ADM551 POLITICS OF SOCIAL POLICY
| Course Code: |
3100551 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): |
3(0-0) |
| ECTS Credit: |
8.0 |
| Department: |
Political Science And Public Adm. |
| Language of Instruction: |
English |
| Level of Study: |
Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: |
|
| Offered Semester: |
Fall Semesters. |
Course Content
This course is designed to provide graduate students with a solid understanding of historical and theoretical perspectives on the evolution and practice of social policy. For the purposes of the course, social policy is defined as regulatory and direct forms of public intervention into the market distribution of resources with intent to affect societal welfare. The course aims to familiarize students with the underlying causes, dynamics, changing forms and political economic outcomes of social policy. It starts with an introduction to the substance, key concepts (i.e. social welfare, social wage, equality, equity, redistribution, welfare state, poverty) and policy issues (social security, social services, health, education) encompassed within the discipline of social policy. It then proceeds with an evaluation of the major theories and perspectives (i.e. political liberalism, economic liberalism, conservatism, social democracy, Marxism, social democracy, feminism, anti-racism) that have both framed and explained the historical contexts in which social issues and policies were developed. Following a concise overview of the archaic social policies in the 19th-century Europe, the course continues with an evaluation of the emergence of welfare capitalism, different kinds of welfare regimes instituted in advanced capitalist countries, as well as the causes underlying such differences. It then focuses on the recent transformations in the conceptions of social rights, and social policies in the global political economy, and evaluates the prospects for European Social Policy.
