Comparative Social Policy


COURSE OUTLINE 21

  1. GENERAL
SCHOOL SOCIAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT SOCIAL POLICY
LEVEL OF STUDIES LEVEL 6
COURSE CODE 21 SEMESTER 4th
COURSE TITLE Comparative Social Policy
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
If the ECTS Credits are distributed in distinct parts of the course e.g. lectures, labs etc. If the ECTS Credits are awarded to the whole course, then please indicate the teaching hours per week and the corresponding ECTS Credits.
TEACHING HOURS PER WEEK ECTS CREDITS
3 6
Please, add lines if necessary. Teaching methods and organization of the course are described in section 4.
COURSE TYPE

Background, General Knowledge, Scientific Area, Skill Development

Scientific Area
PREREQUISITES: No
TEACHING & EXAMINATION LANGUAGE: Greek
COURSE OFFERED TO ERASMUS STUDENTS: No
COURSE URL: https://eclass.duth.gr/courses/438167/

 

 

  1. LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcomes
Please describe the learning outcomes of the course: Knowledge, skills and abilities acquired after the successful completion of the course.
The aim of this course is to introduce students into the comparative analysis f different social protection systems and into the exploration of their changes through time. The concept of regimes of welfare capitalism (Esping-Andersen) is used for the comparative exploration of welfare states. In particular, alternative typologies of welfare states are presented as well as approaches focusing on the gender perspective in order to assess diverse welfare mixes.  The transformations of the welfare state are examined through the perspective of social change, new social risks and the effects of the European integration and globalization. In addition, the explanatory power and the validity of various approaches is assessed based on empirical data in specific fields of social policy (social security, employment policy, health and social assistance). Special focus is placed on the particular traits of social protection systems in the South of Europe (belated development of the welfare state in relation to the countries of North-Western Europe, the role of EU in the formulation of social policy). Finally, we examine the consequences of the crisis on the social reform of the European space, the future of Social Europe and the potential for the further reinvigoration of values and principles of the European Social Model.

Upon the successful completion of the course, students will be in the position to:

·         Understand the basic concepts and terms of comparative analysis in social policy and welfare states.

·         Delve into the various theoretical approaches for understanding welfare states.

·         Develop the appropriate theoretical and methodological tools for the analysis and synthesis of various theoretical approaches in social policy and welfare state theory.

General Skills
Name the desirable general skills upon successful completion of the module
Search, analysis and synthesis of data and information,

ICT Use

Adaptation to new situations

Decision making

Autonomous work

Teamwork

Working in an international environment

Working in an interdisciplinary environment

Production of new research ideas

Project design and management

Equity and Inclusion

Respect for the natural environment

Sustainability

Demonstration of social, professional and moral responsibility and sensitivity to gender issues

Critical thinking

Promoting free, creative and inductive reasoning

Search, analysis and synthesis of data and information,

ICT Use

Autonomous work

Teamwork

Working in an interdisciplinary environment

Equity and Inclusion

Sustainability

Demonstration of social, professional and moral responsibility and sensitivity to gender issues

Critical thinking

Promoting free, creative and inductive reasoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. COURSE CONTENT
 

The aim of this course is to introduce students into the comparative analysis f different social protection systems and into the exploration of their changes through time. The concept of regimes of welfare capitalism (Esping-Andersen) is used for the comparative exploration of welfare states.

 

In the first part, we define the content of comparative social policy. In the following, we summarize the main theoretical approaches for the emergence of the welfare state in order to highlight the contribution by Esping-Andersen. Finally, we define fundamental concepts in comparative social policy and in particular the concept of decommodificatios and analyze the welfare state as a system of social stratification.

 

In the second part, we present the typology by Esping-Andersen, we highlight the main aspects of each regime and provide explanations for their emergence.

 

In the third part, we present studies which criticize the typology by Esping-Andersen from the gender perspective as well as through comparison on neglected by Esping-Andersen policy fields. Finally, we examine the debate over the existence of a South-European model of welfare as well as the welfare trajectories of other geographical areas outside Europe.

 

Course outline:

·         Introduction to comparative social policy

·         Theoretical approaches for the emergence of the welfare state

·         The concept of decommodification

·         The welfare state as a system of social stratification

·         The three worlds of welfare capitalism: main aspects of regimes

·         The three worlds of welfare capitalism: the explanation behind the emergence of three regimes

·         The three worlds of welfare capitalism in the post-industrial era

·         Esping-Andersen’s typology and the gender perspective

·         Esping-Andersen’s typology in other field of social policy

·         The debate on the South-European welfare model

·         Emerging welfare states: Latin America

·         Emerging welfare states: East Asia

 

  1. LEARNING & TEACHING METHODS – EVALUATION
TEACHING METHOD
Face to face, Distance learning, etc.
Face to face
USE OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
Use of ICT in Teaching, in Laboratory Education, in Communication with students
Use of databases, audio-visual material and ppt presentations. The platform eclass is used for the upload of announcements and educational material as well as for communication with students.
TEACHING ORGANIZATION

The ways and methods of teaching are described in detail.

Lectures, Seminars, Laboratory Exercise, Field Exercise, Bibliographic research & analysis, Tutoring, Internship (Placement), Clinical Exercise, Art Workshop, Interactive learning, Study visits, Study / creation, project, creation, project. Etc.

 

The supervised and unsupervised workload per activity is indicated here, so that total workload per semester complies to ECTS standards.

Activity  Workload/semester

Lectures 30

Interactive teaching            9

Preparation of oral presentations 31

Independent work towards written exams     80

Course total          150

 

 

               

Student Evaluation

Description of the evaluation process

 

Assessment Language, Assessment Methods, Formative or Concluding, Multiple Choice Test, Short Answer Questions, Essay Development Questions, Problem Solving, Written Assignment, Essay / Report, Oral Exam, Presentation in audience, Laboratory Report,Clinical examination of a patient,Artistic interpretation, Other/Others

 

Please indicate all relevant information about the course assessment and how students are informed 

 

Formative

Preparation of oral presentations

Essay development questions

 

  1. SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
 

 

·         Esping-Andersen, C. (2014). The three worlds of welfare capitalism, trans. Golemi, Α., Topos (Motivo), Athens (in Greek).

·         Notes and ppts of the course.

·         Lalioti, V. (2018). Aspects of comparative social policy, Topos (Motivo), Athens (in Greek).