Social quality thinking emerged from a critique of one-sided policies by breaking through the limitations previously set by purely economistic paradigms. By tracing its expansion and presenting different aspects of social quality theory, this volume provides an overview of a more nuanced approach,  which assesses societal progress and introduces proposals that are relevant for policy making. Crucially, important components emerge with research by scholars from Asia, particularly China, eastern Europe, and other regions beyond western Europe, the theory’s place of origin. As this volume shows, this rich diversity of approaches and their cross-national comparisons reveal the increasingly important role of social quality theory for informing political debates on development and sustainability.

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  • The meta theory and the interdisciplinary approach.
  • The contribution to current debates on reorientation in social and economic policies.
  • The new thinking of development economics.
  • The measurement of social progress and global development.
  • The comparative studies of social development.
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Introduction
Ka Lin and Peter Herrmann

Chapter 1. Reconceptualization of Social Quality
Anne Fairweather, Borut Roncevic, Maj Rydbjerg, Marie Valentova and Mojca Zajc

Chapter 2. Indicators of Social Quality: Outcomes of the European Scientific Network
Laurent J.G. van der Maesen and Alan Walker

Chapter 3. Social Quality and Welfare System Sustainability
Alan Walker

Chapter 4. The Prototype of Social Quality Theory and Its Applicability to Asian Societies
Ka Lin

Chapter 5. Economic Performance, Social Progress and Social Quality
Peter Hermann

Chapter 6. The Human and the Social: A Comparison of the Discourses of Human Development, Human Security and Social Quality
Des Gasper

Chapter 7. Social Quality in Britain: A Welfare State?
Sue Hacking

Chapter 8. Social Quality in Sweden
Göran Therborn and Sonia Therborn

Chapter 9. Visions of the Sustainable Welfare Society: Extending Social Quality into an Asian/Developmental Context
Yoshinori Hiroi

Chapter 10. Risks of Society Stability and Precarity of Employment: A Look at Russia
Vyacheslav Bobkov, Olesya Veredyuk and Ulvi Aliyev

Chapter 11. The Rational Actor Reform Paradigm: Delivering the Goods but Destroying Public Trust?
Peter Taylor-Gooby

Social Quality: An Invitation to Dance
Wolfgang Beck

Index

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Peter Herrmann is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of World Economy at Corvinus University of Budapest, correspondent to the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich, Associate Member of the Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting, and Member of the Scientific Committee of Eurispes. Currently he lives and works in Rome.

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781782388975
Publisert
2015-07-01
Utgiver
Berghahn Books; Berghahn Books
Vekt
295 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
RES, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
160

Om bidragsyterne

Ka Lin is Docent at the University of Tampere, Senior Researcher and Docent at the University of Turku, Professor and Director of the Social Policy Research Center at Nanjing University, Professor and Executive Director of the MSW Center of Zhejiang University, and Deputy Director of the Center for European Studies at Zhejiang University. He is also Vice President of the International Association on Social Quality and Editor of the International Journal of Social Quality.