2023 Sidney Ball Memorial Lecture: 'Inclusion or Segmentation - The Politics of Welfare Reform in 21st Century Western Europe’

Western European welfare states are facing three key social and economic challenges in the 21st century: the rise of the knowledge economy, demographic ageing, and the massive political polarisation over questions of immigration and integration.

How can these challenges be addressed with the tools of social policy? How much resource can and should be spent on correcting market outcomes and equalising incomes? Should the welfare state honour its promise of providing encompassing social security by shielding citizens from the risks and challenges of the early 21st century, or by helping them adapt to these new realities, and by expanding the pool of solidarity to new risk groups? The answers different citizens and political parties in Europe give to these questions differ dramatically.

Please join Oxford University's Department of Social Policy and Intervention for the 2023 Sidney Ball Memorial Lecture as guest speaker, Professor Silja Häusermann (University of Zurich), discusses this topic in depth in her lecture titled, 'Inclusion or Segmentation - The Politics of Welfare Reform in 21st Century Western Europe’.

The lecture is based on Professor Häusermann's forthcoming book which studies political conflict over the provision of public welfare in the early 21st century, identifying structural and coalitional opportunities for reform across policy fields and regional contexts.

Silja Häusermann is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of Zurich. Her research is in comparative politics, comparative political economy and behaviour, with specialisms in socio-structural change, electoral and party system change, and their impact on distributive policies, as well as the transformation of welfare state in advanced post-industrial democracies.

The event will be held in-person at St John's College, Oxford.

The annual Sidney Ball Memorial lecture was instituted by Barnett House and named in 1920 after the first chairman of the Barnett House Committee, Sidney Ball. The event brings a distinguished speaker to Oxford every autumn to discuss key themes in social policy and intervention and it continues to be a highlight of the department’s calendar.

The lecture will take place in the Garden Quad Auditorium from 5pm-6pm, with an opportunity for connecting afterwards at a drinks reception from 6pm-7pm.

Please allow 10+ mins to reach the auditorium from the Porter's Lodge prior to the start of the lecture.

Find out more about Oxford's Department of Social Policy and Intervention on our webpages: Home | Department of Social Policy and Intervention (ox.ac.uk)