Structural change of sociopolitical governance?

Abstract

"This article focuses, from the vantage point of modernization theory, on the reforms of the Code of Social Law II (Sozialgesetzbuch II) in Germany. Its argumentation is based on the historico-genetic theory. The argument is that the reforms of SGB II in the year 2005 implement a structural change within social policy that is based on the loss of autonomy of its subjects and reproduce the “theoreme of the poverty trap” (Armutsfallentheorem), which has already been refuted empirically. The new dimension of social policy lies in a downsizing of autonomy based on a cut of planning horizons and of individual rights as well as on a reinforced connection of employment and food. The possibility of autonomous action gets lost. That means that the constitutive condition of social policy, the idea that people shape their own lives, is undermined and social policy is regressing behind the functional achievements of modernity. The argumentation is based on a semantic analysis of the reforms within two functional systems of society, law and politics." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Cite article

Globisch, C. (2012): Strukturwandel sozialpolitischer Steuerung. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Vol. 37, No. Suppl. 1, p. 133-154. DOI:10.1007/s11614-012-0041-7