Social Policies and Welfare State (POSEB)

Head of the group: Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes

Members:

• Jorge José Hernández Moreno
• Roberta Perna
• María Eloísa del Pino Matute
• Sebastián Antonio Umpiérrez de Reguero

The development of welfare systems has been one of the defining characteristics of the 20th century, especially in Europe. However, in recent decades, these systems have been confronted with the emergence of new needs and demands related to population aging, the increased participation of women in the labor market, the weakening of family and community ties in post-industrial economies, or the intensification and diversification of migration flows.

The Social Policy and Welfare State (POSEB) group is a multidisciplinary research team that contributes to the development of theoretical and empirical analyses of social policies and the governance of welfare states from a comparative and multi-level perspective. Bringing together scholars with a wide variety of theoretical and methodological expertise, members of POSEB share a common interest in problematising and exploring issues pertaining to the changing configurations of the Welfare State and the development of reforms in the field of welfare and healthcare policies, as well as their impact on social citizenship in post-industrial democratic societies.

In particular, POSEB covers the following broad lines of research: i) welfare state arrangements and reforms, with specific attention to the recalibration of responsibilities between the State, the market, the civil society and the family in the articulation of the productive and reproductive dimensions of society, as well as its financial, social and environmental sustainability; ii) welfare states’ norms and values, citizens’ attitudes and preferences towards welfare policies, social spending and welfare solidarity; iii) the interplay of welfare reforms and broad dynamics and developments characterising post-industrial societies, such as population ageing, the increase in the most different international mobility patterns, globalisation or the EU integration processes.