Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives
Narrative stories are crucial to policy change, as they decisively contribute to how policy problems and policies are defined. While this seems to apply for social policy in particular, narrative stories have remained under-researched and not systematically compared for this area. In this article, w...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Policy & Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2019.1657607 |
| _version_ | 1811329906745802752 |
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| author | Sonja Blum Johanna Kuhlmann |
| author_facet | Sonja Blum Johanna Kuhlmann |
| author_sort | Sonja Blum |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Narrative stories are crucial to policy change, as they decisively contribute to how policy problems and policies are defined. While this seems to apply for social policy in particular, narrative stories have remained under-researched and not systematically compared for this area. In this article, we theorise on narratives in social policy by focusing on how similarities and differences between narratives in old- and new-social-risks policy reforms can be conceptualised, taking into account expansion and retrenchment. To systematically link those types of social policy reform with narrative elements, we rely on stories of control and helplessness, as well as the deservingness or undeservingness associated with different target populations. Thereby, distinct types of social policy reform narratives are identified: stories of giving-to-give, giving-to-shape, taking-to-take, taking-to-control, and taking-out-of-helplessness. The article concludes with empirical illustrations of those narrative types, which stem from the case studies presented in this Special Issue. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T15:52:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1059fc6900194a1a934d83f026dac24e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1449-4035 1839-3373 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T15:52:42Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Policy & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-1059fc6900194a1a934d83f026dac24e2022-12-22T02:40:48ZengOxford University PressPolicy & Society1449-40351839-33732019-07-0138333935510.1080/14494035.2019.16576071657607Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narrativesSonja Blum0Johanna Kuhlmann1University of HagenUniversity of BremenNarrative stories are crucial to policy change, as they decisively contribute to how policy problems and policies are defined. While this seems to apply for social policy in particular, narrative stories have remained under-researched and not systematically compared for this area. In this article, we theorise on narratives in social policy by focusing on how similarities and differences between narratives in old- and new-social-risks policy reforms can be conceptualised, taking into account expansion and retrenchment. To systematically link those types of social policy reform with narrative elements, we rely on stories of control and helplessness, as well as the deservingness or undeservingness associated with different target populations. Thereby, distinct types of social policy reform narratives are identified: stories of giving-to-give, giving-to-shape, taking-to-take, taking-to-control, and taking-out-of-helplessness. The article concludes with empirical illustrations of those narrative types, which stem from the case studies presented in this Special Issue.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2019.1657607Narrative storiestypologysocial policy reformtarget populationssocial risks |
| spellingShingle | Sonja Blum Johanna Kuhlmann Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives Policy & Society Narrative stories typology social policy reform target populations social risks |
| title | Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| title_full | Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| title_fullStr | Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| title_short | Stories of how to give or take – towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| title_sort | stories of how to give or take towards a typology of social policy reform narratives |
| topic | Narrative stories typology social policy reform target populations social risks |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2019.1657607 |
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