WELFARE SOCIOLOGY

The course introduces the students to the key themes, concepts and theoretical perspectives of sociology of welfare and contributes to the acquisition of a basic sociological culture that fosters an understanding of the dynamics of contemporary societies. Thus, the course aims at providing basic knowledge useful for understanding welfare systems/regimes, giving attention to active labour policies and local welfare as emerging trends.

At the end of the course the student
- knows the origin and evolution of the Welfare State
- knows the relationship between the evolution of social risks, social needs and the transformations of the Welfare State;
- knows how the public and private actors involved in the welfare regimes have changed over time;
- knows the conceptual and analytical tools for the study of the welfare regimes;
- knows the typologies of the welfare regimes and can apply them to recognise the types implemented in Europe;
- knows the emerging trajectories of European welfare systems from a Social Investment perspective;
- knows the tools of territorial planning and integrated interventions;
- They know how to design socio-educational interventions, in collaboration with the various professional figures and services;
- They know the Local Plans (Piani di Zona) and can apply their basic principles in local planning in relation to public and private organisations.

Students are recommended to have completed the exam of ‘Sociological Theories I’ (or are familiar with the basic concepts and theoretical approaches of sociology).

The course is organised in three parts.
The first part presents the origin and evolution of welfare systems in Europe from the end of the 19th century until the crisis of the late 20th century and the subsequent policies of austerity and social investment. In order to do so, a historical and comparative perspective is adopted fostering the understanding of the institutional and cultural reasons underlying the evolution of welfare systems and applying the theory of welfare regimes to explain national differences in institutional factors influencing welfare types.
The second part of the course analyses the transformations that have strained national welfare systems, due to increasing budgetary constraints and new social risks. The course pays particular attention to the European social investment agenda formed by a growing interest in human capital, active labour policies, childcare, work life balance and anti-poverty misures.
The third part of the course analyses, with a specific focus on the Italian context, local partnerships and the territorialisation of welfare. These confirm the growing importance of local welfare and have many implications not only in terms of social protection but also in terms of local democracy, where new forms of local actors' protagonism, public-private networks and citizens' participation are taking shape.
The topics of the three parts of the course will be directly applied to the phenomenon of social innovation initiatives through laboratories and exercises.

The main text of the course will be comunicated at the beginning of the lessons
Other supplementary text downloadable online:
Caroli M.G. (2016), Modelli ed esperienze di innovazione sociale in Italia. Secondo rapporto sull’innovazione sociale, Milano: Franco Angeli (Chapters 1 and 2)
(http://ojs.francoangeli.it/_omp/index.php/oa/catalog/book/129 )

The exam covers:
- The understanding of the main themes, concepts, theories and empirical elements discussed during the course;
- The ability to explain clearly key elements and concepts of historical and contemporary debates on economic processes from a sociological perspective;
- The ability to apply concepts and theories to real and concrete cases;
- The ability to critically discuss questions and problems.

For attending students:
Written exam with open questions (50%) and evaluation of the work done during the course (presentations, participation in discussions, written exercises) (50%).
For non-attending students:
Written exam with open questions (70%) and oral exam (30%).

The course will be based on lectures (during the lessons or through pre-recorded contents made available online) and workshops (for weekly exercises), therefore the expected attendance for students is 2 lectures per week, integrated with homework and viewing of online lectures. One weekly lesson will be held in plenary in the presence of all the attending students and will be used to deepen the topics of the course introduced by the pre-recorded lessons. A second weekly lesson will involve the students, divided in two groups, and will be structured in laboratory mode to apply the concepts previously introduced by online and in presence lessons.
During the plenary lessons, the main themes, concepts and theories will be introduced also with the use of powerpoint presentations and different documents (photos, videos, etc.). Here, the professor is available to answer general questions about the course content, study materials, examination methods, etc.
For the workshop/laboratory meetings, students will be organised into small groups and they will have to explore and apply concepts and present their main outputs in dialogue with the professor. The workshops are designed to aid understanding, stimulate critical analysis and discussion of contemporary issues and problems in the light of the theoretical and empirical contribution of sociology of welfare.

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development