Sessione 18 - Social policy and technological change: emergent institutional and distributional challenges for the welfare state

Coordinatori / Coordinatrici di sessione: Gianluca Scarano (Università degli Studi di Torino), Anna Di Palma (Politecnico di Torino), Gregorio Buzzelli (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Discussant: Stefano Sacchi (Politecnico di  Torino)

Abstract:
Social policy literature shows that different technological innovations ‘disrupt’ existing welfare systems in advanced market economies, affecting both the social risks they are called to address and their institutional infrastructure (Collington, 2022). The functioning and support of existing welfare schemes are challenged by the impact of technological innovations on the labor market. On one hand, technological innovations may open up great opportunities for welfare systems, enabling the design of interventions tailored to individual needs (Van Gerven 2022). On the other, the introduction of algorithmic decision-making in the welfare administration may alter the logic of management and delivery of social provisions, with the risk of threatening social solidarity (Iversen and Rehm 2022). At the same time, the risk of technological replaceability on the labour market acts as a new source of distributional and political cleavages, affecting the class coalitions supporting the welfare state (Busemeyer and Tober 2022; Gallego and Kurer 2022).

Accepted paper:

• Towards a mapping of ADM systems in 8 European countries di Anila Alushi (University of Leipzig), Emma Hughes (University of Leipzig), Christian Pentzold (University of Leipzig), Alice Mattoni (Università di Bologna)
• “Unprecedented Injustice”: the Algorithmization and Optimization of Social Benefits in the Netherlands di Diletta Huyskes (Università degli Studi di Milano)
• Remote work and emerging challenges to the welfare state. Insights from ongoing research in Milan di Sara Recchi (Università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca), Giovanna Fullin, Valentina Pacetti, Sara Recchi, Anne-Iris Romens, Paolo Rossi, Gemma Scalise e Simone Tosi (Università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca)
• Digital transition and demand for new skills: an analysis of the effectiveness of Vocational and Educational Training systems in Europe di Paolo Funari (Università degli Studi di Milano)
• Towards an analytical framework for the study of the Italian social enterprises’ digital transition di Maurizio Busacca (Università Ca' Foscari)