Undergraduate Course: Political Economy of the Welfare State (SCPL10017)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Social Policy |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The development of social protection is related to both patterns of political mobilisation and strategies of economic production. This course will explore welfare states from the standpoint of their complex inter-relationships with both democracy and capitalism, in a comparative and dynamic perspective. The first part of the course will present the micro-foundations of a political economy approach to the welfare state, examining how welfare provisions reflect and shape the interests of firms and households. Part two will examine how production strategies, structures of welfare capitalism and different systems of interest intermediation and political representation interacted in practice in developed countries during the period of the so-called golden age of the welfare state. The third part of the course will explore how these structured relationships between democracy, welfare and capitalism have adapted to, and mediated, the dynamics of economic and socio-political change in the more recent period, focussing particularly on the shift to post-industrialism and the decline of class politics. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Social Policy or closely related courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should have
the ability to analyse welfare states with reference to the interplay of economic strategies and political demands;
a solid knowledge of the institutional varieties of capitalism, welfare and democracy found in developed countries, and of the complementarities between them;
a good theoretical understanding of the economic and political structures within which modern welfare states develop;
a subtle understanding of the relationships between global trends in socio-economic development and differentially structured domestic relationships between the economy, politics and welfare provision.
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Assessment Information
| 1 essay 3000 words, 1 exam 2hr (each worth 50% of the assessment) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Daniel Clegg
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Louise Angus
Tel: (0131 6)50 3923
Email: |
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