Social Policy: Special Topics A (SOCI90020)

Special Topic: Rethinking Social Welfare

This subject surveys theories of what it means to be ‘at the margins’ and their uses in critically understanding contemporary social welfare regimes. The subject’s focus includes examining how the Australian social security system has shifted from the principles of ‘fair and reasonable’ economic support to increasingly conditional and punitive practices of ‘protecting’ communities. The subject locates this shift as part of broader socio-political processes of both representation and repression: from the role of the media in perpetuating stigma and dehumanisation to the settler-colonial logics that can operate within social support programs. As part of understanding forms of marginality and their interplays with the concrete practices of social welfare, students are invited to interrogate the intersections of age, class, dis/ability, gender, sexuality, and race. In addition to its critical momentums, students will speculate on the (im)possibilities of improving social welfare for marginalised communities through proposals like a universal basic income.