The social dimension of welfare
The research priorities of this thematic area are
- Subjective wellbeing and welfare structures and resources
- Social sustainability
- Effectiveness of social work and services
Research perspectives include theories of wellbeing and sustainable welfare in the life courses of individuals and as a socio-political objective. Research is focused on the processes of social exclusion and the identification of microsocial life circumstances, as well as the practices of support work targeted at these. Keywords include class and gender divisions, racism and anti-racism, lack of security, social impact, social and environmental change.
Education and work
The research priorities of this thematic area are
- Global work, changing labour markets, educational transitions
- Digitalisation, dataisation
- Discriminatory/empowering practices and structures in education and labour markets
The starting point is detailed socio-cultural understanding of the key social practices and institutions listed in the name of the thematic area. Despite possible equality goals, education and work create and reproduce inequalities related to geography, mobility trajectories, gender and class, for example. Research is focused on these areas but also seeks alternative possibilities, the identification of which requires the study of education and work in terms of markets, pedagogy and labour organisation as well as a social, cultural, lived and experienced phenomenon.
Mobility and borders
The research priorities of this thematic area are
- Transnational lives, attachment and integration
- Racism, populism, hate speech, politics of migration
- Politics of memory, othering, intertwining of differences and divisions
Mobility is one of the great processes transforming the world. It challenges established notions of cultural and national borders and creates new forms of participation and nonparticipation in all areas and levels of society, including everyday lives and the activities and global governance of key institutions and service systems. Borders can both divide and bring people and things together. Research is also focused on welfare policy and the readiness of functions that implement it to address cross-border contact, mobility and multiculturalism.
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