While the rise of social protection in the global North has been widely researched, we know little about the history of social protection in the global South. This volume investigates the experiences of four middle-income countries - Brazil, India, China and South Africa - from 1920 to 2020, analysing if, when, and how these countries articulated a concern about social issues and social cohesion.
As the first in-depth study of the ideational foundations of social protection policies and programmes in these four countries, the contributions demonstrate that the social question was articulated in an increasingly inclusive way. The contributions identify the ideas, beliefs, and visions that underpinned the movement towards inclusion and social peace as well as counteracting doctrines. Drawing on perspectives from the sociology of knowledge, grounded theory, historiography, discourse analysis, and process tracing, the volume will be of interest to scholars across political science, sociology, political economy, history, area studies, and global studies, as well as development experts and policymakers.
Author(s): Lutz Leisering
Series: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 437
City: Cham
Preface and Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
Part I: Introduction
1: Social Protection in the Global South: An Ideational and Historical Approach
Towards a New Approach to Analysing Social Policy in the Global South
Ideas: A Constructivist Sociology of Knowledge Approach
Strategies for Theorising Southern Welfare
Explanatory Theories of Social Policy
Conceptualising Social Policy Ideas: A Multi-layered Model
A First Glimpse of the Four Countries: Basic Social, Political, and Economic Data
The Chapters
References
Part II: China
2: The Early Rise of Social Security in China: Ideas and Reforms, 1911–1949
Introduction: The Early Rise of Social Ideas and Policies
Social Security in Imperial China: From Benevolence to Disciplined Labour
The Rise of the Social Question: Non-Marxist Versus Marxist Concepts, 1900–1920s
The GMD State’s Social Policy: State-building, Productivism, and Collectivism, 1927–1937
Wartime Social Policy: Universal Social Security and China’s “Special Situation” (1937–1945)
Post-war Development: Establishing Social Security Institutions, 1945–1978
Conclusion: Ideas and Reforms
References
3: Social Security: The Career of a Contested Social Idea in China During the Reform Era, 1978–2020
Introduction: The Rise of the Idea of “Social Security” in China
Socialist Welfare Ideas, 1949–1978: Urban Labour Insurance Versus Rural Residual Welfare
Urban Welfare
Rural Welfare
The Ideational Turn in the Course of Economic Reforms, 1978–2000: “Socialisation” of Welfare
SOE Reform and Its Effects
Policy Reforms: Pensions and Healthcare
The Emergence of the Idea of “Social Security” in the New Millennium: From GDPism to Inclusive Growth
Social Security as “Social Governance”, 2012–Present: From Regulatory Managerialism to Statist Control
Conclusion: Social Security in the Shadow of Hierarchy
References
Internet Sources
Part III: India
4: Social Policy in India: One Hundred Years of the (Stifled) Social Question
Introduction
Religious Reforms as Social Reforms
“Asiatic” Stifling
Political Freedom over Social Justice
Three Ideas of the “Social” at the Founding Moment of India
Did the Reservation System Achieve Its Goal?
Democracy’s Coexistence with Religion
Economic Development over the Social Question
Authoritarian Democracy Stifles the “Social” Question
Ideational Stifling from International Regimes
Conclusion
References
5: Minoritarian Labour Welfare in India: The Case of the Employees’ State Insurance Act of 1948
Welfare in India: Institutional Pillars and Social Contexts
Early Industrial Welfare and the Debate on Welfare Legislation in Interwar India
The Employees’ State Insurance Act: The Making of a Law
Repercussions: Graded Informality, a “Birthright” Lost and a Horizon of Expectation
References
Part IV: South Africa
6: The Social Question in Pre-apartheid South Africa: Race, Religion and the State
Introduction
Securing the Racial Hierarchy, 1924–1933: State, Church and the “Poor White Problem”
The Institutionalisation of “Social Policy” Under the Fusion Governments, 1933–1939
The Experience of War, 1939–1945: External Influences, Local Conditions and “Social Security”
Conclusion
Glossary
References
7: A Racialised Social Question: Pension Reform in Apartheid South Africa
Introduction
Changes in Ideas, 1948–1990: An Outline of the Analysis
1948–1960: “Separate Development” and the Problem of “Civilised Labour”
Frame: “Apartheid”—The Idea of Separate Development
Racially Graded Social Responsibility
The Racialised Social Question Legitimised by the Civilisation Argument
Policy Paradigm: Afrikaner Upliftment as the Social Problem
Racially Graded Pension Schemes
Shifting the Dominant Frame: From Apartheid to “Independent Nations”
1961–1979: “Independent Nations” and the Government’s Attempt to Abandon Social Responsibility for Non-white Groups
Frame: Homelands (“Independent Nations”)
Outsourcing Social Responsibility to “Independent Nation-States”
Racialised Social Question
Policy Paradigm: The “Superfluous Appendages”
Pension Policies
Shifting the Dominant Frame: From Independent Nations to an Ideational Void
1980–1990: “A Country of Minorities” and Equalisation to an Extent
Frame: Power-Sharing and Unclear Directions
Social Responsibility: Each to Their Own or White Obligation?
Eclipsed Social Question: Equality How?
Policy Paradigms and Pension Policies: Cost Containment
Conclusion
Appendix
Data Collection and Sources
Quantitative Analysis: Frequencies and Word Selection
Qualitative Analysis: Constructive Reading
References
8: (Re)formulating the Social Question in Post-apartheid South Africa: Zola Skweyiya, Dignity, Development and the Welfare State
Introduction
“Poverty Knowledge” and the Developmental Imperative (1994–1999)
Zola Skweyiya’s Partial Reframing of Poverty (1999–2009)
The Conservative Backlash: The Social Question After Skweyiya (from 2009)
References
Part V: Brazil
9: The Anatomy of the Social Question and the Evolution of the Brazilian Social Security System, 1919–2020
Brazil: A Crude Path to Modernity
1889–1929: The Social Question as the Needs of the People—Under the First Republic—Repression, Concealment, and Reshaping
1930–1945: The Social Question as a Workers’ Question
1945–1963: The Social Question as the Regional Question Under Democratic Rule
1964–1988: Dictatorship, the Authoritarian Modernization of Social Insurance, and the Struggle for Democracy
1988–2015: A New Wave of Democracy—Social Security for All
National Social Insurance Scheme
Social Assistance
The Unified Healthcare System
Conclusion: The Social Compact at Risk
References
10: Ideational Bases of Land Reform in Brazil: 1910 to the Present
Emergence of Pro-land Reform Ideas: the 1910s
Societal Recognition of the Agrarian Question: 1920s to the Mid-1950s
Mobilisation Without Reform: Late 1950s to Mid-1980s
Democracy, Protest and Limited Reform: Mid-1980s to the Present
Conclusions
References
Part VI: Conclusion
11: One Hundred Years of Social Protection: The Rise of the Social Question in Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, 1920–2020
Historical Evolution: 1920 to 2020 Was the Century of Social Protections for These Four Countries
Constructing the Social: All Four Countries, India the Least, Have Articulated Social Issues as a Social Question
State Responsibility, Policy Paradigms, and Welfare Models
Tracing the Social Question
Political Language: The Spread of “Social” Semantics
The Career of “Social Security”
Multireferentiality: Social Protection Is Largely Driven and Shaped by “Non-social” Ideas and Interests
Transnational Diffusion: External Ideas Have Pervaded Domestic Debates on Social Protection from the Beginning (the 1920s)
The Social Question in Flux: Diversification and Traps
“Exclusion/Inclusion”: The New Social Question?
The Residualism Trap
The Inequality Trap
Renewing the Social Question
References
Index
