Ferenc Bódi / Gergely Fábián / Mihály Fónai / Jorma Kurkinen / Thomas R. Lawson / Hannu Pietiläinen (eds.) Access to Services in Rural Areas A Comparison of Finland and Hungary Ferenc Bódi / Gergely Fábián / Mihály Fónai / Jorma Kurkinen / Thomas R. Lawson / Hannu Pietiläinen (eds.) Access to Services in Rural Areas Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy, Vol. XXVII www.ehvacademic.com Bódi , Ferenc; Fábián, Gergely; Fónai, Mihály; Kurkinen, Jorma; Lawson, Thomas R.; Pietiläinen, Hannu (eds.) Access to Services in Rural Areas: A Comparison of Finland and Hungary Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy, Vol. XXVII Editor of the series: Peter Herrmann Editorial board : Beatriz Gershenson Aquinsky, Maria Anastasiadis, Christian Aspalter, Torben Bechmann, Nuria Pumar Beltran, Yitzhak Berman, Kezeban Celik, Hsiao-hung Nancy Chen, Geoffrey Cook, Judit Csoba, Leta Dromantiené, Wendy Margaret Earles, Franz Hamburger, Arno Heimgartner, Alpay Hekimler, Peter Herrmann, Sibel Kalaycioglu, Francis Kessler, Jerzy Krzyszkowski, Yeun-wen Ku, Nadia Kutscher, Juhani Laurinkari, Wan-i Lin, Jussara Maria Rosa Mendes, Letlhokwa George Mpedi, Julia O’Connor, M. Ramesh, Mae Shaw, Dor- ottya Szikra, Stephan Sting, Sven Trygged, Hans van Ewijk, Paul Ward, Luk Zel- derloo www.socialcomparison.org 1. Edition 2014 ISBN: 978-3-86741-898-0 © EHV Academicpress GmbH, Bremen, 2014. www.ehvacademic.com All rights reserved. Contents What is the LOSS ........................................................................................................ 1 1. Theoretical Introduction ....................................................................... 4 1.1 Toward a dynamic theory of Local Organization of Social Services (LOSS) functioning .......................................................................................................... 5 Ferenc Bódi 5 1.1.1 The Local Organization of Social Services – LOSS ............................. 5 1.1.2 Dissymmetrical Model of the LOSS ..................................................... 9 1.1.3 Changing forces – The learning organization ..................................... 15 1.1.4 Cycle impact on social mood and vice versa – Hungarian case study .................................................................................................... 17 2. Methodological framework ................................................................ 27 2.1 The methodological framework of the regional well-being researches made in Finland ................................................................................................ 28 Jorma Kurkinen 28 2.1.1 The quest for the knowledge of well-being ......................................... 28 2.1.2 The theoretical framework of Poske’s researches ............................... 29 2.1.3 Collecting the data of citizen’s well-being .......................................... 33 2.1.4 The comparative well-being studies in Northern Ostrobothnia .......... 35 2.1.5 Comparison of the surveys in Hungary and Finland ........................... 40 2.2 Methodological framework, Sample selection and an overview of the composition of the Hungarian research questionnaire ...................................... 42 Fónai Mihály – Patyán László 42 3. Changes in the LOSS in Finland and Hungary ................................... 55 3.1 The role of non-governmental organizations in promoting welfare in the rural villages of northern Finland ..................................................................... 56 Arja Kilpeläinen 56 3.2 Changes in the Hungarian local government system ........................................ 71 Gabriella CsĦrös 71 3.2.1 Changing models of Hungarian local government system .................. 71 3.2.2 Features of Hungarian local government system after transformation 72 3.2.3 Dysfunctions and reform initiatives .................................................... 79 3.2.4 Ongoing reform of the Hungarian local government system (2010- 2013) .................................................................................................... 88 3.2.5 Remaining and emerging of contradictions ........................................ 95 3.3 The process of changes in social administration in Hungary ........................... 99 Anita Krizsai 99 3.4 Comparing welfare states - the Finnish and Hungarian case .......................... 113 Mihály Nyilas 113 4. Introduction to the regions of the researched ................................... 127 4.1 Introduction to Northern Ostrobothnia Region in Finland ............................. 128 Jorma Kurkinen 128 4.1.1 The regions of Northern Finland ....................................................... 128 4.1.2 Regional development ....................................................................... 130 4.1.3 Well-being in different phases of life ................................................ 132 4.1.4 The challenges of well-being in Northern Ostrobothnia ................... 135 4.2. Introduction to the Észak-Alföld region - North Plain Region ......................... 139 Mátyás Bódi 139 4.3 Anomie as a thermometer of the crisis (experiment) – Social Capacity – phenomenon of the complex crisis ................................................................. 149 Ferenc Bódi – JenĘ Farkas – Zsuzsanna Horváth 149 Types of Anomie and Historical Background ................................................ 149 East-West slope .............................................................................................. 160 5. Research studies on the Northern Ostrobothnia Region in Finland and on the Észak-Alföld region – North Plain Region in Hungary .. 173 5.1 Results from the citizen and service producer surveys in Northern Ostrobothnia ................................................................................................... 174 Jorma Kurkinen 174 5.1.1 The perceived well-being of citizens ................................................. 174 5.1.2 The supporting social networks and unmet needs for help ............... 180 5.1.3 Satisfaction to the welfare services ................................................... 182 5.1.4 The aggregate evaluation of well-being in Northern Ostrobothnia ... 189 5.2 Access and using welfare services in the North Plain Region ........................ 194 5.2.1 Differences between Roma and non-Roma, villages and towns ....... 195 Mihály Fónai–Gergely Fábián 195 5.2.2 Satisfaction with local facilities and local policy .............................. 204 Ferenc Bódi 204 5.2.3 Satisfaction with rural development, local facilities and local policy 212 Attila Fekete 212 5.2.4 The relationship between the population able to retain capacities and the capacity to retain population ................................................. 219 Tibor Szarvák 219 5.2.5 Some dimensions of the natural and artificial support systems ......... 224 Éva Huszti 224 5.2.6 Characteristics of elderly people’s access to social services ............. 233 László Patyán – Gergely Fábián 233 5.2.7 Family support systems ..................................................................... 243 Erzsébet Rákó – Gyula Szabó 243 List of Contributors ............................................................................... 253 Appendix ............................................................................................... 256 Blurb Access to Services in Rural Areas: A Comparison of Finland and Hungary The Berlin Wall, the symbol of the divided continent of Europe collapsed almost a quarter century ago. In the one and a half decades since the fall of the “Iron Curtain”, the European Union has expanded significantly and essentially the borders between these states ceased to exist. However, this historically created divide between east and west within the European Union in many ways remained. Access to Services in Rural Areas provides the reader important information concerning the condition of the local organization of social services (LOSS) and how citizens access them daily in two relatively underprivileged regions of two different countries in the eastern and still relatively divided part of the EU. The book not only provides the outcomes of the two country regional surveys, it shows the juridical background and public administration of the LOSS and their alterations, particularly with respect to the effects of the crisis. This research is a harbinger of continued and expanded international research built upon twenty years of scientific collaboration within the LOSS program. In both countries, government officials are responsible for arranging social and health care services and promoting the wellbeing of the citizens. Although there are differences between the areas of Northern Hungarian Great Plain and Northern Finland, continued research cooperation would likely open new opportunities for developing services and safeguarding the wellbeing of people living in Hungary and Finland. Research cooperation would generate new knowledge about how citizens experience wellbeing, the phenomena as both a regional and temporary process, and finally about welfare services themselves and the potential for application of technology to safeguard services. Bódi, Ferenc/Fábián, Gergely/Fónai, Mihály/Kurkinen, Jorma/Lawson, Thomas R./Pietiläinen, Hannu (eds.): Access to Services in Rural Areas: A Comparison of Finland and Hungary, EHV Academicpress, Bremen 2014. What is the LOSS The Local Organization of Social