From the welfare state to the social investment state
| Autor | Maurizio Ferrera |
| Páginas | 53-71 |
53
FROM THE WELFARE STATE
TO THE SOCIAL INVESTMENT STATE
1
DO ESTADO DE BEM-ESTAR SOCIAL AO ESTADO DE INVESTIMENTO SOCIAL
Maurizio Ferrera2
ABSTRACT
: This paper discusses the basic rationale which has inspired the intellectual and policy
reorientation towards “social investment”, with particular attention to child policy. The first section
outlines the main features of the social investment approach, con
trasting it with the more traditional
“Fordist” approach. The second and third sections
explain why and how early childhood education and
care can make a difference in terms of both efficiency and equity. The fourth section briefly summarizes
the British
experience under New Labour, while the fifth section discusses issues of quality and
accessibility. The conclusion wraps up, underlining the need to step up the shift to-
wards social
investment, overcoming the political obstacles to reform.
KEYWORDS:
Welfare. Social policy. Education. Childcare.
RESUMO
: O presente artigo discute o fundamento básico que inspirou a reorientação intelectual e política
em direção ao “investimento social”, com particular atenção às políticas relativas à infância. A primeira
seção expõe as principais características da abordagem do investimento social, contrapondo-a à
abordagem “fordista” mais tradicional. As segunda e terceira seções explicam por que e como a educação
e o cuidado na primeira infância podem fazer diferença em termos de eficiência e equidade. A quarta seção
resume a experiência britânica com a New Labour, ao passo que a quinta seção discute questões de
qualidade e acessibilidade. A conclusão complementa o texto, ressaltando a necessidade de se avançar na
mudança para o investimento social, ultrapassando os obstáculos políticos para a reforma.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE
: Bem-Estar. Política social. Educação. Cuidado com as crianças.
Artigo recebido em 16 de abril de 2016
1 O presente artigo foi publicado como “working paper” pelo Laboratório de Política Comparada e Filosofia
Pública do Centro Einaudi, em Turim, n. 1, 2010.
2 Maurizio Ferrera é Professor de Ciência Política na Universidade de Milão, onde preside a Graduate School in
Social, Economic and Political Sciences. Ademais, dirige o Laboratório de Política Comparada e Filosofia Pública
(LPF) do Centro Einaudi, é membro do conselho de administração do Colégio Carlo Alberto de Moncalieri (Turim)
e é editorialista do jornal “Corriere della Sera”.
RDRST, Brasília, Volume 3, n. 1, 2017, p 53-71, jan-jun/2017
54
INTRODUCTION
In 1997 an influential document of the OECD outlined a broad framework for welfare
reform in the globalised economy, calling for a new “social investment” strategy. Its main
building blocks were to be an emphasis on inclusion, labour
market participation and a
reorientation of public policy towards “social problems
which are not properly addressed”, with a
special attention to child poverty and more generally the skills and opportunities of young people
(OECD 1997). The OECD recommendation immediately resonated within EU circles, after the
launch of the employment Strategy in 1998 and of the so-called Social Inclusion
process in 2001.
Under the Portuguese (2000) and Belgian (2001) Presidencies of
the EU, important reports were
released which forcefully called for an incisive
functional and distributive recalibration of
traditional social protection schemes
(Ferrera, Hemerijck and Rhodes 2000) and for a shift to a
“new welfare state”,
based on a child-centered and women friendly approach (Esping-Andersen et
al.
2002). The idea of social policy as both a “productive factor” and a “social in-
vestment” has
been spreading throughout the OECD countries and supranational institutions (from the ILO to the
World Bank) during the 2000s, attracting increas
ing attention on the side of academic thinking and
research (Morel, Palier and
Palme 2009).
This paper will discuss the basic rationale which has inspired this intellectual and
policy
reorientation, with particular attention to child policy. The first section will
outline the main
features of the social investment approach, contrasting it with the
more traditional “Fordist”
approach. The second and third sections will explain
why and how early childhood education and
care can make a difference in terms
of both efficiency and equity. The fourth section will briefly
summarize the British
experience under New Labour, while the fifth section will discuss issues of
quality and accessibility. The conclusion will wrap up, underlining the need to step up the shift towards
social investment, overcoming the political obstacles to reform.
1. “FORD” VS “LEGO”: THE NEW APPROACH
As
i
s
w
e
ll
kno
wn,
the
w
e
l
f
a
re
s
t
a
t
e
rea
c
hed
i
t
s
ful
l
mat
uri
ty
duri
ng
th
e Trentes Glorieuses
that
followed the end of World War II. This phase registered the spread and institutionalization of a wider
socio-economic “model” which has been labelled as Keynesian or Fordist capitalism (Esping-
Andersen 1990). As shown by table 1, the model was characterized by a number of inter-related
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