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Drawing on the U.S. experience in a comparative perspective, this block course explores the implications of current social policy developments and their alternatives, which address the societal needs for income security in old age, incentivizing work for welfare recipients, and assisting parents in balancing work and family life. The analysis of these policies examines the the impact of the demographic transition, gender equality, the culture of capitalism and changing family-relations on modern welfare states. The course aims to help students critically assess some of the fundamental choices in the design of social policies, the questions raised by these choices, and their underlying assumptions. In so doing, it invites participants to consider the changing relationship between the market, family and the welfare state – and its implications for social well-being. Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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The course aims to help students critically assess some of the fundamental choices in the design of social policies, the questions raised by these choices, and their underlying assumptions. It invites participants to consider the changing relationship between the market, family, and the welfare state – and its implications for social well-being. Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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The course comprises four 80-minute classes, each involving a lecture accompanied by PowerPoint presentations, video presentations, and student participation in policy debates. All of the readings are available online on Moodle. Students are expected to prepare for and actively participate in class discussions. Grades will be based on student participation in class discussions and written work submitted after the course. Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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Exam requirements Presence and active participation in all four sessions. 10% of grade Submission of final paper, due May 10th 90% of grade The final paper should be 8-12 double-spaced pages presenting both pro and con arguments, identifying values and assumptions, citing at least 10 relevant articles on the topic using the APA in-text citation style (https://libguides.umgc.edu/apa-examples ), and articulating which side of the case you would support and the evidence for the following: What are the arguments in support of cash-for-care for preschool children? Who would benefit most from this policy? What are the arguments against cash-for-care for preschool children? Who benefits? Grading Rubric: Term Paper: · 20 points for arguments pro and con. · 20 points for identifying values, assumptions related to each case, and the evidence if any for each side · 20 points for relevant citations, · 20 points for reasoning about which side of the case you would support · 10 points for clarity and style of writing (organization, logic, choice of words, sentence structure, voice).
Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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Syllabus of the course JSM752 CURRENT TRENDS IN SOCIAL POLICY: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, WORK AND FAMILY LIFE Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=17187 Room B216 ECTS: 4 0/2 Zk
Course guarantor: Prof. Martin Potůček Course presenter: Neil Gilbert Distinguished Professor of Social Welfare Chernin Professor of Social Welfare and the Social Services University of California, Berkeley, USA Working language: English Annotation Drawing on the U.S. experience from a comparative perspective, this block course explores the implications of current social policy developments and their alternatives, which address the societal needs for income security in old age, incentivizing work for welfare recipients, and assisting parents in balancing work and family life. The analysis of these policies examines the impact of the demographic transition, gender equality, the culture of capitalism, and changing family relations on modern welfare states. Aim and objectives The course aims to help students critically assess some of the fundamental choices in the design of social policies, the questions raised by these choices, and their underlying assumptions. It invites participants to consider the changing relationship between the market, family, and the welfare state – and its implications for social well-being. Teaching methods The course is comprised of four 80-minute classes, each involving a lecture accompanied by PowerPoint presentations, video presentations, and student participation in policy debates. All of the readings are available online on Moodle. Students are expected to prepare for and actively participate in class discussions. Grades will be based on student participation in class discussions and written work submitted after the course. Hour requirements for students Seminars attendance 8h Preparation for four themes 52h Self-study 60h Total 120h Anti-plagiarism, usage of AI, citing rules Plagiarism refers to cases where students are not properly citing sources in an assignment, but copying other authors' work, ideas, materials, or data, and passing them off as their own. This also pertains to copying parts of earlier work without properly acknowledging it. Charles University treats instances of plagiarism very seriously. Any form of plagiarism is unacceptable and will be dealt with using official procedures. Therefore, students are advised to take special precautions and make sure that they cite all the sources they are using in their assignments properly. Students are obliged to indicate in texts whether, where, and how they applied AI programs.
Course Schedule Wednesday, April 9th, 11:00-12:20, Room B216 Requiring Work: The New Social Contract From welfare to workfare Forces of change Active labor market policies Future directions
Social and economic forces are transforming the nature of social welfare policymaking in the advanced welfare states. The context of this transformation reflects four primary influences: demographic transitions, economic globalization, a greater awareness of the possibility of unanticipated policy effects, and an awareness of the virtues of capitalism. These influences have resulted in the promotion of work-based policies, the selective targeting of benefits, privatization, and the linking of benefits to obligations. • Discussion topic: What are the pros and cons of requiring that mothers on welfare work?
Readings · Elisa Minoff, The Racist Roots of Work Requirements (Center for the Study of Social Policy) (Feb.2020) · Neil Gilbert & Paul Terrell, Dimensions Of Social Welfare Policy (Pearson, 2013 8th edition). Chapter 9 · Mark Pearson and Stefano Scarpetta, An Overview: What do we know about policies to make work pay? (OECD) Supplementary Reading: • Rebecca M. Blank, The New American Model of Work-Conditioned Public Support
Friday, April 11th, 13:00-14:20, Room B216 Aging and Social Security Social security basic issues: Going broke? Incremental Privatization Racial, gender, and family disparities It has been said that “demography is destiny,” a dictum that most certainly applies to the future prospects of social security. Since the second half of the 20th century, societies throughout the developed world have experienced what demographers refer to as the “second demographic transition.” Declining fertility rates, aging populations, and the weakening of traditional family arrangements characterize this new demographic development, which poses significant challenges to the design and fiscal sustainability of social security systems. A wide range of social security policy reforms are currently underway. • Discussion topic: What are pros and cons of privatizing social security so that each worker is required to invest 12.4% of their salary (6.2% paid by worker and 6.2% paid by employer) in the S and P 500 Index Fund until they reach age 65 at which point they can do what they want with funds accumulated.
Readings: Gilbert, The Social Security Crisis · Elizabeth Tedrow, Social security privatization in other countries—what lessons can be learned for the United States? https://theelderlawjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tedrow.pdf
Wednesday, April 16th, 11:00-12:20, Room B216 Family Policy: Motherhood and Work Why have children? Capitalism and the commercialization of family life A case of Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction” Over the last fifty years, social, economic, and technological forces have disrupted the established patterns of family life in advanced industrial societies. These forces include the increasing rates of divorce, cohabitation, and single parenthood, declining fertility rates, shifting patterns of female labor force participation, and almost miraculous medical advances in reproductive technology. Traditional cultural values and social norms of parental behavior are in flux as are the timing and means of procreation and the customary gender division of labor in household production. Fewer people are getting married; couples who marry are doing so later in life, splitting up more frequently, having fewer children, and living longer than ever before. These changes have created new pressures and needs for family-oriented social policies. Discussion topic: Why has the fertility rate declined so precipitously – economics, gender division of labor, materialistic preferences, climate fears?
Readings: · Neil Gilbert, Family Friendly Policy: Friendly For Which Families? https://americancompass.org/essays/friendly-for-which-families/ · Dr. Anne lise Ellingsæter, Cash for Childcare Experiences from Finland, Norway and Sweden https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/09079.pdf · PEW Report, Rise of the Breadwinner Moms. · Gosta Esping-Andersen, Unequal Opportunities.
Thursday April 17th, 12:30-13:50, B216 Social Policy and Economic Inequality in the United States Social expenditure for low-income families Citizen perceptions of economic inequality Alternative measures and perspectives Social welfare expenditures involve unilateral economic transfers. According to TH Marshall: “The central function of welfare is to supersede the market by taking goods and services out of it or in some way to control or modify its operation so as to produce a result that the market would not have produced by itself.” This is redistribution, which among other things, aims to reduce economic inequality. Perceptions of economic inequality vary as do the ways it is measured and the social implications of inequality. Discussion topic: Think of our class as a society in which everyone has 50 acres and the same equipment. We are having a town meeting to decide how to allocate the food we produce. Where do you stand, given the choices below? Equity Merit Based-Everyone keeps the fruits of their labor, minus a small % for those suffering unforeseen hardship Equality - Everyone pools what they produce and we distribute all the food equally to each family. Equity Need-Based – Everyone pools what they produced and we distribute on needs-based criteria (taking from those with the most and giving to those with the least controlling for needs such as family size, different appetite levels, health, etc.)
Readings: · Gilbert, Inequality Hype. · Calif. Guaranteed Income Programs: https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-guaranteed-income-programs/Calif. Guaranteed Income Programs: https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-guaranteed-income-programs/ Guaranteed basic income programs proliferate across California · ·
Exam requirements Presence and active participation in all four sessions. 10% of grade Submission of final paper, due May 10th 90% of grade The final paper should be 8-12 double spaced pages presenting both pro and con arguments, identifying values and assumptions, citing at least 10 relevant articles on the topic using the APA in-text citation style (https://libguides.umgc.edu/apa-examples ), and articulating which side of the case you would support and the evidence for the following: What are the arguments in support of cash-for-care for preschool children? Who would benefit most from this policy? What are the arguments against cash-for-care for preschool children? Who benefits? Grading Rubric: Term Paper: · 20 points for arguments pro and con. · 20 points for identifying values, assumptions related to each case and the evidence if any for each side · 20 points for relevant citations, · 20 points for reasoning about which side of the case you would support · 10 points for clarity and style of writing (organization, logic, choice of words, sentence structure, voice).
Entry requirements This course is recommended to students of the Master’s programs of Veřejná a sociální politika (VERASP), Public and Social Policy (PASP) and doctoral programs of Veřejná a sociální politika (VERASP), Public and Social Policy (PASP). Students of other M.Sc. or Ph.D. programs interested in the subject are welcome as well. Literature See above. Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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Entry requirements This course is recommended to students of the Master’s programs of Veřejná a sociální politika (VERASP), Public and Social Policy (PASP) and doctoral programs of Veřejná a sociální politika (VERASP), Public and Social Policy (PASP). Students of other M.Sc. or Ph.D. programs interested in the subject are welcome as well. Last update: Potůček Martin, prof. PhDr., CSc., M.Sc. (28.01.2025)
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