Stepping-stone solidarity

The normative foundation of the social investment welfare state

Bibliographic Data

ID2301458
AuthorsAzizjon Bagadirov (0000-0001-6541-9628, European University Institute, corresponding author), Anton Hemerijck (0000-0001-8695-1250, European University Institute), Pablo Puertas Roig (0000-0002-1919-316X, European University Institute)
Year2025
Volume68
Issue4
Pages476-492
Publication date2025-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Sociologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6993 • E-ISSN: 1502-3869
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00016993251319682
OpenAlexW4408455494
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited42

In this article, we explore the normative foundations of the social investment welfare state. Social investment welfare enhances ex ante individuals' opportunities and capabilities to resolve the social risks typical of post-industrial societies - via early childhood education and care, vocational training over the life course, active-labour-market capacity-building and policies for work-life balance, such as paid parental leave, lifelong learning and long-term care. Social investment transcends, while not replacing, the compensatory rationale of mid-20th-century social security. We begin by lamenting the prolonged disconnect between social policy research and normative political theory since the 1990s, which is worrisome against the background of significant welfare state change. We address the shortcomings of a purely Rawlsian-distributive reconstruction of the social investment policy turn, while rejecting the 'luck egalitarian' interpretation and its tacit conflation with Third Way welfare reform. Our normative framework for social investment takes heed of Elizabeth Anderson's relational understanding of justice and work by Jonathan Wolff and Avner de-Shalit on 'secure' capabilities and 'fertile' functionings, which builds on Amartya Sen's critique of John Rawls. Finally, we delineate our concept of stepping-stone solidarity as the normative anchor of social investment welfare

Economics · Foundation (evidence · Investment (military · Market economy · Normative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Social solidarity · Social Welfare · Sociology · Solidarity · State (computer science · Welfare · Welfare state · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Mathematics · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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