Social policies at the crossroads

Social policy, or better, social policies, are at the crossroads. Daniel Béland and Bill Jordan offer complementary visions of the current complex situation in this particular field of social sciences, from two different countries, Canada and United Kingdom. Both are good books and they are recommended for students, scholars, or anybody interested in the topic.

These two books discuss the conceptual basis of social policies and their consequences in current western societies; however, each one has particular accents, approaches and nuances.

Béland’s book is more oriented to academia and upper-level students. It is not a handbook but it provides a general review of social policy. He declares ‘this book is a concise political and sociological introduction to social policy, one that takes both a comparative and a historical perspective on the American welfare state. To understand what is going on in the United States, it is necessary to know about social programs in general and about the experience of other countries in particular’ (p. 2).

Jordan’s book is a proactive, activist and passionate proposal fighting for restoring ‘faith in a politics of social justice’ – as we can read on the back cover blurb – particularly in Anglophone countries but also worldwide. Jordan writes in the introduction:

… this book will address the apparent paradox of a historical moment in which universalism and globalism seem to be the features of these forces most influential on human lives, yet the resources available to individuals, communities and governments to deal with these forces remain stubbornly local, particular and relative to their specific situations. Social policy is marooned within this space between these two levels of present-day reality. (pp. 1–2)

Two paragraphs later, he emphasizes, ‘[t]his book is about the origins of the gap between global economic forces and political instruments for promoting human well-being’.

Béland tends to describe the welfare state like an external observer; sometimes he seems to be an ‘objective’ professor who wants to teach all the details with neutrality, at other times, he gently suggests his particular defence of social policies and ‘pooling risk’ showing the ‘big picture’. He sets out a complete dossier of information in order to understand the origins, evolution and current challenges of the welfare state and social policy in North American societies compared with other western countries. However, he doesn’t discuss the ‘model’ or dominant paradigm like Jordan. His book has a different perfume; Jordan opts for a partial, clear and prescriptive position without fear of being labelled as a collectivist passionate activist. He takes a trenchant position against ‘the hegemony of the Anglophone model’ (Jordan, p. 3) of social policy. Sometimes, Jordan’s position seems like a doctor diagnosing a patient. He knows the illness – ‘what is wrong with social policy is a result of the economic ideas which inform collective life, especially in the affluent Anglophone countries’ (p. 44) – and the therapy: ‘The only way to fix this situation is through a rehabilitation of collective perspective on well-being’ (p. 13).

This is not a criticism of their perspectives; it is a typification of two ways of thinking in the aftermath of the 2008 global crisis, with important effects on understanding the welfare state today. Moreover, there is a coincidence: both authors have divided their books into seven chapters with an introduction and conclusion. They have a similar way of building their particular arguments using a similar narrative structure: a typical Anglophone way of thinking. First, they explain what they are ready to tell and, at the end, they summarize what they have told. It is very easy to read, instructive and clear.

In the case of Daniel Béland, Chapter 1, ‘Social policy and the welfare state’, highlights ‘the many-sided nature of social policy, which is divided among types of programs and policy areas’ (p. 43) Here, he discusses why social policy and describes the main types of programs (social assistance, e.g. social insurance, universal transfers and services, work, unemployment and welfare, pensions, health care, housing, family benefits). In Chapter 2, he proposes: ‘to map the international social policy landscape and position the United States within it’ (p. 44). He does this in three sections: ‘The great welfare regime debate’, ‘Private benefits in the liberal welfare regime’ and ‘Federalism and territorial inequalities’. The next step, Chapter 3, ‘Welfare state development’, ‘sketches a general overview of the historical development of modern social programs in developed countries’ (p. 67). Béland divides this into two main sections: ‘The first section relates the basic story of welfare state development in Europe, followed by a more detailed discussion of the American case. … The second section discusses four main theories of welfare state development – industrialism, the power resource approach, historical institutionalism, and the cultural and ideational perspective’ (p. 67). Chapter 4, ‘Retrenchment and restructuring’, based on Pierson’s (1994, 2001) works, is divided into three main sections and ‘focuses on the contemporary welfare state politics which is largely about retrenchment and restructuring’ (p. 93). He confronts ‘The retrenchment debate’, ‘Assessing recent changes’ and ‘Revisiting theories of welfare state development’. In Chapter 5, he winks at the reader quoting the subtitle of Bell’s book, noting that it ‘is not “A venture in Social Forecasting,” but [a] much more modest discussion of a number of issues that are present in contemporary debates on the future of social policy’ (p. 121). Béland concludes with six final lessons where he summarizes, step by step, the main points of his book. Perhaps it would be pertinent to repeat the last: ‘one lesson conveyed throughout this book is that the welfare state is a political reality that can both reflect and challenge existing forms of inequality’ (p. 154).

In the case of Bill Jordan, his Chapter 1 describes ‘The problem’ in three sections. The first asks for ‘A new approach’. The second proposes a review of ‘Services and well-being’. Finally, he introduces the issue of ‘Global sustainability’. In Chapter 2, ‘Income, credit and redistribution’, he shows ‘how the theories which constitute that orthodoxy came to embrace all aspects of social interaction, and specially government decisions’ (p. 44). He addresses the ‘casino culture’ (p. 47) of the ‘new economic model based on globalization, methodological individualism, and contract theory’ (p. 44), dividing this into two sections ‘Regulating society: The role of credit’ and ‘Alternative forms of credit’. The latter section analyses three aspects: individuals and households, firms and governments. Jordan writes that in this chapter he has ‘shown … what’s wrong with social policy’ (p. 69). Chapter 3, ‘Services and well-being’, is the longest. It analyses ‘the distortions to the supply of services caused by this misleading model’ (p. 74). He does this in seven main sections plus a conclusion: ‘Objective well-being and need’, ‘The nature of services’, ‘The organization of services’, ‘Examples of failures of the contract approach’, ‘Services, relationships and cultures’, ‘Social relations and well-being: The role of services’ and finally, ‘Trust participation and well-being’. In Chapter 4, ‘Global social policy’, Jordan analyses in four sections ‘why social policy has been threatened by globalization, why the crash brings dangers of policies which are protectionist or xenophobic, and how social policy might be made more reconcilable with the forces for globalization’ (p. 118). Chapter 5 is the penultimate step: ‘Sustainability–communities and the environment’. Here Jordan argues that, ‘the link between social and environmental policies for sustainability should be communities and their mobilization’ (p. 154) and he does this in four sections where again he rejects the misleading contract theory and individualism, and reviews the basic income or social value proposals.

Finally, Jordan’s ‘Conclusions: Transforming social policy’ is an emphatic new twist to his argument. He reminds us that ‘[s]ocial policy has allowed itself to be hijacked by a version of individual self-realization which subverts the whole basis of a viable collective life and social order. The supposed rationality of the individual in the economic model is contradicted by the cultivation of a fantasy of the independent, self-improving person, who is engaged in a project of self-fulfilment’ (p. 191). Again, he emphasizes that:

Social policy is based on the sharing of resources and risks, through systems which gain the benefits of interdependence, as well as reducing its costs. This requires relations of trust and solidarity among members of a political community. The evidence increasingly points to the corrosive effects of the individualism which is fundamental to the economic model adopted by the affluent Anglophone countries, and exported throughout the world through international financial organizations. (pp. 191–192)

In the last two paragraphs, Jordan opens the door to Philip Blond (2009) and his Red Tory idea, probably, with the confidence of defending the community and collective approach. Jordan tallies with Blond (2010) in their repairing will … ‘how we can fix it’.

Béland’s and Jordan’s books propose questions and data for understanding our difficult times of turbulence and uncertainty. They do not offer innovative answers. Béland adopts a typical teaching role. Jordan seems more an apostle of the gospel of collectivist cultures. In any case, they never imagined the 2013 Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day) speech by the Dutch King Willem-Alexander, where he declared ‘the end of the welfare state’. Both authors would probably agree with the words of Pablo Milanés’s song: ‘la vida no vale nada si no es para perecer porque otros puedan tener lo que uno desea y ama’ (life is worth nothing if it were not to perish so that others may have what you want and love).