The Struggle for Social Welfare: Towards an Emerging Welfare Sociology

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to outline welfare sociology as a potential sub-discipline of sociology and to discuss the issues of broadly defined social welfare. While in contemporary social sciences the literature concerning welfare often focuses on themes such as happiness (psychology), prosperity (economics), or quality of life (sociology), these themes may be considered too narrow and do not reflect the complexity of the issue. However, if one considers the definition of social welfare through the prism of material and non-material needs, as well as the needs expressed individually and collectively, it is possible to attempt a comprehensive study of this phenomenon. The author uses the definition of social welfare to look at research on (a) welfare state regimes, (b) welfare attitudes and (c) issues of work in contemporary capitalism, all to enable the application of research results within the analysis of the title concept.

The Sharing Economy: Social Welfare in a Technologically Networked Economy

“…Social welfare is not a priority objective for profit-oriented network enterprises, although this does not immediately mean that we are facing adversity. The social needs at various levels can be met by commercial platforms or businesses, but this is not the form of “exclusive” welfare we mean when we use the term “sharing.” The emancipatory perspective of the network society, perhaps too naively, involves liberation from the power of the market—that is, profit and exploitation—and brings to mind the expansion of “common goods,” decommodified social relations or social welfare in its broadest sense (see Dolšak & Ostrom, 2003; Baranowski, 2019a). Describing the allegedly “new” economy and the associated increase in labor productivity in the United States, Michel Husson (2005) soberly stated that this increaseis intended to [ .…”

“…The analysis of the foundations of the network (digital) economy on the example of the widely discussed “sharing economy” should consider the impact of this social and economic phenomenon, including innovative organizational and distribution solutions, on existing economic practices and social relations, which are not indifferent to the “production” of social welfare (Baranowski, 2019a; Margaris et al, 2017). This is all more important because the network, or “the convergence of computing, media and telecommunications into the Net was a new social system” (Barbrook, 2007, p. 175), expected to lead to “deep changes in the structure and modus operandi of the corporation and our economy, based on new competitive principles such as openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally” (Tapscott & Williams, 2008, p. 3).…”

From ‘Political Economy’ to ‘Political Sociology’ of the Climate Catastrophe: Why the Economy Needs to Be Blown Up to Be Born Again?

“…Mills 2000Mills [1959) rather than an economic one (Baranowski 2011;Kassner 2021;Ziółkowski 2021). However, the latter will be crucial for building a system for meeting social needs, or social welfare, under new social conditions (Baranowski 2019). All the more reason to watch the evolution of particular heterodox economics, breaking with the approach that "a market economy necessarily maximizes social welfare" (Keen 2011: 65).…”

Socially responsible consumption: Between social welfare and degrowth

“…Socially responsible consumption: Between social welfare and degrowth. Economics and Sociology, 15(3), 319-335. doi:10.14254 people's lives (Baranowski, 2019;Dean, 2020;Timms, 2019), the realization of which changes with the dynamic process of evaluating human needs, in this article, attention is paid to socially responsible consumption (SRC) and its actual and potential impacts on the environment. This paper's primary aim is to explore SRC, understood as a "multifaceted construct involving a variety of consumer behaviors" (Webb et al, 2008, p.93), in the context of social welfare and its environmental impact.…”