Datafication and the Welfare State: A Special Collection
Lina Dencik, School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University, UK
Anne Kaun, Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden
INTRODUCTION: Both vehemently protected and attacked in equal measure, the welfare state as an idea and as a policy agenda remains as relevant as ever. It refers not only to a program of social welfare and the provision of social services, but also to a model of the state and the economy. According to Offe (1984), the welfare state in advanced capitalist economies is a formula that consists of the explicit obligation of the state apparatus to provide assistance and support to those citizens who suffer from specific needs and risks characteristic of the market society, and it is based on a recognition of the formal role of labor unions in both collective bargaining and the formation of public policy. Although actively dismantled in recent decades as globalization and neoliberalism have taken hold of much of the modern world-system, its future continues to be fought over. It serves as a model for society that is seen to privilege a commitment to decommodification, universal access, and social solidarity as a way to overcome the most prominent contradictions of capitalism. A product of the twinned global crises of the Great Depression and the Second World War, the modern welfare state therefore encapsulates a moment of political and economic settlement, a mechanism of stabilization that arguably could emerge only out of such crises. Read more...
CONTENTS:
Datafication and the Welfare State
Lina Dencik & Anne Kaun
Algorithmic Long-Term Unemployment Risk Assessment in Use: Counselors’ Perceptions and Use Practices
Leid Zejnilović, Susana Lavado, Íñigo Martínez de Rituerto de Troya, Samantha Sim & Andrew Bell
Marta Choroszewicz & Beata Mäihäniemi
Software-Sorted Exclusion of Asylum Seekers in Norway and Finland
Funda Ustek-Spilda & Marja Alastalo
Monique Mann
Welfare State Values and Public Service Media in the Era of Datafication
Kaarina Nikunen & Jenni Hokka