scholarly journals Introduction: Moving Targets Risk, Security, and the Social in Twentieth-Century Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Moses ◽  
Eve Rosenhaft

According to the sociologists Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, modern societies have become increasingly preoccupied with the future and safety and have mobilized themselves in order to manage systematically what they have perceived as “risks” (Beck 1992; Giddens 1991). This special section investigates how conceptions of risk evolved in Europe over the course of the twentieth century by focusing on the creation and evolution of social policy. The language of risk has, in the past twenty years, become a matter of course in conversations about social policy (Kemshall 2002). We seek to trace how “risk” has served as aheuristic toolfor understanding and treating “social problems.” A key aim of this collection is to explore the character of social policy (in the broadest sense) as an instrument (or technology) that both constructs its own objects as the consequences of “risks” and generates new “risks” in the process (Lupton 2004: 33). In this way, social policy typifies the paradox of security: by attempting literally to making one “carefree,” orsē(without)curitās(care), acts of (social) security spur new insecurities about what remains unprotected (Hamilton 2013: 3–5, 25–26). Against this semantic and philological context, we suggest that social policy poses an inherent dilemma: in aiming to stabilize or improve the existing social order, it also acts as an agent of change. This characteristic of social policy is what makes particularly valuable studies that allow for comparisons across time, place, and types of political regime. By examining a range of cases from across Europe over the course of the twentieth century, this collection seeks to pose new questions about the role of the state; ideas about risk and security; and conceptions of the “social” in its various forms.

Author(s):  
Julia Moses

T. H. Marshall’s claims that the twentieth century was the era of social rights, embodied in education and welfare policy, has found enduring favour with a wide variety of scholars and social commentators. To what extent, however, was his theory of citizenship and social rights a reflection of the specific moment in which he was writing? This chapter places T. H. Marshall’s concept of ‘citizenship’ within its historical context. Through examining his biography, this essay suggests that Marshall’s theory of citizenship was informed by an appreciation for continental, and especially German, conceptions of social policy, the role of the state, and the nature of community. Parsing this aspect of Marshall’s intellectual biography has important implications for our own understanding of British ideas about the purpose, structure, and scope of social policy during the formative middle decades of the twentieth century.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angely Dias da Cunha ◽  
Bernadete de Lourdes Figueiredo de Almeida ◽  
Elizangela Paulino S. Buriti

Resumo: Esse artigo de cunho qualitativo, de caráter exploratório e descritivo que se alicerça em uma revisão bibliográfica tem o objetivo de analisar o modo de produção capitalista, como acontece o processo de acumulação e reprodução e as inflexões para o papel do estado e da política social, a ênfase é nos períodos marcado por crises que provocam transformações societárias que impactam o mundo do trabalho e das relações sociais. O método crítico-dialético utilizado nessa pesquisa se debruça sobre as categorias mediação, historicidade e dialética com o propósito de desvendar a realidade para além da aparência e aprofundar as análises sobre o capitalismo. Como resultados apontamos que as crises capitalistas provocadas por suas próprias contradições o tem dimensionado o trato teórico-metodológico da política social. Capitalist accumulation, State and workforce reproduction: the theoretical and methodological treatment of the social policy Abstract: This qualitative nature of an article, exploratory and descriptive character which is based on a literature review aims to analyze the capitalist mode of production, as the process of accumulation and reproduction and inflections to the role of the state and social policy, the emphasis is in periods marked by crises that cause societal changes that impact the world of work and social relations. The critical-dialectical method used in this research focuses on the categories mediation, historicity and dialectics in order to unravel the reality beyond appearance and deepen the analysis of capitalism. The results point out that the capitalist crisis caused by its own contradictions has scaled the theoretical-methodological treatment of social policy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
King-Lun Ngok ◽  
Genghua Huang

Since 2003 the rapid development of China's social policy has aroused much academic interest. This research places the development of social policy in China's political and economic context, focusing on the changing role of the state in making and implementing social policy. Based on the policy paradigm theory, this article builds up a framework to analyse the shift of social policy paradigms in post-Mao China, examining the changing role of the Chinese state in social welfare and social development. It argues that China's latest round of social policy expansion was driven by the social problems accumulated during the economic reforms, with change triggered by the SARS crisis, and its shape finally determined by the central political leadership led by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao in a top-down manner.


1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cahill ◽  
Tony Jowitt

ABSTRACTThe early twentieth century has been seen as a crucial period in the development of British social policy. However, attention has been concentrated almost entirely on the increased role of the state, and in particular on the Liberal ‘welfare reforms’ after 1906. These developments have tended to mask the significant changes that were taking place in the field of voluntary charitable effort. One organization which emerged out of the ferment surrounding social policy in late Victorian and Edwardian England was the Guild of Help movement.The first guild was formed in Bradford in 1904 and embodied a new approach to the organization of charity. It rapidly expanded from Bradford throughout England and Wales and was in 1919 the leading organization which took part in the merger which created the National Council for Social Service. In this article the creation of the guild will be examined within the context of the changing economic situation, the growth of the labour movement and the nature of existing charitable provision in an attempt to give a critical assessment of the nature and role of this new body.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002200942110067
Author(s):  
Soenke Kunkel

Setting the stage for the special forum, this introduction points to the centrality of science diplomacy activities within many current foreign policy concepts around the world. It also points to the lack of historical perspective within many current academic debates about science diplomacy. Suggesting the value of such a perspective, the introduction then draws attention to a number of fruitful contributions that histories of science diplomacy may make to contemporary history. These include: a better understanding of how entanglements between science, foreign policy, and international relations evolved over the twentieth century; a refined understanding of the workings of foreign relations and diplomacy that sheds light on the role of science as an arena of foreign relations; new insights into the Cold War; a globalizing of perspectives in the writing of contemporary history; a new international focus on widely under-researched actors like universities, science movements, science organizations, and science academies; a focus on new themes that range from global environmental problems to issues like cultural heritage. The remainder of the introduction then delineates some of the shared assumptions and findings of the essays and then briefly introduces each contribution to the special section.


1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Subramanian

The Banias of eighteenth-century Surat, whom Michelguglielmo Torri earlier treated with indifference if not innocence, have invited his wrath since they were brought into focus by the publication of my essay on the Banias and the Surat riot of 1795. In his ‘rejoinder’ to my article, he seeks to wish away their existence altogether (to him there was no specific Bania community, the term merely signifying traders of all communities engaged in the profession of brokerage), and seeks to provide what he regards as an ‘alternative’ explanation of the Muslim–Bania riot of 1795. the Muslim-Bania riot of 1795. It shall be my purpose in this reply to show that his alternative explanation is neither an alternative nor even an explanation, and is based on a basic confusion in his mind about the Banias as well as the principal sources of tension in the social structure of Surat. I shall treat two main subjects in this reply to his misdirected criticisms. First, I shall present some original indigenous material as well as European documentation to further clarify the identity, position and role of the Banias, whom Irfan Habib in a recent article has identified as the most important trading group in the trading world of seventeenth and eighteenth-century India. It is also my purpose to show how the social order of Surat operated under stress by presenting some archival material, the existence of which Torri seems to be completely unaware of, on the Parsi-Muslim riot of 1788.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
Irina N. Mysliaeva ◽  

The article examines the causes and directions of transformation of the social functions of the state. The role of liberal ideology in changing the forms and methods of state social policy in the context of globalization is determined. The interrelation between specific measures of social support of the population and the interests of large transnational capital in modern society is revealed.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-253
Author(s):  
C. D. MAY

This monograph is one of a series resulting from studies by the Committee on Medicine and the Changing Order of the New York Academy of Medicine. The objective in this report was to trace the historical development of medical research and to define and describe the role of medical research in the social order particularly as regards support for research from government agencies. The comprehensive grasp of the complexities of medical research which Dr. Shryock reveals commands genuine admiration and respect from anyone engaged in such research. Indeed, few engaged in various aspects of medical research could claim anything like his familiarity with the broad outlines of this field.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Mihelj ◽  
James Stanyer

Debates about the role of media and communication in social change are central to our discipline, yet advances in this field are hampered by disciplinary fragmentation, a lack of shared conceptual language and limited understanding of long-term shifts in the field. To address this, we first develop a typology that distinguishes between approaches that foreground the role of media and communication as an agent of change, and approaches that treat media and communication as an environment for change. We then use this typology to identify key trends in the field since 1951, including the sharp downturn in work focusing on economic aspects of change after 1985, the decline of grand narratives of social change since 2000 and the parallel return to media effects. We conclude by outlining the key traits of a processual approach to social change, which has the capacity to offer the basis for shared language in the field. This language can enable us to think of media, communication and social change across its varied temporal and social planes, and link together the processes involved in the reproduction of status quo with fundamental changes to social order.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 252-279
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Tortti ◽  

This paper aims at outlining the main processes that, in Argentina’s recent past, may enable us to understand the emergence, development and eventual defeat of the social protest movement and the political radicalization of the period 1960-70s.Here, as in previous papers, we resort to the concept of new left toname the movement that, though heterogeneous and lacking a unified direction, became a major unit in deeds, for multiple actors coming the most diverse angles coincided in opposing the vicious political regime and the social order it supported. Consequently, we shall try to reinstate the presence of such wide range of actors: their projects, objectives and speeches. Some critical circumstances shall be detailed and processes through which protests gradually amalgamated will be shown. Such extended politicization provided the frame for quite radical moves ranging from contracultural initiatives and the classism in the workers’ movement to the actual action of guerrilla groups. Through the dynamics of the events themselves we shall locate the peak moments as well as those which paved the way for their closure and eventual defeat in 1976.


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