Pub Date : 2023-11-08DOI: 10.1177/13882627231213796
Martin Fritz, Jayeon Lee
We are increasingly witnessing the social and ecological crises of our time becoming entangled and amplifying each other. The current policy responses from national states and international governance bodies remain within the dominant framework of economic growth-centred strategies. In this editorial, we argue that a new paradigm of sustainable welfare is needed, which includes eco-social policies addressing social and ecological sustainability concerns in integrated ways. We first demonstrate how social and ecological problems are interconnected and why green growth approaches fail to tackle them. As an alternative, and as a pointer to a social security system that can help people navigate the dire straits of increasing eco-social risks, we present the foundations and principles of sustainable welfare, and discuss how this, according to Kuhn, can be understood as a new social policy paradigm. In the second part of this editorial, we introduce the papers brought together in this special issue. The cutting-edge research of the contributing authors includes theoretical and conceptual advances, empirical case studies from different European countries, and transnational studies. Each paper discusses the implications of its findings for European social security systems.
{"title":"Introduction to the special issue: Tackling inequality and providing sustainable welfare through eco-social policies","authors":"Martin Fritz, Jayeon Lee","doi":"10.1177/13882627231213796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231213796","url":null,"abstract":"We are increasingly witnessing the social and ecological crises of our time becoming entangled and amplifying each other. The current policy responses from national states and international governance bodies remain within the dominant framework of economic growth-centred strategies. In this editorial, we argue that a new paradigm of sustainable welfare is needed, which includes eco-social policies addressing social and ecological sustainability concerns in integrated ways. We first demonstrate how social and ecological problems are interconnected and why green growth approaches fail to tackle them. As an alternative, and as a pointer to a social security system that can help people navigate the dire straits of increasing eco-social risks, we present the foundations and principles of sustainable welfare, and discuss how this, according to Kuhn, can be understood as a new social policy paradigm. In the second part of this editorial, we introduce the papers brought together in this special issue. The cutting-edge research of the contributing authors includes theoretical and conceptual advances, empirical case studies from different European countries, and transnational studies. Each paper discusses the implications of its findings for European social security systems.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"36 3‐4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135392862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1177/13882627231208698
Katharina Zimmermann, Vincent Gengnagel
The European Green Deal calls for various economic reforms that will deeply disrupt the social order of European societies. As the European Commission makes very clear in its communications on the EGD, societal support for the profound changes that will inevitably accompany a ‘green transition’ hinges on social inclusion of stakeholders and social groups. This article aims to identify the social policy instruments proposed by the EGD to address the social implications of its ‘green transition’, and to explore how they relate to societal expectations. Analytically, it distinguishes between protective (redistributive) and productive (economy-oriented) social policy and argues that democratic social inclusion – which the European Commission strives to achieve – requires protective social policy. Empirically, the paper analyzes a) the socio-political instruments set out in the EGD and b) public statements made by a range of European-level actors who participated in the debates on the EGD. Our findings show that productive social policy prevails in the EGD's proposed instruments and in stakeholders’ demands, but that there are also vague indications of a more nuanced concept of social inclusion that acknowledges social conflict.
{"title":"Mapping the social dimension of the European Green Deal","authors":"Katharina Zimmermann, Vincent Gengnagel","doi":"10.1177/13882627231208698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231208698","url":null,"abstract":"The European Green Deal calls for various economic reforms that will deeply disrupt the social order of European societies. As the European Commission makes very clear in its communications on the EGD, societal support for the profound changes that will inevitably accompany a ‘green transition’ hinges on social inclusion of stakeholders and social groups. This article aims to identify the social policy instruments proposed by the EGD to address the social implications of its ‘green transition’, and to explore how they relate to societal expectations. Analytically, it distinguishes between protective (redistributive) and productive (economy-oriented) social policy and argues that democratic social inclusion – which the European Commission strives to achieve – requires protective social policy. Empirically, the paper analyzes a) the socio-political instruments set out in the EGD and b) public statements made by a range of European-level actors who participated in the debates on the EGD. Our findings show that productive social policy prevails in the EGD's proposed instruments and in stakeholders’ demands, but that there are also vague indications of a more nuanced concept of social inclusion that acknowledges social conflict.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"278 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135273165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-25DOI: 10.1177/13882627231208929
Martin Fritz, Dennis Eversberg
The political agenda of eco-social policy seeks to create synergies between social justice and ecological goals, such as mitigating climate change. While the concept already has a strong theoretical foundation, and many concrete policy instruments have been proposed, support for eco-social policy is still insufficient to mobilize political action. We assume that one cause of this lack of action are the diverging interests and ideologies of different classes. In this article we apply a class perspective and conduct an empirical study to explore class support for and opposition to eco-social policy. We use data from a representative survey in Germany and identify nine class fractions, based on Bourdieu's concept of social space. We first compare the carbon footprints of the classes, to determine their varying degrees of responsibility for supporting political efforts to mitigate climate change. We then compare class support for eco-social policy, considering the dimensions of redistribution, regulation and rights. We find that the economic upper class – a fraction equating closely with the ruling class – and the old working class oppose eco-social policy the most. The cultural upper class are the strongest proponents of eco-social policy. The lower-class fractions showed considerable concern about the costs associated with eco-social policy. We conclude that a stronger focus on the social justice element when designing and advocating for eco-social policy could lead to greater support from the lower classes and help to build eco-social welfare states that offer protection in times of increasing social and ecological risks.
{"title":"Support for eco-social policy from a class perspective: Responsibilities, redistribution, regulation and rights","authors":"Martin Fritz, Dennis Eversberg","doi":"10.1177/13882627231208929","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231208929","url":null,"abstract":"The political agenda of eco-social policy seeks to create synergies between social justice and ecological goals, such as mitigating climate change. While the concept already has a strong theoretical foundation, and many concrete policy instruments have been proposed, support for eco-social policy is still insufficient to mobilize political action. We assume that one cause of this lack of action are the diverging interests and ideologies of different classes. In this article we apply a class perspective and conduct an empirical study to explore class support for and opposition to eco-social policy. We use data from a representative survey in Germany and identify nine class fractions, based on Bourdieu's concept of social space. We first compare the carbon footprints of the classes, to determine their varying degrees of responsibility for supporting political efforts to mitigate climate change. We then compare class support for eco-social policy, considering the dimensions of redistribution, regulation and rights. We find that the economic upper class – a fraction equating closely with the ruling class – and the old working class oppose eco-social policy the most. The cultural upper class are the strongest proponents of eco-social policy. The lower-class fractions showed considerable concern about the costs associated with eco-social policy. We conclude that a stronger focus on the social justice element when designing and advocating for eco-social policy could lead to greater support from the lower classes and help to build eco-social welfare states that offer protection in times of increasing social and ecological risks.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"36 1-3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135219069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-24DOI: 10.1177/13882627231204989
Jayeon Lee, Max Koch
To avoid catastrophic consequences of impending ecological crises our socio-economic systems need to be transformed in rapid and radical manners. Focusing on working life and Sweden as an example for countries of the Global North with a social-democratic welfare tradition, we ask how social protection systems may be reorganised according to the concept of ‘sustainable welfare’, the satisfaction of basic human needs across space and over time. We combine a literature review with an analysis of qualitative data from deliberative citizen forums following Max-Neef's Human Scale Development methodology. After taking stock of the existing literature that highlights the unsustainable character of current work regimes, we present our application of the methodology used in the citizen forums as well as the data. Our participants generally highlighted the importance of broadening the concept of work beyond ‘employment’ when reflecting on the role of work in addressing and satisfying multiple human needs within planetary limits. The introduction of a universal basic income, a participation income, an expansion of universal basic services, working time reduction and a sabbatical year conditioned on civic participation/education were among the eco-social reform ideas that forum participants highlighted to liberate work from its current unsustainable and capitalist contexts and turn it from a negative into a positive need satisfier.
{"title":"The role of work and social protection systems in social-ecological transformations: Insights from deliberative citizen forums in Sweden","authors":"Jayeon Lee, Max Koch","doi":"10.1177/13882627231204989","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231204989","url":null,"abstract":"To avoid catastrophic consequences of impending ecological crises our socio-economic systems need to be transformed in rapid and radical manners. Focusing on working life and Sweden as an example for countries of the Global North with a social-democratic welfare tradition, we ask how social protection systems may be reorganised according to the concept of ‘sustainable welfare’, the satisfaction of basic human needs across space and over time. We combine a literature review with an analysis of qualitative data from deliberative citizen forums following Max-Neef's Human Scale Development methodology. After taking stock of the existing literature that highlights the unsustainable character of current work regimes, we present our application of the methodology used in the citizen forums as well as the data. Our participants generally highlighted the importance of broadening the concept of work beyond ‘employment’ when reflecting on the role of work in addressing and satisfying multiple human needs within planetary limits. The introduction of a universal basic income, a participation income, an expansion of universal basic services, working time reduction and a sabbatical year conditioned on civic participation/education were among the eco-social reform ideas that forum participants highlighted to liberate work from its current unsustainable and capitalist contexts and turn it from a negative into a positive need satisfier.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"39 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135316514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1177/13882627231206002
Robin Schulze Waltrup, Madelaine Moore, Tim Paulsen
While critical political economy (CPE) has yet to play a prominent role in eco-social policy research, this paper argues that a deeper engagement with CPE and a better understanding of the global political economy can enhance eco-social policy debates. CPE can help us to see the contradictions in and impediments to integrating environmental and social policies, and particularly why both of these categories continue to be mediated and shaped by economic logics. In order to develop these arguments, we analyse recent international discourses on agricultural subsidies promoted by key policy actors such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. By examining agriculture as a nodal point between diverse scales and domains such as the local, global, environmental, social, and economic spheres, we explore how certain positions are prioritised over others. We argue that the discourse on ‘repurposing subsidies’ in global agricultural policy expresses a ‘new critical orthodoxy’ that recognises the need for transformation but fails to address the structural conditions of the global political economy responsible for environmental and social crises. Instead, the proposed solutions rely on existing institutions and capitalist logics to resolve current crises, even if the latter are underpinned by these logics. Our analysis underlines the need for eco-social policy scholarship to be cognizant of how environmental and social policy integration is always embedded within a particular global political economy that reproduces certain inequalities and is not a neutral policy terrain.
{"title":"Eco-social policy in the global political economy: Analysing shifting discourses on agricultural subsidies","authors":"Robin Schulze Waltrup, Madelaine Moore, Tim Paulsen","doi":"10.1177/13882627231206002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231206002","url":null,"abstract":"While critical political economy (CPE) has yet to play a prominent role in eco-social policy research, this paper argues that a deeper engagement with CPE and a better understanding of the global political economy can enhance eco-social policy debates. CPE can help us to see the contradictions in and impediments to integrating environmental and social policies, and particularly why both of these categories continue to be mediated and shaped by economic logics. In order to develop these arguments, we analyse recent international discourses on agricultural subsidies promoted by key policy actors such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. By examining agriculture as a nodal point between diverse scales and domains such as the local, global, environmental, social, and economic spheres, we explore how certain positions are prioritised over others. We argue that the discourse on ‘repurposing subsidies’ in global agricultural policy expresses a ‘new critical orthodoxy’ that recognises the need for transformation but fails to address the structural conditions of the global political economy responsible for environmental and social crises. Instead, the proposed solutions rely on existing institutions and capitalist logics to resolve current crises, even if the latter are underpinned by these logics. Our analysis underlines the need for eco-social policy scholarship to be cognizant of how environmental and social policy integration is always embedded within a particular global political economy that reproduces certain inequalities and is not a neutral policy terrain.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"30 23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135730927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1177/13882627231204825
Luca Ratti
{"title":"Book Review: <i>Structural Injustice and Workers’ Rights</i> by Virginia Mantouvalou","authors":"Luca Ratti","doi":"10.1177/13882627231204825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231204825","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135730259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-11DOI: 10.1177/13882627231205759
Matteo Mandelli
As complex challenges such as climate change and social inequality become more and more politically salient, eco-social policies are emerging as suitable public policy tools to pursue integrated environmental and social objectives. In spite of this, the sustainable welfare literature has been, at least until now, dominated by prescriptive studies, paying little attention to the politico-institutional conditions required for these policies to emerge. Against this background, this article aims to help filling this gap, by proposing a set of four theoretical expectations pointing to possible causal drivers and mechanisms behind the adoption of this particular kind of policies. It does so by harnessing the most established welfare state theories and reflecting on their potential and limitations when applied to the study of eco-social policies. Selected theoretical strands – functionalism, historical institutionalism, interest-based and ideas-based theories – are first reviewed and then applied to the specific object of the study, with a view to deriving the four expectations by deduction. The ultimate aim is to generate a politico-institutional theory of eco-social policies, which can guide future empirical research. The article argues that eco-social policies can be expected to emerge in strong environmental states and/or in weak welfare states, in which equally powerful labour and green interests engage in political exchanges, or where advocacy coalitions form around ambiguous ideas, such as ‘just transition’. The article concludes by arguing that only an actor-centred approach based on empirically observable policy preferences can help us to craft minimally sufficient causal inferences about the emergence of eco-social policies.
{"title":"Harnessing welfare state theories to explain the emergence of eco-social policies","authors":"Matteo Mandelli","doi":"10.1177/13882627231205759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231205759","url":null,"abstract":"As complex challenges such as climate change and social inequality become more and more politically salient, eco-social policies are emerging as suitable public policy tools to pursue integrated environmental and social objectives. In spite of this, the sustainable welfare literature has been, at least until now, dominated by prescriptive studies, paying little attention to the politico-institutional conditions required for these policies to emerge. Against this background, this article aims to help filling this gap, by proposing a set of four theoretical expectations pointing to possible causal drivers and mechanisms behind the adoption of this particular kind of policies. It does so by harnessing the most established welfare state theories and reflecting on their potential and limitations when applied to the study of eco-social policies. Selected theoretical strands – functionalism, historical institutionalism, interest-based and ideas-based theories – are first reviewed and then applied to the specific object of the study, with a view to deriving the four expectations by deduction. The ultimate aim is to generate a politico-institutional theory of eco-social policies, which can guide future empirical research. The article argues that eco-social policies can be expected to emerge in strong environmental states and/or in weak welfare states, in which equally powerful labour and green interests engage in political exchanges, or where advocacy coalitions form around ambiguous ideas, such as ‘just transition’. The article concludes by arguing that only an actor-centred approach based on empirically observable policy preferences can help us to craft minimally sufficient causal inferences about the emergence of eco-social policies.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"239 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136208988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-10DOI: 10.1177/13882627231206246
Mladen Domazet, Máté Fischer, Alexandra Köves
The Degrowth Doughnut (a modification of the original Doughnut visualization of boundaries and foundations created by economist Kate Raworth) can be considered a visualization tool for assessing the current environmental and social capacity of a country to transform into an ecologically and socially sustainable modus operandi. Its sufficiently rich set of criteria, including cultural, socio-economic and biophysical indicators, gives us an overall picture of the problems to be dealt with and the strengths to build on in the immediate future. Its simple boundary-threshold structure presents limiting and aspirational targets in a single image. As such, it is also a tool that can aid eco-social policymaking to prioritize decisions and seek synergies between choices made. This research will present the Hungarian Degrowth Doughnut and use it as a case study when applied to the aims and expected impacts of Hungary’s operational National Clean Development Strategy. We will illustrate the degrowth-relevant priorities and assess the adequacy of the responses proposed by the Strategy, providing a critical analysis of the national policy options. Behind such climate and sustainability strategies are always a wealth of important value choices and moral considerations. Is there a safe and just operating space in the minds of the Hungarian policymakers? To what extent, if at all, are the fundamental principles of post-growth theories incorporated into a Hungarian sustainability strategy? We believe that a case study like this can also provide inspiration for further practical application of the Degrowth Doughnut elsewhere.
{"title":"Doughnuts for strategies: A tool for an emerging sustainable welfare paradigm","authors":"Mladen Domazet, Máté Fischer, Alexandra Köves","doi":"10.1177/13882627231206246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231206246","url":null,"abstract":"The Degrowth Doughnut (a modification of the original Doughnut visualization of boundaries and foundations created by economist Kate Raworth) can be considered a visualization tool for assessing the current environmental and social capacity of a country to transform into an ecologically and socially sustainable modus operandi. Its sufficiently rich set of criteria, including cultural, socio-economic and biophysical indicators, gives us an overall picture of the problems to be dealt with and the strengths to build on in the immediate future. Its simple boundary-threshold structure presents limiting and aspirational targets in a single image. As such, it is also a tool that can aid eco-social policymaking to prioritize decisions and seek synergies between choices made. This research will present the Hungarian Degrowth Doughnut and use it as a case study when applied to the aims and expected impacts of Hungary’s operational National Clean Development Strategy. We will illustrate the degrowth-relevant priorities and assess the adequacy of the responses proposed by the Strategy, providing a critical analysis of the national policy options. Behind such climate and sustainability strategies are always a wealth of important value choices and moral considerations. Is there a safe and just operating space in the minds of the Hungarian policymakers? To what extent, if at all, are the fundamental principles of post-growth theories incorporated into a Hungarian sustainability strategy? We believe that a case study like this can also provide inspiration for further practical application of the Degrowth Doughnut elsewhere.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"268 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136358235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1177/13882627231205995
Marta Bonetti, Matteo Villa
This paper analyzes the complexity of social-ecological transition policies and processes, focusing on trade-offs and emerging conflicts engendered by combined environmental-social-technological programmes and innovations. To date, there has been only limited focus in the literature on empirical cases, analyzing the ecological transition, distributive effects, social risks and policies to counter them. To help fill this gap, the paper discusses three qualitative case studies as part of a research project on social cohesion in ecological transitions in Tuscany, Italy. In particular, it examines the ongoing transition strategies and practices, bringing out several aspects that highlight the sources of controversies among actors and the contextual variability and complexity of their ‘playgrounds’, namely: (1) the role of time, space and relational patterns, and ensuing problems of governance, coordination and synchronization; (2) the way in which institutional and technological transformations are embedded in trans-contextual relations and conflicts; (3) the role of different sources and kinds of knowledge in supporting or hampering the ecological transitions; and (4) the shifting balances between top-down strategies and regulation, and bottom-up processes of civic associations and social movements. The paper then analyzes the attempts to provide social security by means of more or less explicitly designed eco-social policies and practices, highlighting some relevant lessons learned and methodological recommendations for future sustainable welfare design.
{"title":"The conflicts of ecological transition on the ground and the role of eco-social policies: Lessons from Italian case studies","authors":"Marta Bonetti, Matteo Villa","doi":"10.1177/13882627231205995","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231205995","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the complexity of social-ecological transition policies and processes, focusing on trade-offs and emerging conflicts engendered by combined environmental-social-technological programmes and innovations. To date, there has been only limited focus in the literature on empirical cases, analyzing the ecological transition, distributive effects, social risks and policies to counter them. To help fill this gap, the paper discusses three qualitative case studies as part of a research project on social cohesion in ecological transitions in Tuscany, Italy. In particular, it examines the ongoing transition strategies and practices, bringing out several aspects that highlight the sources of controversies among actors and the contextual variability and complexity of their ‘playgrounds’, namely: (1) the role of time, space and relational patterns, and ensuing problems of governance, coordination and synchronization; (2) the way in which institutional and technological transformations are embedded in trans-contextual relations and conflicts; (3) the role of different sources and kinds of knowledge in supporting or hampering the ecological transitions; and (4) the shifting balances between top-down strategies and regulation, and bottom-up processes of civic associations and social movements. The paper then analyzes the attempts to provide social security by means of more or less explicitly designed eco-social policies and practices, highlighting some relevant lessons learned and methodological recommendations for future sustainable welfare design.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135147064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-26DOI: 10.1177/13882627231195722
Paul Bridgen
Domestic energy efficiency policy is potentially a means for reducing residential energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expenses for households in energy poverty. It has often been presented as an eco-social exemplar, for example in the European Union's Green Deal. The European Commission regards domestic energy efficiency improvements as the primary means for addressing energy poverty notwithstanding the 2022/23 energy crisis. However, the case for domestic energy efficiency improvement as a tool for achieving simultaneously social and environmental goals is often assumed rather than demonstrated. This article uses Mandelli's eco-social trilemma heuristic and the symbolic politics literature to surface the tensions involved in such processes, focusing on policy efforts in the England between 1997 and 2023 as a case study. England is a good case to consider because it has been regarded as a leader of energy poverty mitigation and its policy approach is similar to the European Commission's. The article details the main policy instruments used in England, assesses outputs and outcomes using official statistics, government and independent policy evaluations and the secondary literature, and details the main problems encountered in achieving environmental/social synergies. Based on this analysis, the article argues that English domestic energy efficiency policy has generally constituted a symbolic eco-social policy, particularly on the social side and since 2010. Highlighted by the 2022/23 energy crisis, domestic energy efficiency policy is best regarded as one component of a policy toolkit for reducing energy poverty, which at the least should also include targeted social protection.
{"title":"An eco-social solution to energy poverty? Substance and symbolism in the England's use of domestic energy efficiency policy to achieve social and environmental synergies, 1997–2023","authors":"Paul Bridgen","doi":"10.1177/13882627231195722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13882627231195722","url":null,"abstract":"Domestic energy efficiency policy is potentially a means for reducing residential energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expenses for households in energy poverty. It has often been presented as an eco-social exemplar, for example in the European Union's Green Deal. The European Commission regards domestic energy efficiency improvements as the primary means for addressing energy poverty notwithstanding the 2022/23 energy crisis. However, the case for domestic energy efficiency improvement as a tool for achieving simultaneously social and environmental goals is often assumed rather than demonstrated. This article uses Mandelli's eco-social trilemma heuristic and the symbolic politics literature to surface the tensions involved in such processes, focusing on policy efforts in the England between 1997 and 2023 as a case study. England is a good case to consider because it has been regarded as a leader of energy poverty mitigation and its policy approach is similar to the European Commission's. The article details the main policy instruments used in England, assesses outputs and outcomes using official statistics, government and independent policy evaluations and the secondary literature, and details the main problems encountered in achieving environmental/social synergies. Based on this analysis, the article argues that English domestic energy efficiency policy has generally constituted a symbolic eco-social policy, particularly on the social side and since 2010. Highlighted by the 2022/23 energy crisis, domestic energy efficiency policy is best regarded as one component of a policy toolkit for reducing energy poverty, which at the least should also include targeted social protection.","PeriodicalId":44670,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Security","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134958778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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