COMPARATIVE POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL POLICY

Learning Objectives

• REGULATION SYSTEMS AND MODELS OF CAPITALISM
  The student, on the basis of knowledge of the dynamics of global convergence and the general principles of economic and sociological analysis of social phenomena, develop expertise in the various characteristics that differentiate the modern economic systems in comparative perspective, as well as in the critical evaluation of the processes of economic transformation in the capitalist sense.
• Rules and regulation in Social Policy
  The second module aims to provide the basis for interpreting the analytical and methodological features, goals and results produced by social policies. The course, firstly introduces the basic concepts and approaches used in the field of social policies and gradually provides tools and methods for the comparative analysis in the various “social” fields. At the end of the second module, the student will be able to analyse the different "Welfare systems", their origin, the kind of data and of sources useful to understand the empirical and programmatic implications of the different regimes.
• Legal culture and comparative Social Policy
  The fourth module aims to offer a perspective of investigation in the field of social policy, which takes account of the organizational structures, the role of street-level bureaucracy and of legal culture in the comparison between the various social policies. The module aims to clarify the role of law in the provision of welfare services and formulate hypotheses for its reconstruction and analysis in the different welfare systems. At the end of the module n. 4, the student will be able to observe the processes of legal formalization and to reconstruct the possible effects on a social phenomenon.

Detailed Course Content

• Rules and regulation in Social Policy

  The course aims to offer the basis for interpreting the analytical and methodological features, goals and results produced by social policies. The course, firstly introduces the basic concepts and approaches used in the field of social policies and gradually provides tools and methods for the comparative analysis in the various “social” fields. At the end of the second module, the student will be able to analyse the different "Welfare systems", their origin, the kind of data and of sources useful to understand the empirical and programmatic implications of the different regimes.

• Legal culture and comparative Social Policy

  The course aims to offer a perspective of investigation in the field of social policy, of the organizational structures, the role of street-level bureaucracy and of legal culture in the comparison between the various social policies. The module aims to clarify the role of law in the provision of welfare services and formulate hypotheses for its reconstruction and analysis in the different welfare systems. At the end of the course, students should able to observe the processes of legal formalization in social policy and to reconstruct the possible effects on a social phenomenon.

Textbook Information

• Rules and regulation in Social Policy

  J. Baldock, L. Mitton, N. Manning, S. Vickerstaff (eds) Social Policy Oxford, University Press, 2012 chap. 1, 3, 17, 18, 20

   

  Readings:

  Pierson and Castels The welfare state Reader, G. Esping-Andersen “Three worlds of welfare capitalism”

  Castels, Leibfried, Lewis, Obinger, Pierson (eds) The Oxford Handbook of The welfare state, chap. 39 “Models of welfare” pp. 569-583

• Legal culture and comparative Social Policy

  Cotterell “The concept of legal culture” and L. Friedman “A Reply” in D. Nelken Comparing legal culture chapt. I e II pp. 13-39
  M. Lipsky Street Level Bureaucracy “Introduction”
  Consoli T. (ed) Migration Towards Southern Europe. The case of Sicily and the Separated Children chap. 1 and 2, pag. 7-55