• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.43
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• pp.285-320
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• 2016

Cartoons and Animation are convergent arts created with a composite application of language arts described in the form of literary texts and sounds, plastic arts visualized in the form of artistic paintings, and film arts produced in the form of moving pictures. An academic university major in cartoons and animation studies established in late 20th century however, did not satisfactorily meet the needs in academic research and development and the free expression of artistic creation was limited. In order to systematize the major in cartoons and animation studies, an convergent approach to establish and clarify following are in demand : the terms and definitions, the historical developments, the research areas and methods, the major education and related jobs and start-ups. New culture and arts industries including cartoons, animation, moving images, and games contents are not yet listed in the industries listing service jointly provided online by the portal site Naver.com and Hyung-Seol publishing company. Above all, cartoons and animation are inseparably related to each other that even if one uses the term separately and independently, the meaning may not be complete. So a new combined term "Animatoon" can be established for the major in cartoons and animation studies and also used for its degree with concentrations of cartoons, animation, moving images, games, and etc. In the Introduction, a new combined term Animatoon is defined and explained the use of this term as the name of the major and degree in cartoons and animation studies. In the body, first, the Historical Developments classified Animatoon in the ancient times, the medieval times, and the modern times and they are analyzed with the help of esthetics and arts using examples of mural frescos, animal painting, religion cartoons, caricatures, cartoons, satire cartoons, comics, animation, 2 or 3 dimensional webtoons, and K-toons. Second, the Research Areas of Animatoon reviewed the theories, genres, artworks, and artists and the Research Methods of Animatoon presented the curriculum that integrated the courses in humanities, science technologies, culture and arts, and etc. Third, the Major Education considered Animatoon education in children, young adults, students of the major and the Related Jobs and Start-Ups explored various jobs relating to personal creation of artwork and collective production of business-oriented artwork. In the Conclusion, the current challenges of Animatoon considered personalization of the artists, specialization of the contents, diversification of the types, and liberalization of the art creation. And the direction of improvement advocated Animatoon to be an academic field of study, to be an art, to be a culture, and to be an industry. The importance of cartoons and animation along with videos and games rose in the 21st century. In order for cartoons and animation to take a leading role, make efforts in studying Animatoon academically and also in developing Animatoon as good contents in the cultural industries.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.53
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• pp.129-153
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• 2003

This study examines the socio-economic impacts of recent welfare reform in the United States. Based on the neo-conservative critique to the traditional public assistance system for low-income families, the 1996 welfare reform has given greater emphases on reducing welfare dependency and increasing work effort and self-sufficiency among welfare recipients. In particular, the welfare reform legislation instituted 60-month lifetime limits on cash assistance, expanded mandatory work requirements, and placed financial penalties for noncompliance. With the well-timed economic boom in the second half of the 1990s, the welfare reform seems to achieve considerable progress; welfare caseload has declined sharply to reach less than 50% of its 1994 peak, single mothers' labor force participation has increased substantially, and child poverty has decreased. In spite of these good signals, the welfare reform also has several potential problems. Many welfare leavers participate in the labor market, but not all (or most) of them. The economic well being of working welfare leavers did not increased significantly, because earnings increase was canceled out by parallel decrease in welfare benefits. Furthermore, most of working welfare leavers are employed in jobs with poor employment stability and low wages, making them highly vulnerable to frequent layoff, long-time joblessness, persistent poverty, and welfare recidivism. Another serious problem of the welfare reform is that a substantial number of welfare recipients are faced with extreme difficulties in finding jobs, because they have severe barriers to employment. The new welfare system with 5-year time limit can severely threaten the livelihoods of these people. The welfare reform presupposes that welfare recipients can achieve self-reliance by increasing their labor market activities. However, empirical evidences suggest that many people are unable to respond to the new, work-oriented welfare strategy. It may be a very difficult task to achieve both objectives of the welfare reform((1) providing adequate income security for low-income families and (2) promoting self-sufficiency) at the same time, because sometimes they are conflicting each other. With this in mind, a possible solution can be to distinguish welfare recipients into "(Very)-Hard-to-Employ" group and "(Relatively)-Ready-to-Work" group, based on elaborate examinations of a wide range of personal conditions. For the former group, the primary objective of welfare policies should be the first one(providing income security). For the "Ready-to-Work" group, follow-up services to promote job retention and advancement, as well as skill-training and job-search services, are very important. The U. S. experiences of the welfare reform provide some useful implications for newly developing Korean public assistance policies for the able-bodied low-income population.