Francesco Laruffa
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 76430 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Francesco Laruffa |
| NOMBRES | Francesco |
| APELLIDO | Laruffa |
| FIRMA | LARUFFA F |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Geneva |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4240-8162 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 26 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 146 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 26 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2018 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
After Neoliberalism? Interregnum, Polycrisis and the Principle of Expansive Democratisation
In this paper, we contribute to the debate on the end of neoliberalism and on possible alternatives to the latter. We start by clarifying the relationship between neoliberalism, globalisation and the state as well as between neoliberalism, "populism", and far-right conservatism. We argue that, despite important political-economic changes, we are still in an "interregnum", whereby neoliberalism is increasingly challenged and dysfunctional but stil…
From social investment to sustainable welfare
Social investment is one of the dominant approaches to welfare reform worldwide. Highlighting the positive contribution of social policy to the economy, social investment constitutes a valuable alternative to austerity. In this research note, we argue that—despite its merits—social investment is problematic from an ecological and global justice perspective, as it remains tied to the capitalist regime of overproduction and overconsumption that cau…
Rethinking the concept of investment and the future of work and welfare
While ‘social investment’ is today one of the most influential approaches for framing welfare reform among social policy scholars, the concept of investment is not usually discussed in this literature. Filling this gap, Fred Block has recently proposed a new definition of investment, grounding it on the social investment approach to welfare reform and on feminist theories of social reproduction. Highlighting the economic value of caregiving and s…
Developing the global North
The concept of development is usually applied to the global South. Yet the capitalist, growth-based socioeconomic paradigm of ‘developed’ countries is both ecologically destructive and socially unjust. Can we formulate alternative – emancipatory and sustainable – visions of progress? In this article, I apply the concept of development exclusively to the global North – even if out of an explicit concern for global social–ecological justice – offer…
Towards a framework articulating justice and development for evaluating just transition policies
The article advances debates on just transition by addressing both conceptual and practical dimensions of justice and development. It proposes an integrated evaluative framework that bridges justice and development perspectives, which are often treated separately in the literature. – Drawing on the capability approach, the framework links normative evaluation with participatory co-production, thereby supporting the design of more transformative j…
Beyond the 'Always-Embedded Economy
Socioeconomics designates the interdisciplinary attempt to provide an alternative to mainstream economics, involving economic sociology, political economy, and heterodox economics. While Polanyi's work largely informs this endeavor, his theory is also ambiguous, and scholars have interpreted it in opposing ways. The notion of the always-embedded economy is by now widely accepted, but this perspective potentially undermines the critique of (neolib…
Eco-social policies, capitalism and the horizon of emancipatory politics
Within the space of a few years, eco-social policies evolved from being endorsed by a marginal community of heterodox scholars to being established in mainstream circles. While this is a welcome development, it also raises questions among critical social policy scholars. How should an emancipatory eco-social policy look? Rather than specifying concrete policies, this article contributes to answering this question by discussing the relationship be…
A model to follow? The EU and global eco-social policy
In this article, we study the political project promoted by the European Commission (EC) for tackling simultaneously socioeconomic and environmental issues. Based on a detailed analysis of the most relevant EC policy documents (adopted between 2000 and 2020) that explicitly articulate ecological and socioeconomic questions, we offer two contributions to the literature on eco-social policy. First, we identify the nature of what we call the ‘Europe…
Making Sense of (Post)Neoliberalism
The many contradictory interpretations of neoliberalism raise doubts about the value of this concept. This article discusses the literature on neoliberalism for identifying a 'minimum common core' that warrants preserving this concept. I argue that neoliberalism entails an ideology and a political practice that aim to subordinate the state and all social domains to the market-to its logic and to the economic powers within it-thereby undermining d…
Transforming Social Policies and Institutions in a Capability Perspective
The article suggests that putting the enhancement of capability to aspire and capability for voice centre stage of the design and implementation of social policies would entail a deep-seated transformation of such policies. Based on the receiver-doer-judge framework we explore what conditions are to be fulfilled to implement such a transformation, emphasising how the expansion of objective opportunity and entitlement sets should go hand in hand w…
Towards a post-neoliberal social policy
Drawing from the theoretical and empirical results of a European research project, this paper tentatively elaborates a post-neoliberal framework for social policy and welfare reform. We argue that for moving beyond neoliberalism it is not sufficient to just increase the generosity of social policies: what is also needed is ‘social empowerment’, i.e. processes of democratization of social policymaking that effectively redistribute power in society…
Neoliberal globalization, hegemonic crisis, and the struggle for a countermovement the case of the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ in Switzerland
Since the emergence of neoliberalism, the power of multinational corporations has dramatically grown. Given the limits of ‘self-regulation’ (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility), this paper examines the attempt to develop a regime of ‘public governance’ rooted in law-based regulation. The focus is on a referendum voted in 2020 that aimed at regulating Swiss-based multinational corporations. This case is interesting for two reasons. First, Switze…
From an Ordoliberal idea to a Social‐Democratic ideal? The European Parliament and the institutionalization of ‘social market economy’ in the European Union (1957‐2007)
This paper explores how ‘social market economy’ became a quasi‐constitutional principle of the EU, highlighting the crucial role played in this process by the European Parliament. Based on multiple archival sources, we show that social market economy came to function as a limited repertoire: While it was advocated for various reasons by different actors, increasingly including social‐democrats, it nevertheless also solidified certain ways of conc…
Toward a post‐neoliberal social citizenship
Since the financial and economic crisis started in 2008, the acceptability of neoliberalism is increasingly challenged. Arguably, the current situation can be described in Gramscian terms (Gramsci, 1971) as the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism (Caruso, 2016; Stahl, 2019). Thus, while remaining dominant, neoliberalism has lost its legitimacy: The ruling classes still rule, but they no longer enjoy the consensus of the ruled. This rupture between …
Neoliberalism, Economization and the Paradox of the New Welfare State
This paper theorizes the nature of neoliberal social policy, making three substantial contributions. First, processes of "economization" are identified as a central characteristic of neoliberalism: economization constitutes a "bridge" between Foucauldian and (neo-)Marxist accounts of neoliberalism - two perspectives that are in many respects hardly reconcilable - because extending the economic logic to non-economic areas (neoliberalism as a gover…
Towards a Capability-Oriented Eco-Social Policy
In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic growth and productive employment as means for enhancing capabilities. We argue that the capability ap…
Enabling Participation Income for an Eco-Social State
We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care of the world’, thus shifting the emphasis from economic production to social reproduction and enviro…
Studying the relationship between social policy promotion and neoliberalism
Drawing from the fields of Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies, this article examines the relationship between social policy and neoliberalism, focusing on the ‘social investment’ discourse promoted by the European Commission. In the social policy literature, social investment is widely considered a policy framework able to overcome neoliberalism, with the latter defined rather narrowly as welfare retrenchment. Instead, referri…
Promoting social goals through economisation? Social investment and the counterintuitive case of homelessness
Within the welfare state literature, critics of social investment have argued that its economic logic replaces ‘social’ considerations (for example, focused on rights/needs) and that this could reinforce the marginalisation of vulnerable populations, as they are unattractive ‘human capital’. Against this background, this article focuses on the counterintuitive case of the social investment approach to homelessness promoted by the European Commiss…
What is a Capability-enhancing Social Policy? Individual Autonomy, Democratic Citizenship and the Insufficiency of the Employment-focused Paradigm
Since the mid-1990s, global social policy discourse and practice has shifted from a focus on social protection and redistribution towards the promotion of people’s labour market participation and human capital enhancement. The capability approach significantly contributed to legitimize these developments. The aim of this paper is to criticize this dominant interpretation of the capability approach in social policy, which reduces people’s capabili…
Auf dem Weg zu einer Post-Neoliberalen Sozialpolitik? Sozialinvestition versus Capability-Ansatz
Spätestens seit dem Anfang der Finanzkrise im Jahre 2008 verliert der Neoliberalismus an Legitimität – was die Möglichkeit eröffnet eine progressive Alternative zu entwickeln. In akademischen Debatten im Bereich der Sozialpolitik bietet die Sozialinvestition jetzt die normative Orientierung für die Entwicklung einer post-neoliberalen Sozialpolitik. Der Artikel stellt die Gültigkeit von folgenden zwei Argumenten in Frage: dass die Sozialinvestitio…
Social Welfare Discourses and Scholars’ Ethical-Political Dilemmas in the Crisis of Neoliberalism
Discourse is central in promoting – or hindering – social change. This paper discusses the ethical-political dilemmas that academics face in developing progressive discourses on social welfare in the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism. A central dilemma concerns the (implicit or explicit) target of their discourse. Speaking to elites reproduces dominant values and interests, reinforcing central elements of neoliberalism such as economisation and d…
Human beings as receivers, doers and judges. The anthropological foundations of sustainable public action in the capability approach
In this paper, we argue that the capability approach can suggest avenues to reform social policies in the direction of a more valuable and sustainable conciliation between people's different engagements in community, work and family. We thus develop a theoretical framework for assessing the extent to which social policies support the freedom to lead a valuable life and to choose how to combine in a sustainable way employment, family life and acti…
Social investment
Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-liberalism is simplistic and empirically weak. It states that under a more accurate definition, social inv…
Deliberative democracy in the real world, the contribution of the capability approach
Drawing on Amartya Sen’s writings, this article presents the capability approach to democracy and shows its relevance for the sociological reflection and research on democratic processes conceived as ways to convert individual preferences into collective norms or decisions. Two moments are key in this respect: the formation of individual preferences and their translation into collective norms in the course of public debates. The initial sections …
Making Sense of (Post)Neoliberalism
The many contradictory interpretations of neoliberalism raise doubts about the value of this concept. This article discusses the literature on neoliberalism for identifying a 'minimum common core' that warrants preserving this concept. I argue that neoliberalism entails an ideology and a political practice that aim to subordinate the state and all social domains to the market-to its logic and to the economic powers within it-thereby undermining d…
Neoliberalism, Economization and the Paradox of the New Welfare State
This paper theorizes the nature of neoliberal social policy, making three substantial contributions. First, processes of "economization" are identified as a central characteristic of neoliberalism: economization constitutes a "bridge" between Foucauldian and (neo-)Marxist accounts of neoliberalism - two perspectives that are in many respects hardly reconcilable - because extending the economic logic to non-economic areas (neoliberalism as a gover…
Human beings as receivers, doers and judges. The anthropological foundations of sustainable public action in the capability approach
In this paper, we argue that the capability approach can suggest avenues to reform social policies in the direction of a more valuable and sustainable conciliation between people's different engagements in community, work and family. We thus develop a theoretical framework for assessing the extent to which social policies support the freedom to lead a valuable life and to choose how to combine in a sustainable way employment, family life and acti…
Social investment
Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-liberalism is simplistic and empirically weak. It states that under a more accurate definition, social inv…
Towards a Capability-Oriented Eco-Social Policy
In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic growth and productive employment as means for enhancing capabilities. We argue that the capability ap…
Enabling Participation Income for an Eco-Social State
We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care of the world’, thus shifting the emphasis from economic production to social reproduction and enviro…
A model to follow? The EU and global eco-social policy
In this article, we study the political project promoted by the European Commission (EC) for tackling simultaneously socioeconomic and environmental issues. Based on a detailed analysis of the most relevant EC policy documents (adopted between 2000 and 2020) that explicitly articulate ecological and socioeconomic questions, we offer two contributions to the literature on eco-social policy. First, we identify the nature of what we call the ‘Europe…
Toward a post‐neoliberal social citizenship
Since the financial and economic crisis started in 2008, the acceptability of neoliberalism is increasingly challenged. Arguably, the current situation can be described in Gramscian terms (Gramsci, 1971) as the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism (Caruso, 2016; Stahl, 2019). Thus, while remaining dominant, neoliberalism has lost its legitimacy: The ruling classes still rule, but they no longer enjoy the consensus of the ruled. This rupture between …
Transforming Social Policies and Institutions in a Capability Perspective
The article suggests that putting the enhancement of capability to aspire and capability for voice centre stage of the design and implementation of social policies would entail a deep-seated transformation of such policies. Based on the receiver-doer-judge framework we explore what conditions are to be fulfilled to implement such a transformation, emphasising how the expansion of objective opportunity and entitlement sets should go hand in hand w…
What is a Capability-enhancing Social Policy? Individual Autonomy, Democratic Citizenship and the Insufficiency of the Employment-focused Paradigm
Since the mid-1990s, global social policy discourse and practice has shifted from a focus on social protection and redistribution towards the promotion of people’s labour market participation and human capital enhancement. The capability approach significantly contributed to legitimize these developments. The aim of this paper is to criticize this dominant interpretation of the capability approach in social policy, which reduces people’s capabili…
Promoting social goals through economisation? Social investment and the counterintuitive case of homelessness
Within the welfare state literature, critics of social investment have argued that its economic logic replaces ‘social’ considerations (for example, focused on rights/needs) and that this could reinforce the marginalisation of vulnerable populations, as they are unattractive ‘human capital’. Against this background, this article focuses on the counterintuitive case of the social investment approach to homelessness promoted by the European Commiss…
Towards a Critical Sociology of Democracy
The aim of this article is to lay down the foundations of a critical sociology of democracy and participation. Based on Amartya Sen's capability approach, we identify four major pitfalls of classical theories on justice and deliberative democracy: 1) an excessive emphasis on the procedural dimension of democracy at the expense of its substantial value; 2) an ideal of deliberation that does not sufficiently account for the inequalities that charac…
From an Ordoliberal idea to a Social‐Democratic ideal? The European Parliament and the institutionalization of ‘social market economy’ in the European Union (1957‐2007)
This paper explores how ‘social market economy’ became a quasi‐constitutional principle of the EU, highlighting the crucial role played in this process by the European Parliament. Based on multiple archival sources, we show that social market economy came to function as a limited repertoire: While it was advocated for various reasons by different actors, increasingly including social‐democrats, it nevertheless also solidified certain ways of conc…
Studying the relationship between social policy promotion and neoliberalism
Drawing from the fields of Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies, this article examines the relationship between social policy and neoliberalism, focusing on the ‘social investment’ discourse promoted by the European Commission. In the social policy literature, social investment is widely considered a policy framework able to overcome neoliberalism, with the latter defined rather narrowly as welfare retrenchment. Instead, referri…
Eco-social policies, capitalism and the horizon of emancipatory politics
Within the space of a few years, eco-social policies evolved from being endorsed by a marginal community of heterodox scholars to being established in mainstream circles. While this is a welcome development, it also raises questions among critical social policy scholars. How should an emancipatory eco-social policy look? Rather than specifying concrete policies, this article contributes to answering this question by discussing the relationship be…
Towards a post-neoliberal social policy
Drawing from the theoretical and empirical results of a European research project, this paper tentatively elaborates a post-neoliberal framework for social policy and welfare reform. We argue that for moving beyond neoliberalism it is not sufficient to just increase the generosity of social policies: what is also needed is ‘social empowerment’, i.e. processes of democratization of social policymaking that effectively redistribute power in society…
Neoliberal globalization, hegemonic crisis, and the struggle for a countermovement the case of the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ in Switzerland
Since the emergence of neoliberalism, the power of multinational corporations has dramatically grown. Given the limits of ‘self-regulation’ (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility), this paper examines the attempt to develop a regime of ‘public governance’ rooted in law-based regulation. The focus is on a referendum voted in 2020 that aimed at regulating Swiss-based multinational corporations. This case is interesting for two reasons. First, Switze…
Social Welfare Discourses and Scholars’ Ethical-Political Dilemmas in the Crisis of Neoliberalism
Discourse is central in promoting – or hindering – social change. This paper discusses the ethical-political dilemmas that academics face in developing progressive discourses on social welfare in the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism. A central dilemma concerns the (implicit or explicit) target of their discourse. Speaking to elites reproduces dominant values and interests, reinforcing central elements of neoliberalism such as economisation and d…
Deliberative democracy in the real world, the contribution of the capability approach
Drawing on Amartya Sen’s writings, this article presents the capability approach to democracy and shows its relevance for the sociological reflection and research on democratic processes conceived as ways to convert individual preferences into collective norms or decisions. Two moments are key in this respect: the formation of individual preferences and their translation into collective norms in the course of public debates. The initial sections …
Human beings as receivers, doers and judges. The anthropological foundations of sustainable public action in the capability approach
In this paper, we argue that the capability approach can suggest avenues to reform social policies in the direction of a more valuable and sustainable conciliation between people's different engagements in community, work and family. We thus develop a theoretical framework for assessing the extent to which social policies support the freedom to lead a valuable life and to choose how to combine in a sustainable way employment, family life and acti…
Social investment
Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-liberalism is simplistic and empirically weak. It states that under a more accurate definition, social inv…
Deliberative democracy in the real world, the contribution of the capability approach
Drawing on Amartya Sen’s writings, this article presents the capability approach to democracy and shows its relevance for the sociological reflection and research on democratic processes conceived as ways to convert individual preferences into collective norms or decisions. Two moments are key in this respect: the formation of individual preferences and their translation into collective norms in the course of public debates. The initial sections …
Towards a Critical Sociology of Democracy
The aim of this article is to lay down the foundations of a critical sociology of democracy and participation. Based on Amartya Sen's capability approach, we identify four major pitfalls of classical theories on justice and deliberative democracy: 1) an excessive emphasis on the procedural dimension of democracy at the expense of its substantial value; 2) an ideal of deliberation that does not sufficiently account for the inequalities that charac…
Auf dem Weg zu einer Post-Neoliberalen Sozialpolitik? Sozialinvestition versus Capability-Ansatz
Spätestens seit dem Anfang der Finanzkrise im Jahre 2008 verliert der Neoliberalismus an Legitimität – was die Möglichkeit eröffnet eine progressive Alternative zu entwickeln. In akademischen Debatten im Bereich der Sozialpolitik bietet die Sozialinvestition jetzt die normative Orientierung für die Entwicklung einer post-neoliberalen Sozialpolitik. Der Artikel stellt die Gültigkeit von folgenden zwei Argumenten in Frage: dass die Sozialinvestitio…
Social Welfare Discourses and Scholars’ Ethical-Political Dilemmas in the Crisis of Neoliberalism
Discourse is central in promoting – or hindering – social change. This paper discusses the ethical-political dilemmas that academics face in developing progressive discourses on social welfare in the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism. A central dilemma concerns the (implicit or explicit) target of their discourse. Speaking to elites reproduces dominant values and interests, reinforcing central elements of neoliberalism such as economisation and d…
What is a Capability-enhancing Social Policy? Individual Autonomy, Democratic Citizenship and the Insufficiency of the Employment-focused Paradigm
Since the mid-1990s, global social policy discourse and practice has shifted from a focus on social protection and redistribution towards the promotion of people’s labour market participation and human capital enhancement. The capability approach significantly contributed to legitimize these developments. The aim of this paper is to criticize this dominant interpretation of the capability approach in social policy, which reduces people’s capabili…
Towards a Capability-Oriented Eco-Social Policy
In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic growth and productive employment as means for enhancing capabilities. We argue that the capability ap…
Enabling Participation Income for an Eco-Social State
We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care of the world’, thus shifting the emphasis from economic production to social reproduction and enviro…
Studying the relationship between social policy promotion and neoliberalism
Drawing from the fields of Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies, this article examines the relationship between social policy and neoliberalism, focusing on the ‘social investment’ discourse promoted by the European Commission. In the social policy literature, social investment is widely considered a policy framework able to overcome neoliberalism, with the latter defined rather narrowly as welfare retrenchment. Instead, referri…
Promoting social goals through economisation? Social investment and the counterintuitive case of homelessness
Within the welfare state literature, critics of social investment have argued that its economic logic replaces ‘social’ considerations (for example, focused on rights/needs) and that this could reinforce the marginalisation of vulnerable populations, as they are unattractive ‘human capital’. Against this background, this article focuses on the counterintuitive case of the social investment approach to homelessness promoted by the European Commiss…
Neoliberal globalization, hegemonic crisis, and the struggle for a countermovement the case of the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ in Switzerland
Since the emergence of neoliberalism, the power of multinational corporations has dramatically grown. Given the limits of ‘self-regulation’ (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility), this paper examines the attempt to develop a regime of ‘public governance’ rooted in law-based regulation. The focus is on a referendum voted in 2020 that aimed at regulating Swiss-based multinational corporations. This case is interesting for two reasons. First, Switze…
From an Ordoliberal idea to a Social‐Democratic ideal? The European Parliament and the institutionalization of ‘social market economy’ in the European Union (1957‐2007)
This paper explores how ‘social market economy’ became a quasi‐constitutional principle of the EU, highlighting the crucial role played in this process by the European Parliament. Based on multiple archival sources, we show that social market economy came to function as a limited repertoire: While it was advocated for various reasons by different actors, increasingly including social‐democrats, it nevertheless also solidified certain ways of conc…
Toward a post‐neoliberal social citizenship
Since the financial and economic crisis started in 2008, the acceptability of neoliberalism is increasingly challenged. Arguably, the current situation can be described in Gramscian terms (Gramsci, 1971) as the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism (Caruso, 2016; Stahl, 2019). Thus, while remaining dominant, neoliberalism has lost its legitimacy: The ruling classes still rule, but they no longer enjoy the consensus of the ruled. This rupture between …
Neoliberalism, Economization and the Paradox of the New Welfare State
This paper theorizes the nature of neoliberal social policy, making three substantial contributions. First, processes of "economization" are identified as a central characteristic of neoliberalism: economization constitutes a "bridge" between Foucauldian and (neo-)Marxist accounts of neoliberalism - two perspectives that are in many respects hardly reconcilable - because extending the economic logic to non-economic areas (neoliberalism as a gover…
Towards a post-neoliberal social policy
Drawing from the theoretical and empirical results of a European research project, this paper tentatively elaborates a post-neoliberal framework for social policy and welfare reform. We argue that for moving beyond neoliberalism it is not sufficient to just increase the generosity of social policies: what is also needed is ‘social empowerment’, i.e. processes of democratization of social policymaking that effectively redistribute power in society…
Eco-social policies, capitalism and the horizon of emancipatory politics
Within the space of a few years, eco-social policies evolved from being endorsed by a marginal community of heterodox scholars to being established in mainstream circles. While this is a welcome development, it also raises questions among critical social policy scholars. How should an emancipatory eco-social policy look? Rather than specifying concrete policies, this article contributes to answering this question by discussing the relationship be…
A model to follow? The EU and global eco-social policy
In this article, we study the political project promoted by the European Commission (EC) for tackling simultaneously socioeconomic and environmental issues. Based on a detailed analysis of the most relevant EC policy documents (adopted between 2000 and 2020) that explicitly articulate ecological and socioeconomic questions, we offer two contributions to the literature on eco-social policy. First, we identify the nature of what we call the ‘Europe…
Making Sense of (Post)Neoliberalism
The many contradictory interpretations of neoliberalism raise doubts about the value of this concept. This article discusses the literature on neoliberalism for identifying a 'minimum common core' that warrants preserving this concept. I argue that neoliberalism entails an ideology and a political practice that aim to subordinate the state and all social domains to the market-to its logic and to the economic powers within it-thereby undermining d…
Transforming Social Policies and Institutions in a Capability Perspective
The article suggests that putting the enhancement of capability to aspire and capability for voice centre stage of the design and implementation of social policies would entail a deep-seated transformation of such policies. Based on the receiver-doer-judge framework we explore what conditions are to be fulfilled to implement such a transformation, emphasising how the expansion of objective opportunity and entitlement sets should go hand in hand w…
Towards a framework articulating justice and development for evaluating just transition policies
The article advances debates on just transition by addressing both conceptual and practical dimensions of justice and development. It proposes an integrated evaluative framework that bridges justice and development perspectives, which are often treated separately in the literature. – Drawing on the capability approach, the framework links normative evaluation with participatory co-production, thereby supporting the design of more transformative j…
Beyond the 'Always-Embedded Economy
Socioeconomics designates the interdisciplinary attempt to provide an alternative to mainstream economics, involving economic sociology, political economy, and heterodox economics. While Polanyi's work largely informs this endeavor, his theory is also ambiguous, and scholars have interpreted it in opposing ways. The notion of the always-embedded economy is by now widely accepted, but this perspective potentially undermines the critique of (neolib…
After Neoliberalism? Interregnum, Polycrisis and the Principle of Expansive Democratisation
In this paper, we contribute to the debate on the end of neoliberalism and on possible alternatives to the latter. We start by clarifying the relationship between neoliberalism, globalisation and the state as well as between neoliberalism, "populism", and far-right conservatism. We argue that, despite important political-economic changes, we are still in an "interregnum", whereby neoliberalism is increasingly challenged and dysfunctional but stil…
From social investment to sustainable welfare
Social investment is one of the dominant approaches to welfare reform worldwide. Highlighting the positive contribution of social policy to the economy, social investment constitutes a valuable alternative to austerity. In this research note, we argue that—despite its merits—social investment is problematic from an ecological and global justice perspective, as it remains tied to the capitalist regime of overproduction and overconsumption that cau…
Rethinking the concept of investment and the future of work and welfare
While ‘social investment’ is today one of the most influential approaches for framing welfare reform among social policy scholars, the concept of investment is not usually discussed in this literature. Filling this gap, Fred Block has recently proposed a new definition of investment, grounding it on the social investment approach to welfare reform and on feminist theories of social reproduction. Highlighting the economic value of caregiving and s…
Political science (20 obras) · Politics (16 obras) · Sociology (16 obras) · Law (15 obras) · Economics (14 obras) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (13 obras) · Law (12 obras) · Political economy (12 obras) · Economic system (10 obras) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (10 obras)