Thinking About Social Policy - The German Tradition

The book traces the political history of the concept of social policy. "Social policy" originated in Germany in the mid 19th century as a scholarly term that made a career in politics. The term became more prominent only after World War II. Kaufmann, the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany, argues that "social policy" responds to the modern disjunction between "state" and "society" diagnosed by the German philosopher Hegel. Hegel's disciple Lorenz von Stein saw social policy as a means to pacify the capitalist class conflict. After World War II, social policy expanded in an unprecedented way, changing its character in the process. Social policy turned from class politics into a policy for the whole population, with new concepts - like "social security", "redistribution" and "quality of life" - and new overarching formulas, "social market economy" and "social state" (the German version of "welfare state"). Both formulas have remained indeterminate and contested, indicating the inherent openness of the idea of the "social".

List of contents

L. Leisering: Introduction.- F.-X. Kaufmann: Thinking About Social Policy: Introduction; Social Policy as Mediation Between "State" and "Civil Society"; The Workers' Question and Social Policy (1863-1918); The Crisis of Social Policy (1920-1945); Social Policy Since the Second World War; Concluding Remarks.

About the author

Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, geb. 1932, em. Prof. für Sozialpolitik und Soziologie an der Universität Bielefeld. Von 1979 bis 1983 Direktor am Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung der Universität Bielefeld, von 1980 bis 1992 am von ihm gegründeten Institut für Bevölkerungspolitik. Forschungsschwerpunkte u.a. Religionssoziologie; Mitherausgeber von "Christlicher Glaube in moderner Gesellschaft" (Herder).

Product details

• Authors: Franz-Xaver Kaufmann
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Original title: Geschichte der Sozialpolitik in Deutschland seit 1945, Band 1: Grundlagen der Sozialpolitik
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2014
• EAN: 9783642433429
• ISBN: 978-3-642-43342-9
• No. of pages: 166
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 235 mm x 9 mm
• Weight: 277 g
• Illustrations: X, 166 p.
• Series: German Social Policy; German Social Policy
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Political sociology; B, History, Political Science, Social Policy, Social & ethical issues, Political science & theory, Historiography, Economics and Finance, Management science, History, general