73322 - SOCIOLOGIA DEL WELFARE E DELLE POLITICHE SOCIALI

Academic Year 2025/2026

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the student will: -understand the multitude of causes and forms of social hardship and the complexity of the variables that determine them; - understand the institutions and public and private actors that address them and their methods of intervention; - understand the conceptual and analytical tools for studying the welfare state, its evolution, consolidation, and crisis;    - understand the types of welfare states; - knows the models and regimes through which this welfare system has been implemented in Europe; - knows the differences that characterize the various welfare states and their impact on citizens' quality of life; - knows the internal and external constraints and challenges of the welfare system today and in the future; - knows the context within which to correctly place social policy interventions; - can design socio-educational interventions in collaboration with various professionals and services at local level; - understand the reality of the third sector in its various forms.



Course contents

The course aims to offer an overview on the assets and criticalities of the welfare systems, giving particular attention to the Italian case. In the first part we move from an historical analysis of the first presence of welfare states in Western countries and their evolution during the 20th century, the crisis of the 1970s and the more recent changes. The lectures will stress specifically the similiarities/dissimilarities between models of welfare capitalism and social regulation in different countries. Some lectures are focused on activation and labour policies. Territorial programming is then introduced.The second part of the course is focused on the evolution of welfare politics, the new social risks and the social changes occured in the recent years (as consequence of the economic crisis).

Readings/Bibliography

For all (attending and not), the following two books:

 

C. Ranci, E. Pavolini, Le politiche di welfare, 2024 (II Edizione), il Mulino, Bologna

 

Battistella, A., De Ambrogio, E., Ranci Ortigosa, E., (2015), Il Piano di zona. Costruzione, gestione, valutazione, Carocci Faber, Roma (not for students of second cycle degree programme (LM) in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology)


 

Teaching methods

Lectures and classroom discussions.

Assessment methods

The exam is written with 4 open-ended questions (90 minutes).

To take the exam, students must register in Alma Esami. https://almaesami.unibo.it/almaesami/welcome.htm . Please note that for written exam registrations close one week before the exam date.

Teaching tools

Slides available in Virtuale (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).

 

Office hours

See the website of Marco Trentini

See the website of Pasquale Colloca

SDGs

No poverty Gender equality Decent work and economic growth Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.