74834 - Social and Welfare Policies

Learning outcomes

The course introduces the main analytical approaches and conceptual instruments for the cross-national analysis of social policies and welfare states.

 By the end of the course students will:

- be familiar with the key ideas and concepts of social policy;
- be able to define and analyse relevant concepts as welfare regime; defamiliazation; decommodification; poverty; social exclusion; universalism; means tested etc.;
- have a knowledge and understanding of the historical roots of the welfare systems;
- be able to demonstrate an understanding of the typologies of welfare regimes proposed in the scientific literature;
- analyse the coherence of policy design with policy aims;
- to analyse the implications of the different ways in which welfare benefits and services are provided and financed;
- have a knowledge and understanding of main differences between different European and non-European welfare systems

Course contents

The course is organized in three sections. The first aims to introduce the basic conceptual instruments of social policy analysis. We then provide an understanding of the intellectual and historical roots of the welfare state, and why welfare states emerged in Europe. The second section deals with the different typologies of welfare regimes proposed in the literature. Furthermore, a description of the different worlds of welfare (European models, Latin America, East Asia and East Europe) will be provided. The third section focuses on the gender perspective: what is the role of social policies and the welfare state in shaping inequalities in socio-economic well being of men and women? What is the role of women in the welfare state of the new millennium?

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory readings for students attending at least 80% of  face-to-face lessons

 

Concepts, intellectual and historical roots,

1. Castles FG, Lewis J, Obinger H and Pierson C (eds.) (2010) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [only the following parts]

- Pierson C and Leimgruber M The intellectual roots. Pp. 32-44

- Kuhnle S and Sander A The emergence of the Western welfare state. Pp. 61-80

- Nullmeier F and Kaufmann F-X Post-war welfare state development. Pp. 81-101

2. Pierson C, Castles FG Naumann IK (ed.) (2014) The Welfare State Reader. Cambridge: Polity Press. [only the following parts]

- Briggs A The welfare state in historical perspective. Pp. 14-27

- Marshall TH Citizenship and social class. Pp. 28-37

- Titmuss R Universalism versus selection. Pp. 38-45

 

Typologies of welfare regimes and the worlds of welfare

1. Esping-Andersen (1999) The social foundations of post industrial economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [only Part I “Varieties of welfare capitalism”]

2. Pierson C, Castles FG Naumann IK (ed.) (2014) The Welfare State Reader. Cambridge: Polity Press. [only the section Esping-Andersen G Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism Pp. 136-150]

3. Orloff, A.S. (1993) “Gender and the social rights of citizenship. The comparative analysis of Gender Relations and Welfare States”, in American Sociological Review, 58(3), 303-328.

4. Castles FG, Lewis J, Obinger H and Pierson C (eds.) (2010) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [only Part VII: The worlds of welfare. Pp. 569-686]

 

The gender perspective on welfare policies

1. Hakim K. (1995) "Five feminist myths about women's employment", in The British Journal of Sociology, 46(3): 429-455

2. Hakim K. (2008) "Is gender equality legislation becoming counter productive?", in Public Policy Research, September-November: 133-136.

3. Esping-Andersen G (2009) The incomplete revolution. Adapting to women's new roles. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [only introduction, chapter 1 and chapter 3] 

 

 Mandatory readings for students who fail to attend at least 80% of  face-to-face lessons

1. Castles FG, Lewis J, Obinger H and Pierson C (eds.) (2010) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. The following parts: Part 2 “History”; Chapter 17 “Gender”; Part 5 “Policies”; Part 6 “Policy outcomes”; Part 7 “Worlds of Welfare”

2. Pierson C, Castles FG Naumann IK (ed.) (2014) The Welfare State Reader. Cambridge: Polity Press. Part I “Approaches to welfare” and Part II “Welfare Regimes Under Threat” 

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lessons and periodic exercises, including student presentations. This course is also supported by a dedicated e-learning module available at  https://elearning-cds.unibo.it/

Assessment methods

For students attending at least 80% of  face-to-face lessons

50% written exam

50% one course paper with a maximum of 4,000 words must be written on a topic to be agreed in advance between the student and the course convener. 

For students who fail to attend at least 80% of  face-to-face lessons

The exam is administered in exclusively written form.

Teaching tools

This course is also supported by a dedicated e-learning module available at https://elearning-cds.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Marco Albertini