Aims

By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- analyse present-day transformations affecting the welfare state, identify its foundations, and explain the conditions of these changes;
- analyse the provisions that characterise social policies within the framework of a comparative approach;
- understand the demands of a comparative approach in the framework of the establishment of a diagnosis.

Main themes

- To differentiate the different historical forms of the welfare state.
- To situate the various analytical currents looking at transformations taking place now.
- To analyse provisions for action sectorally and transversely.
- To design and carry out a diagnostic action comparatively.

Content and teaching methods

Content
- Notions of the welfare state, the active social state, coordination, agreement, and the relationship of service, norms, regulation and citizenship.
- Notions of poverty, precariousness, exclusion and social inequality.
- Historical comparative analysis of the institutionalisation of social policies.
- The content of present-day debates around the social state.
- The relationship between the modernisation of public services, associations and territorialisation.
- Contradictory registers of mediation.
- An analysis of three provisions (youth protection, mental health and socio-professional insertion).
Methodology
The course is based on a reading portfolio consisting of:
- a collection of texts incorporating the various dimensions of debates around transformations in the welfare state;
- documentation dealing with legislation, issues, and actions in the three provisions referred to above.
Students will be supervised by the two teachers during discussion sessions (after the reading has been done).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pre-requirements: A basic grounding in sociology is required, as is the ability to read English.
Assessment: A comparative diagnosis concerning a social policy measure (in the form of a written text). Students will present this text to the group on a day of collective exchange.
Support: A reading portfolio (i.e. basic texts and files for each provision).

Programmes in which this activity is taught

Other credits in programs