Social policy research in changing European societies

The Fate of Social Modernity

“…Adopting both a cross-national and a cross-sectoral perspective, this exercise contributes to illuminating the evolving institutional foundations of democratic capitalism. The analysis expands on recent meta-accounts of welfare state change (e.g., Kuhlmann and Blum 2020;Greener 2022;Nelson et al 2022) and developments in human service provision or social work (e.g., Gray et al 2012;Bonvin et al 2018;Grell et al 2022) insofar as it yields deep(er) insights into the collective mechanisms through which the devices of modern welfare states take shape and are evolving further. In abstract terms, these mechanisms consist of meta-values (normative principles), regulatory provisions (benefits or services; conditions to receive them), policies (changing rationales; reform agendas) and moderating circumstances (social change impacting upon values, provisions and policies).…”