12 European countries: a descriptive analysis’, Annales de L'économie Publique, Sociale et Coopérative, 76, 2, 195–231.Google Scholar
Szreter, S. and Woolcock, M. (2004) ‘Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 33, 4, 650–67.Google Scholar
Teasdale, S. (2010) ‘How can social enterprise address disadvantage? Evidence from an inner city community’, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, 22, 2, 89–107.Google Scholar
Teasdale, S. (2012) ‘Negotiating tensions: how do social enterprises in the homelessness field balance social and commercial considerations?’, Housing Studies, 27, 4, 514–32.Google Scholar
Teasdale, S., Lyon, F. and Baldock, R. (2013) ‘Playing with numbers: a methodological critique of the social enterprise growth myth’, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 4, 2, 113–31.Google Scholar
Tesoriero, F. (2006) ‘Strengthening communities through women's self help groups in south India’, Community Development Journal, 41, 3, 321–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
USFD (2013) US Financial Diaries, http://www.usfinancialdiaries.org/ (accessed 15 November 2013).Google Scholar
Vidal, I. (2005) ‘Social enterprise and social inclusion: social enterprises in the sphere of work integration’, International Journal of Public Administration, 28, 9–10, 807–25.Google Scholar
Warner, R. and Mandiberg, J. (2006) ‘An update on affirmative businesses or social firms for people with mental illness’, Psychiatric Services, 57, 10, 1488–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weber, H. (2004) ‘The “new economy” and social risk: banking on the poor?’, Review of International Political Economy, 11, 2, 356–86.Google Scholar
Whitehead, M., Dahlgren, G. and Gilson, L. (2001) ‘Developing the policy response to inequities in health: a global perspective’, in Evans, T., Whitehead, M., Diderichsen, F., Bhuiya, A. and Wirth, M. (eds.), Challenging Inequities in Health: From Ethics to Action, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 309–23.Google Scholar
Williams, A., Fossey, E. and Harvey, C. (2010) ‘Sustaining employment in a social firm: use of the work environment impact scale V2.0 to explore views of employees with psychiatric disabilities’, The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73, 11, 531–9.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation (2013) What Are Social Determinants of Health?, http://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/index.html (accessed 6 August 2013).Google Scholar