Francesco Laruffa

Universität Bremen | Uni Bremen · SOCIUM

We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care...

In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic g...

This paper explores how ‘social market economy’ became a quasi-constitutional principle of the EU, highlighting the crucial role played in this process by the European Parliament. Based on multiple archival sources, we show that social market economy came to function as a limited repertoire: While it was advocated for various reasons by different a...

This essay proposes a theory of post-neoliberal social citizenship, re-imagining the work-welfare nexus with a view to articulating individual freedom and social solidarity; democratic renewal and environmental sustainability. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the essay first interrogates the relationship between work and freedom, problemati...

This article discusses a dilemma of welfare states in the ecological transition. While the principle of “sustainability” is increasingly accepted, there are very different concrete declinations of it. I identify two broad interpretations of sustainability and corresponding paths of social change. The dominant approach, promoted by governments, busi...

Since the emergence of neoliberalism, the power of multinational corporations has dramatically grown. Given the limits of ‘self-regulation’ (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility), this paper examines the attempt to develop a regime of ‘public governance’ rooted in law-based regulation. The focus is on a referendum voted in 2020 that aimed at regula...

This paper theorizes the nature of neoliberal social policy, making three substantial contributions. First, processes of “economization” are identified as a central characteristic of neoliberalism: economization constitutes a “bridge” between Foucauldian and (neo-)Marxist accounts of neoliberalism – two perspectives that are in many respects hardly...

Drawing from the fields of Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies, this article examines the relationship between social policy and neoliberalism, focusing on the ‘social investment’ discourse promoted by the European Commission. In the social policy literature, social investment is widely considered a policy framework able to overc...

Within the welfare state literature, critics of social investment have argued that its economic logic replaces ‘social’ considerations (for example, focused on rights/needs) and that this could reinforce the marginalisation of vulnerable populations, as they are unattractive ‘human capital’. Against this background, this article focuses on the coun...

This chapter highlights the question and limits of neoliberalism. It analyzes the ‘social’ investment (SI) perspective (focused on human capital formation) taking hold in global social policy discourses and the policy proposals advocated by international institutions like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World...

The ongoing social crises and moral conflicts evident in global social policy debates are addressed in this book. The book focuses on the ‘social’ of social policy, which is increasingly conceived in a globalised form, as new international agreements and global goals engender social struggles. It tackles pressing ‘social questions’, many of which h...

Introduction Since the mid-1990s, a new vocabulary of the ‘social’ has appeared in global social policy discourses, involving concepts such as ‘social cohesion’, ‘social capital’, ‘social inclusion’ (reducing ‘social exclusion’) and ‘social economy’ (Graefe, 2006: 197; see for example Levitas, 1996; Fine, 1999; Jayasuriya, 2006). In particular, one...

Das in den letzten 20 Jahren auf politischer ebenso wie auf wissenschaftlicher Ebene viel diskutierte Konzept der Sozialinvestitionen sieht eine (normative) Neuausrichtung des Wohlfahrtsstaats mit dem Ziel einer Modernisierung vor, die neben die Schutzfunktion von Sozialleistungen die Aktivierung des produktiven Potenzials der Menschen stellt. Obgl...

Since the mid-1990s, global social policy discourse and practice has shifted from a focus on social protection and redistribution towards the promotion of people’s labour market participation and human capital enhancement. The capability approach significantly contributed to legitimize these developments. The aim of this paper is to criticize this...

Introduction Social investment represents to date one of the most relevant normative frameworks to think about welfare reform in Europe (for example, Morel et al, 2012a; EC, 2013; Hemerijck, 2018), stressing the positive consequences of social policy in terms of both social and economic outcomes. Indeed, contributing to the health and education of...

This chapter compares the role of education policy in social investment and the capability approach. Based on an analysis of the document 'Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes' adopted by the European Commission in 2012 (and cited in the 'Social Investment Package'), we argue that the role of educational poli...

The capability approach, an increasingly popular conceptual and theoretical framework focused on what individuals are able to do and be, offers a unique evaluative perspective to social policy analysis. This book explores the advantages of this approach and offers a way forward in addressing conceptual and empirical issues as they apply specificall...

Discourse is central in promoting – or hindering – social change. This paper discusses the ethical-political dilemmas that academics face in developing progressive discourses on social welfare in the hegemonic crisis of neoliberalism. A central dilemma concerns the (implicit or explicit) target of their discourse. Speaking to elites reproduces domi...

Spätestens seit dem Anfang der Finanzkrise im Jahre 2008 verliert der Neoliberalismus an Legitimität – was die Möglichkeit eröffnet eine progressive Alternative zu entwickeln. In akademischen Debatten im Bereich der Sozialpolitik bietet die Sozialinvestition jetzt die normative Orientierung für die Entwicklung einer post-neoliberalen Sozialpolitik....

In this paper, we argue that the capability approach can suggest avenues to reform social policies in the direction of a more valuable and sustainable conciliation between people's different engagements in community, work and family. We thus develop a theoretical framework for assessing the extent to which social policies support the freedom to lea...

Drawing on Amartya Sen’s writings, this article presents the capability approach to democracy and shows its relevance for the sociological reflection and research on democratic processes conceived as ways to convert individual preferences into collective norms or decisions. Two moments are key in this respect: the formation of individual preference...

Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-libera...

The aim of this article is to lay down the foundations of a critical sociology of democracy and participation. Based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, we identify four major pitfalls of classical theories on justice and deliberative democracy: 1) an excessive emphasis on the procedural dimension of democracy at the expense of its substantial va...

What is considered "legitimate work" is a deeply political question, with profound impacts on social inequalities. This article problematizes the norm of "normal employment" in political and academic discourse, showing its Eurocentrism and gender bias and thus its limits for understanding the reproduction of social hierarchies today. In order to do...