Universität Wien

210118 SE M11:Social policy legislation in Austria (2025S)

12.00 ECTS (4.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work

Eine Anmeldung über u:space innerhalb der Anmeldephase ist erforderlich! Eine nachträgliche Anmeldung ist NICHT möglich.

Studierende, die der ersten Einheit unentschuldigt fern bleiben, verlieren ihren Platz in der Lehrveranstaltung.

Achten Sie auf die Einhaltung der Standards guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis und die korrekte Anwendung der Techniken wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens und Schreibens.
Plagiierte und erschlichene Teilleistungen führen zur Nichtbewertung der Lehrveranstaltung (Eintragung eines 'X' im Sammelzeugnis).
Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann Studierende zu einem notenrelevanten Gespräch über erbrachte Teilleistungen einladen.
Moodle
We 14.05. 15:00-18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 35 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 05.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 19.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 26.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 02.04. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 09.04. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 30.04. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 07.05. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 21.05. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 28.05. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 04.06. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 11.06. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 18.06. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock
  • Wednesday 25.06. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3 (H3), NIG 2. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this course, we examine social policy legislation in Austria through two complementary approaches:

First, students will explore academic literature on the evolution and reform of welfare states in a comparative perspective, with a special focus on the Austrian case. This includes exploring key social policy conflicts, (shifting) actor configurations, and reform strategies in critical areas such as pension policy, labor market policy, and family policy.

Second, students will conduct independent empirical research. The primary data source will be social policy legislation passed by the Austrian Parliament between 1996 and 2024.

Important: Students must have a basic proficiency in quantitative data analysis to successfully complete this course. The expected time commitment is approximately 10 hours per week during the first half of the semester, increasing to 20 hours per week in the second half.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students must complete the following assessment components:

- Required readings and active participation in class: 10 points
- Presentation of a research design: 10 points
- Research design handout (1 page): 5 points
- Contribution to data collection (coding & documentation): 20 points
- Presentation of empirical results: 10 points
- Peer feedback on empirical results: 5 points
- Writing a seminar paper: 40 points

To pass the course, students must complete all components.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The course employs a 100-point grading system, with the following scale:

- 89–100 points: Excellent (1)
- 76–88 points: Good (2)
- 63–75 points: Satisfactory (3)
- 50–62 points: Sufficient (4)
- 0–49 points: Fail (5)

Examination topics

Reading list

Bonoli, Giuliano. 2010. ‘The Political Economy of Active Labor-Market Policy’. Politics & Society 38(4): 435–57. doi:10.1177/0032329210381235.

Careja, Romana, Christian Elmelund-Præstekær, Michael Baggesen Klitgaard, and Erik Gahner Larsen. 2016. ‘Direct and Indirect Welfare Chauvinism as Party Strategies: An Analysis of the Danish People’s Party’. Scandinavian Political Studies 39(4): 435–57. doi:10.1111/1467-9477.12075.

Ebbinghaus, Bernhard. 2021. ‘Unions and Employers’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, eds. Daniel Béland, Stephan Leibfried, Kimberly J. Morgan, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson. Oxford University Press, 278–97. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198828389.013.16.

Garritzmann, Julian L. 2021. ‘Social Investment’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, eds. Daniel Béland, Stephan Leibfried, Kimberly J. Morgan, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson. Oxford University Press, 188–205. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198828389.013.11.

Häusermann, Silja. 2018. ‘The Multidimensional Politics of Social Investment in Conservative Welfare Regimes: Family Policy Reform between Social Transfers and Social Investment’. Journal of European Public Policy 25(6): 862–77. doi:10.1080/13501763.2017.1401106.

Horn, Alexander, Anthony Kevins, and Kees van Kersbergen. 2023. ‘The Paternalist Politics of Punitive and Enabling Workfare: Evidence from a New Dataset on Workfare Reforms in 16 Countries, 1980–2015’. Socio-Economic Review 21(4): 2137–66. doi:10.1093/ser/mwac060.

Lohmann, Henning, and Hannah Zagel. 2016. ‘Family Policy in Comparative Perspective: The Concepts and Measurement of Familization and Defamilization’. Journal of European Social Policy 26(1): 48–65. doi:10.1177/0958928715621712.

Obinger, Herbert, and Emmerich Tálos. 2010. ‘Janus-Faced Developments in a Prototypical Bismarckian Welfare State: Welfare Reforms in Austria since the 1970s’. In A Long Goodbye to Bismarck?, The Politics of Welfare Reform in Continental Europe, ed. Bruno Palier. Amsterdam University Press, 101–28.

Pierson, Paul. 1996. ‘The New Politics of the Welfare State’. World Politics 48(2): 143–79.

Saxonberg, Steven. 2013. ‘From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology1 From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology’. Social Policy & Administration 47(1): 26–49. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9515.2012.00836.x.

Schmidt, Manfred G. 2021. ‘Parties’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, eds. Daniel Béland, Stephan Leibfried, Kimberly J. Morgan, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson. Oxford University Press, 298–312. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198828389.013.17.

Vis, Barbara, and Kees van Kersbergen, eds. 2013. ‘Welfare State Regimes: Why Did We Get Different Worlds of Welfare and Do We Still Have Them?’ In Comparative Welfare State Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 53–77. 10.1017/CBO9781139021852.005.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 03.03.2025 07:26