Social Innovation and Social Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Baglioni ◽  
Stephen Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Financial Exclusion ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Policy Analysts

This book provides an introduction to the concept of Social Innovation for readers interested in social and public policy. It explains why social and public policy analysts, policy makers and practitioners should become familiar with this idea, and explores how social innovation relates to key debates and core issues in public welfare. The book explains how social innovation relates to more familiar concepts, such as entrepreneurship, technological and business innovation and social enterprise. It discusses the social and economic challenges behind the growing interest in social innovation across the world. It illustrates the distinctive characteristics of social innovations through case studies which demonstrate how they address such issues as social isolation and mental health, childcare, education, homelessness, integrating migrant communities and financial exclusion. The book discusses in detail how social innovations address social problems in three substantive areas: food poverty, care provision and employment. It draws upon comparative research evidence to outline and analyse how social innovations have developed inventive responses to these complex challenges, and assesses their respective impact on well being. The book concludes by discussing the implications of social innovation for existing social welfare systems and social citizenship rights. It highlights some of the questions raised by social innovation for social and public policy reform and identifies potential limitations and concerns. It argues that those with an interest in social welfare policy should critically engage with the arguments for and evidence relating to social innovation.

Appropriateness of Standard Accounting Tools in Measuring Social Innovation in the New Global Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 332-348
Author(s):  
Sanja Franc ◽  
Mirjana Hladika
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Social Innovations

The global economy brings about new trends, challenges, and needs, which require new solutions. Social innovations can have a major role in satisfying unmet social needs and increasing overall well-being. Measuring social innovation is therefore an important task with the purpose of informing the stakeholders about the performance value that an innovation creates. Standard accounting tools often neglect social or environmental impact, and thus, new or adjusted methods need to be developed. The objective of this chapter is to analyze methods of measuring social innovation and discuss advantages and disadvantages of traditional measures versus new approaches with the purpose of better understanding the significance of social innovation in the global economy. The chapter consists of six parts. After the introduction follows the literature review. The third part of the chapter discusses different approaches to measuring innovations while the fourth part suggests some new approaches to measuring social innovations. The fifth part describes future research perspectives. The final part is the conclusion.

Creating Fair (Economic) Space for Social Innovation? A Capabilities Perspective

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-79
Author(s):  
Rafael Ziegler ◽  
Nadia von Jacobi
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Economic Space ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
The Rich

Economic space for social innovation is not bounded by markets. Further to the money-based exchange relations in markets, there is self and informal provision based on social norms such as reciprocity, community, public provision of entitlements and of public goods organized via political processes, and professional provision based on expert knowledge. Although these ideal-types blur in practice, they show the rich contours and collaborative pluralism of economic space. Fostering fair space for social innovation requires taking all these modes and their relations into account. Social innovations as messages signal to the public where a change in mode or a reconfiguration of modes is demanded. Fairness as a matter of taking the perspective of those marginalized and least advantaged, calls for evaluative scrutiny with respect to such messages: do social innovations empower beneficiaries to become agents; and do they consider their well-being as patients?

Social Innovation as a New Social Policy Tool for Regional Government Institutions in Smart Territories

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Muradiye Ates
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Spare Time ◽  
Social Innovations

By aiming at improving social welfare and well-being, social policies, social innovation, and smart territories are closely related to each other. Local authorities are in direct contact with citizens and regional needs, which makes them an important actor in overcoming challenges ranging from housing, spare-time activities to education to improving democratic standards. There are many successful examples of social innovations, including FixMyStreet.com, participatory budgeting, and Open Government Vienna, which are supported by local governments that can contribute to the formation of smart cities and territories. By elaborating related examples from various perspectives, this chapter highlights the relation between social policy, social innovation, and smart cities.

Social innovation and care provision

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Baglioni ◽  
Stephen Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Older People ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Care Provision ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Social Innovations

This chapter introduces and discusses examples of social innovation in response to the growing and pressing need to provide care for different groups. Social innovations in this area are often user-led and highly participatory. Many of the most imaginative such initiatives emerge from bottom-up responses developed by citizens’ groups. In other cases, social innovations are initiated by former public officials, frustrated at the lack of an effective response to care needs. The chapter discusses examples of such innovations. These include parental self-provision of childcare in France; involving members of migrant communities to assist with integrating new migrants in Germany; and supporting independent living for older people while providing accommodation for young people in Italy. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the lessons and potential transferability of such innovations to other contexts.

Introducing social innovation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Baglioni ◽  
Stephen Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Public Organisations

The introductory chapter outlines some of the major social changes (e.g. in demography, employment and labour markets) which pose significant challenges to established social welfare systems. It discusses how and why social innovation has emerged and been promoted as a response to these challenges. The chapter clarifies the meaning of social innovation by considering how it has been defined, and explains how it relates to innovation in technology and business, and how it differs from social enterprise. Examples of social innovations are provided which illustrate the wide range of activities and diverse forms they take. A typology is provided to classify these variants. The nature of innovation within public organisations is discussed (i.e. intrepreneurialism). The chapter concludes by setting out some of the questions which should be asked of social innovation in relation to social and public policy reform.

Blueprints for the Future of Welfare Provision? Shared Features of Service Innovations across Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ewert ◽  
Adalbert Evers
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The One ◽  
Eu Project ◽  
Welfare Reforms

This article discusses localised forms of social innovation in social services in relation to social policy and welfare issues. It draws upon research findings from the EU project ‘Welfare Innovations at the local Level in favour of Cohesion’ (WILCO), which takes in social innovations in twenty European cities. First, we argue why there is currently a significant gap between the debate on social innovation and the debate on social welfare reforms. Second, we present attempts that have been made to identify and interpret recurring approaches and instruments in the social innovations studied in relation to various dimensions of the debate on social welfare and services, such as the search for new ways of addressing users and citizens; the emphasis on new risks and related approaches to the issues of rights and responsibilities; and finally the concern with issues of governance. We argue that the features of the local innovations we identified may be significant for welfare systems at large, going beyond the introduction of special new items in special fields. However, the degree to which this will come about in reality will depend on building more bridges of shared understanding between concerns with social innovation on the one hand and welfare reforms on the other hand.

Social Welfare in the United States, 1945–1960

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stebenne
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Democratic Character ◽  
Major Break ◽  
Welfare Measures ◽  
The New Deal

This chapter explores the differing visions of the American welfare state put forward by moderately liberal Democrats and moderately conservative Republicans from the late 1940s through the end of the 1950s. Truman and Stevenson Democrats looked to northern European models for inspiration in the postwar era, but modified their social democratic character to gain the acceptance of a nation with a political culture of individualism and anti-statism. Eisenhower-era Republicans thought in terms of insuring male “breadwinners” against major losses of income rather than a comprehensive, citizen-based model of social welfare entitlement. Even that more limited approach marked a major break with more strongly conservative visions of social provision via the private sector. This narrowing of differences between moderate liberals and moderate conservatives on social welfare policy sheds light on the extent to which the politics and public policy of this period can fairly be characterized as consensual. In policy terms this was embodied by the major reforms of Social Security undertaken by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations in 1950 and 1954 respectively. Its limitations were conversely reflected in the failure to enact social welfare measures that did not conform to the New Deal tradition, particularly in the field of healthcare.

Social Welfare Policy and Living Standards between the Wars

2018 ◽  
pp. 217-259
Author(s):  
George R. Boyer
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Disability Insurance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social

This chapter describes the interwar expansion of social welfare policies and their role in alleviating economic insecurity in an era of unprecedented unemployment. The social security system established before the war and extended in the 1920s consisted of several independently administered programs—unemployment insurance, sickness and disability insurance, old age pensions, widows' and orphans' insurance, and the Poor Law. This safety net of many colors proved to be quite successful in alleviating poverty and maintaining the well-being of working-class households. The important role played by the safety net is clearly shown in the social surveys undertaken in the 1930s—between one-third and one-half of all working-class families surveyed received social income of some form. While the condition of the working class would have been considerably worse without the safety net, it contained many holes, which led to calls for a restructuring of social policy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document