Overview
The neoliberal transformation of welfare state institutions has intensified social inequalities, raising questions of social justice across European varieties of capitalism. In Germany, this transformation occurred with Third Way social democracy and the consequent Hartz reforms. After ten years of reducing unemployment, this 'Hartz Regime' is now cited as a model for reforming other European political economies. Despite this apparent success, it has also received criticism for exacerbating the social injustices of neoliberal capitalism, ultimately leading to the question: how do we know if the German Hartz Regime is socially just? Drawing on the Frankfurt School of critical theory, this study demonstrates not only how to develop a theory of social justice for empirically studying labour market institutions, but also illustrates it through an extensive study of the German case. The result is both unsurprising and reinforces classical social democratic concerns: not only the Hartz Regime, but capitalism itself, is inherently unjust. By accepting this previously recognised conclusion, the book provides a critical framework for the normative evaluation of empirical institutions, effective for studying the varieties of social (in)justice in contemporary capitalism beyond Germany.
Full Product Details
Author: Douglas Voigt, King’s College London
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield International
Dimensions:
Width: 15.90cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.522kg
ISBN: 9781786613523
ISBN 10: 1786613522
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 11 October 2019
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
Ambitious conceptually, innovative methodologically, and compelling empirically, Douglas Voigt's book is a must-read for anybody interested in the normative commitments inherent to both welfare/workfare regimes and welfare/workfare scholarship. Voigt delivers a convincing critique of the social investment paradigm in scholarly and 'real world' terms, forcing us to think anew about what we mean by 'social justice' and why that matters. -- Ian Bruff, Lecturer in European Politics, University of Manchester
Ambitious conceptually, innovative methodologically, and compelling empirically, Douglas Voigt's book is a must-read for anybody interested in the normative commitments inherent to both welfare/workfare regimes and welfare/workfare scholarship. Voigt delivers a convincing critique of the social investment paradigm in scholarly and 'real world' terms, forcing us to think anew about what we mean by 'social justice' and why that matters. -- Ian Bruff, Lecturer in European Politics, University of Manchester Though 'critical' is increasingly en vogue as an ornamental prefix, there are few successful attempts to draw on the Frankfurt School in empirical political economy. Voigt's book is a brilliant exception. As such it is so much more than 'just' a normative analysis of the German labor market. It is a path-breaking methodological contribution to the general field. -- Magnus Ryner, Professor of International Political Economy, King's College London Social Justice and the German Labour Market is a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on fair and just work and how the Hartz IV reforms break with the idea of institutions reflecting our fundamentally universal being. This book is a stark reminder that it takes much more to achieve social justice in modern society than hitting 'performance targets' and simple labour market measures. -- Florian Ranft, Policy Fellow, Das Progressive Zentrum, Germany
Author Information
Douglas Voigt is currently an affiliated postdoctoral researcher at King’s College London and an Associate Fellow at the Post-Growth Societies College at Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany.
