Social inclusion policy as consultation : emergence and dynamic of a European field

Abstract

"European social integration lacks behind economic integration. Nevertheless, over the last four decades European social policy has developed a genuine form, which cannot adequately be described in terms such as decision-making, sanctioning potential and law enforcement. Rather, it relies on the production and distribution of policy-relevant knowledge as well as on the consultation of national policy makers. This article analyses these politics of consultation by reconstructing the development of EU social inclusion policy as an emergent field in Pierre Bourdieu's sense of the term. In the policy field actors continuously strive to describe, measure and legitimate national social inclusion policy-making. While doing so, they rely on field specific resources and engage in symbolic struggles about the definition, description, and evaluation of social inclusion policy. The article shows how this political arena has emerged in four phases from the 1970s to present." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Bernhard, S. (2011): Inklusionspolitik als Beratung. Emergenz und Dynamik eines europäischen Politikfeldes. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Vol. 36, No. 1, p. 28-47. DOI:10.1007/s11614-011-0021-3