Social Policies

The course provides to students a general understanding of historical evolution of social politics in Italy and in Europe. Different patterns and different fields (education, working, family, pensions and health) of social policies in Europe will be examined. A part of the course will be dedicated to childcare and reconciliation policies. Globalizations processes and their effects on social policies on the emergence of new social needs will be analyzed. In times of globalization, social policies have to provide real answers in order to guarantee equal access to the high-quality services, to equal wealth distribution and social protection in case of unemployment. The aim of the course is to provide analytical tools and educational skills useful to recognize complex web of global inter-linkages at social, political and economic level. These tools and skills may be useful in some professional activities in the field of social services, departments of government, national and supranational institutions

At the end of the course the students should have developed knowledge and understanding of the effect of globalization on welfare state; Knowledge and understanding of different social policy fields (health, job, pensions, education, family) and of all the different actors involved (market, State, third sector). Autonomy of judgement and students' communicative capabilities will be developed by reading of scientific articles and discussions during the lessons. The final exam aims to verify the expected learning outcomes in respect to the students' capacity of understanding, applying knowledge, developing a critical analysis of the theoretical perspectives introduced by the course