Learning objectives
With respect to knowledge and understanding (descriptor 1) The course aims at the acquisition of a historical view (time evolution of welfare systems) and comparative (understanding the Italian social policies in comparison to others) because these approaches help the student in place the regulatory framework of social policies within a more complex socio-political scenario.
With respect to understanding applied to their future professional reality (descriptor 2), the course aims to contextualize the concepts learned on social policies with respect to operative procedures of the service through testimonies (seminars with experts, watching movies and debate) in order to enable the student to carry out a continuous shift between macro levels (strands of policy, institutional, normative dimensions) and micro levels (tools of the social worker, conflicts with users etc..).
The course is also particularly interested in the development of independent judgment with respect to the topics covered (descriptor 3) and in that sense aims to provide tools of observation ("walking the neighborhood") that facilitate the direct observation of reality and the empirical analysis of "local forms" of social policies. Much importance is given in the final evaluation to these discussions.
Prerequisites
-
Course unit content
The course deals with the evolution of modern Western welfare in a comparative perspective (between different European countries), addressing the changes (in particular during the XX century) and the splitting in specific sectors (care policy, health care, social security, labor) respect to changes in the balance between State and Market before moving to the latest and most recent transformations linked to the crisis of European industry, the increasing precarization of the masses and the other main dimensions of social change we are experiencing.
In particular, the first phase of the course will explore the different forms of regulation in the equilibrium between State and Market and the different historical phases of the welfare state (expansion and contraction);
the second part will explore regulatory and operational models that distinguish different welfare systems at regional, national and European level;
the third part of the course describes the regulatory and operational dimensions of the different areas of Italian social policies;
Finally, the fourth part of the course deals with scenarios of the possible future of the welfare state (welfare lib; welfare mix, community welfare, etc.).
Full programme
Theoretical introduction (6\8 academic hours): Outlines of Social Policies: Modernity, State, Market and the birth of the Welfare State between control functions and assistance.
The regulatory and operational models that distinguish different welfare systems, regional, national and European level; The case of the Scandinavian social democracies to understand the different systems of social policies: analysis of some instruments (contrasts poverty, minimum wages and incomes of universal citizenship: what assessment).
The normative dimensions of the different areas of Italian social policies (social security policies, labor, health, social welfare)
The social production of poverty and social exclusion: the late modernity, the impoverishment of the middle class and the end of the modern welfare.
Future scenarios of welfare: theories and perspectives. New vulnerabilities and community welfare.
Bibliography
The course is based on three types of materials:
a) The lecture notes of the course by the teacher (about 60 pp.);
b) Chapters and essays on social policies:
Mara Tognetti Bordogna, Outlines of Social Policy;
Ugo Ascoli, The Welfare in Italy;
Fulvio Conti, Gianni Silei, A Brief History of the Welfare State;
c) Books on social policies viewed by citizens and users (service users, vulnerable subjects). A text of your choice: - Pellegrino V., R\esistenze precarie, ombre corte, 2016
- Pellegrino V., Follie Ragionate. Il male e la cura agli occhi dei pazienti psichiatrici, UTET 2012
- Pellegrino V., L’occidente e il Mediterraneo agli occhi dei migranti, Unicopli, 2009
Teaching methods
The course is set to 4 different types of lessons that have appeared suitable for a relatively large number of students:
1. Theoretical lectures conducted by the teacher with final debate centered on 'keywords' (students brainstorming on the concepts exposed by the teacher and exchange of views and \ or questions);
2. Watching movies centered on social services in Europe, the figure of the social worker, the way in which citizens and users implementing social policies, vision aimed at the acquisition and review of the concepts taught critical of them (ex.: Ladybird Ladybird, 1994 directed Ken Loach; Raining Stones 1993 Ken Loach; Saimir 2004 Francis Munzi; Light of My Eyes 2001 Giuseppe Piccioni, Lorna's Wedding in 2008, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne).
3. Seminars with "expert guests": the lectures are interspersed with workshops conducted in co-presence with witnesses and \ or experts of social policies in which students can ask questions after an initial short exposure. Experts usually are chosen not only for specific expertise but for capacity to stimulate critical of the current challenges of the welfare and innovative strands.
4. “Walking the neighborhood”: During the course students are introduced to the method of participant observation of walks or neighborhood (outreach methodologies). The walks (usually in small groups of students) are carried out in different neighborhoods and times and the students present a final reports that become part of the material to final verification.
Assessment methods and criteria
• The verification of the course is as follows:
•
1 Final oral test based primarily on lecture notes, chapters of books, materials provided by the invited experts as witnesses to the seminars.
It is mandatory 5 open questions. The questions are open and general, targeted to develop in student the ability to critically process. It is . often develop their own vision on the future of the welfare or on the differences between countries in their own judgment and so on. Finally, it is not only to verify the notional learning but to urge the synthesis of various materials of study, to urge the understanding with respect to open-ended questions and formulated in a complex manner (descriptor 1).
2. Report of a text chosen from those centered on the point of view of users with respect to social policies, their critical view of political and social service. The report includes a first part of description and a second part of critical analysis (integration with other sources, orientation as future social workers). In this sense, the relations (which may not be less than 3 \ 4 folders) check for comprehension skills applied to their social context and their own professional future (descriptor 2).
3. Essay about thematic seminars (New Social Policy) .
The final evaluation of the student emerges from the weighted average of the marks obtained by the student in the different tests, which must all be present as a requirement of sufficiency (if one is missing, the student is not sufficient).
In particular:
- The oral test, assessed in 30/30, is worth 50% of the final mark. To take sufficiency, the student must answer all open questions mandatory. Depending on the critical thinking and deepening the vote varies;
- The report of the book, also in 30/30, is worth 25% of the final mark;
- The final work about topics - social policies - is worth 25% of the final mark.
Students will be informed on these assessment criteria at the beginning of the course.
Other information
-
