Disputing the economization and the de-politicization of ‘social’ investment in global social policy

Abstract

This chapter highlights the question and limits of neoliberalism. It analyzes the ‘social’ investment (SI) perspective (focused on human capital formation) taking hold in global social policy discourses and the policy proposals advocated by international institutions like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as regional actors like the EU and the European Commission (EC) and UN Regional Commissions like the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). With this growing worldwide development, they also sense the growing economization and de-politicization of the social. The chapter first reviews the problems with the SI perspective before introducing the capability approach. It then describes social policy as an essential precondition for an effective democracy, and investigates the implications of treating welfare reform itself as a political–democratic matter. The chapter aims to highlight the differences of this conception with the SI perspective on social policy.