Welfare is one of those cardinal terms that always comes up when looking at social science studies. Taking a position on its effectiveness, well, can be a bit more risky. But during this moment of huge transformation, it may prove useful to reevaluate its realm of possibility and application along specific lines of analsis, namely: rights to access it, its stability over time, current and potential users, and the tools ready to implement it.
Professor Roberto Pessi, Pro Rector of Education at Luiss, shares some insights of the main aspects supporting welfare norms which he argues deserve a reexamination, in his working paper produced for the Centre for the study of European Labour Law "Massimo D’Antona", entitled, Revisiting Welfare.
In fact, despite numerous debates surrounding the question of welfare, policy discussions regarding social programs tend to try and readdress and adjust policies with concrete measures, not just superficial corrections. Regulations put in place over the last decade confirm this theory, as does the tendency for more restrictive measures both in sheer number terms and in rights; especially when it comes to delivering pensions and health benefits.
If these basic pillars holding up our social safety net are left to slide, one can conclude that our welfare system has proved unable to provide concrete answers in the post-industrial age we're living in. Furthermore, within the paramenters of European integration, we've seen an overall slide in social protections.
According to Pessi, it's not enough to try and make changes here and there to the antiquated system currrently in place. This "generational pact" must be contested, modified and perhaps substituted completely in order to adhere to the rights that our social contract should provide to all.
Read more at LUISS Open [Italian]