One of the most pressing questions facing comparative social scientists concerns the role of the welfare state in mediating social inequalities in a global economy. While some scholars argue that the welfare state will whither in the face of shrinking state budgets and neoliberal austerity measures, others argue for the continued relevance and durability of welfare state institutions in democratic societies.
Despite these debates, most scholars agree that social welfare institutions face significant demographic, social and economic challenges in the current political economy. Of particular salience among these challenges is the future relationship of the state to women and families. Scholars have long identified the complex and often contradictory construction of women's roles within modern welfare states.
While some policy arrangements focused nearly exclusively on supporting male breadwinners, other arrangements constructed women as needing social supports as wives and mothers. While contemporary policy arrangements are being modified and reformed-sometimes in radical ways-the relationship between the state and gender relations continues to challenge scholars and policy makers alike. This course will confront these challenges through engagement with sophisticated theoretical models, cutting-edge empirical research and a critical comparative analysis of policy arrangements and their outcomes.
Period
04-07-2011 - 09-07-2011 (1 weeks)
Target group
The course invites application from graduate students, researchers, and faculty in the social sciences, particularly those engaged in comparative scholarship and scholarship on welfare states, gender, social inequalities, and institutional change.Pre-requisites:Course participants are expected to have training in the social sciences. Working knowledge of substantive issues in the areas of gender inequality, welfare state regimes care-work, labor and/or social inequalities is strongly recommended. Undergraduates without a university degree will not be considered.
Course aim
Central questions motivating the course will be:
- How useful are classical models of welfare regime change in explaining contemporary trends in developed democracies in Western Europe as well as in transitional democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond?
- What mechanisms are driving changes in both the policy logics and the politics of welfare states in East and West and what are the gendered outcomes of these political processes?
- How are regulatory and policy-based restructuring efforts aimed at increasing individual autonomy via paid employment impacting women, men and families and how do these impacts vary by class and race?
- What are the impacts of cross-national variations in work-family policy arrangements on workers and how do these impacts vary by gender, class and race?
- How do state institutions manage regulatory and punitive practices, from incarceration to immigration, in gendered ways? What are the impacts of these institutional logics on men, women and families and how do these impacts vary by race and class?
- What are the most pressing needs for comparative social research in the area of gender, states and welfare in a global economy?
Credits
1.0 ECTS creditsThe "Gender, State and Welfare " course offers 1 ECTS point, which may be accepted for credit transfer by the participants' home universities. Those who wish to obtain these credits should inquire about the possible transfer at their home institution prior to their enrollment. The Summer University Office will send a transcript to those who have fulfilled all the necessary course requirements and request one.
Course fee
EUR 300: Early bird fee in case of early registration if payment is made before April 30, 2011: 270 EUR
Course leader
Eva Fodor, CEU, Deptartment of Gender Studies, Budapest, Hungary; Christy Glass, Utah State University, Department of Sociology, Social Work & Anthropology, Logan, USA
Central European University Summer University
Address: 9 Nador Street
Postal code: 1051
City: Budapest
Country: Hungary
Website: http://www.summer.ceu.hu
E-mail: summeru@ceu.hu
Phone: 361 3273811
Gender, State and Welfare in a Global Economy
