Social welfare in the light of topic modelling

Bibliographic Data

ID12912596
AuthorsMaciej Baranowski (0000-0001-6755-9368, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, corresponding author), Piotr Cichocki (0000-0003-0999-477X, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Jaqueline Mckinley (0000-0002-9949-8368, Energy Institute)
Year2023
Volume17
Issue8
Publication date2023-03-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-9020 • E-ISSN: 1751-9020
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soc4.13086
OpenAlexW4324086340
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited63

With an increased focus on social well‐being in response to a burgeoning global economy exposing the weaknesses of social welfare policies, research output in the field has grown exponentially. Keeping track of the evolving research themes proves difficult due to the steady rise in the number of studies published in the interdisciplinary field of social welfare. Therefore, researchers need a comprehensive overview to confirm the current shape of the field based on the published research. Using a latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm as a topic modelling technique, this study identified 12 prominent themes from more than 10,000 research outputs on social welfare published from 2000 to 2020 in Scopus‐indexed journals. Such an exploratory text‐mining approach to literature review provides broad insights into the diversity of research and may serve as a foundation for further in‐depth studies. Identifying these 12 thematic areas and their sub‐themes allows us to articulate the complexity and diversity of social welfare issues, which go far beyond the field of well‐established welfare economics or social work. The study shows that the topic of ‘social welfare’ has not only evolved over time but has significantly broadened its meaning. It can no longer be solely synonymous with institutional social security. We contend that research in this area needs to take into account a broader and more systematic range of determinants constituting the dynamic character of social welfare

Diversity (politics · Economics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Latent Dirichlet allocation · Meaning (existential · Political science · Positive economics · Social policy · Social science · Social Welfare · Sociology · Topic model · Welfare · Anthropology · Computer Science · Law · Social Science and Policy Research · Artificial Intelligence

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