| CODE | SWP2644 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | The Origins and Development of Welfare States | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Social Policy and Social Work | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit offers a historical grounding in welfare state development, exposing students to the main theories explaining the emergence and spread of welfare states and the way they have grown to constitute the major government expenditure in European states. It will also sketch the development of social policy, from charitable organisations in the early modern period, through the Industrial Revolution, the Golden Era after the World Wars, and the various critical junctures in social policy from the oil crises of the 1970s to date. Students will also be introduced to contemporary welfare regime theory. While the first part of the study-unit focuses on broad historical developments, the second part introduces students to contemporary challenges faced by welfare states. These include demographic change; technological developments; gender and family diversification; welfare attitudes; globalisation and the EU; migration; activation; sustainability and marketisation. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to foster among students a critical appreciation of how social policy has developed in the context of welfare state changes over time, and of the challenges it faces today in terms of sustainability, adequacy and equity. The study-unit aims to immerse students in a broad theoretical basis for social policy, with a view to providing them with critical concepts that they will apply across subsequent study-units. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - demonstrate an understanding of the core principles and institutions of welfare states in a liberal democracy; - demonstrate a critical understanding (through assessment) of the major epochs in the development of welfare states and social policy, from the early modern period through the financial and COVID crises and beyond; - demonstrate the capacity (through debate and assignment) to critically analyse the origins, development and functions of welfare states in Europe, understanding their diverse functions in contemporary social and economic reality and how the welfare state has transformed European life; - demonstrate the capacity (through assessment) to critically appraise welfare regime theory as it has evolved since the late twentieth century, comparing and contrasting regime theories. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - conduct a critical classroom debate on how welfare states have been shaped by changing demographics; technology; gender; globalisation and the EU, and the implications of these changes for welfare state sustainability; - conduct a critical classroom debate on the strengths and weaknesses of different welfare regimes in Europe from a social policy perspective; - undertake basic comparative analysis (through assignment) in respect of the core challenges facing welfare states in Europe; - source and analyse key policy documents at both national and European levels; - undertake basic archival research. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Castles, F.G., Leibfried, S.; Lewis, J., Obinger, H. and Pierson, C. (2010). The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. UK, Oxford. Supplementary Readings: - Petersen, Klaus and Petersen, Jorn Henrik (2013). Confusion and divergence: Origins and meanings of the term 'welfare state' in Germany and Britain, 1840 - 1940. Journal of European Social Policy 23 (10) 37 - 51. - Mishra R. (2000). Globalisation and the Welfare State. UK, Macmillan. - Flora, P., Heidenheimer, A.J. (eds) (1981). The development of welfare states in Europe and America. US, Transaction PUblishers. - Briggs, Asa (1961). The Welfare State in historical perspective. European Journal of Sociology. - Gough, Ian (2008). European Welfare States: explanations and lessons for developing countries. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/36633. - Baldwin, P. (1990). The politics of social solidarity. UK, Cambridge University Press. - Esping Anderson, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. US, Princeton University Press. - Esping-Anderson, G. (1999). Social foundations of postindustrial economies. UK, Oxford. - Pierson, C. (2006). Beyond the Welfare State? UK, Polity. - Pierson, C. (2001). The New Politics of the Welfare State. UK, Oxford University Press. - Abel-Smith, B. and Titmuss, K. (1987). The philosophy of welfare: selected writings of Richard M. Titmuss. UK, Allen and Unwin. - Kerbergen, Kees van and Vis, Barbara (2013). Comparative welfare state politics: development, opportunities and reform. - Castles, Frank (1993). (ed.) Families of Nations: Patterns of Public Policy in Western Democracy. UK, Aldershot. - Greve, Bent (2014). Welfare and the Welfare State: Present and Future. - Gilbert, Neil and Etzioni, A. (2004). Transformation of the welfare state: the silent surrender of public responsibility. UK, Oxford. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Sara Mizzi Sue Vella |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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