Soc 246: The Welfare State (2025)

University of California-San Diego
Spring 2024-25
W 9:00-11:50, SSB 414

Lane Kenworthy
Office hours: https://ucsd.zoom.us/my/lanekenworthy, Tu 12:30-2:30 and by appointment
Email: lkenworthy@ucsd.edu
Tel: 858-860-6124

This course will examine social policy in rich longstanding-democratic countries, with an emphasis on possibilities for coupling a big welfare state with large-scale immigration.

SCHEDULE

Week 1
April 2
Introduction
Class in week 1 is via zoom: https://ucsd.zoom.us/my/lanekenworthy. Class will meet in person in weeks 2-10.

  • Kenworthy, Lane. “Life in the Good Society.” The Good Society.
  • Kenworthy, Lane. “Social Democratic Capitalism.” The Good Society.
  • Kenworthy, Lane. “Social Programs.” The Good Society.
  • Kenworthy, Lane. “Public Insurance and the Least Well-Off.” The Good Society.
  • Kenworthy, Lane. “What America Needs.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “A Decent and Rising Income Floor.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Health Care.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “How Much Public Insurance Do Americans Want?” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “How to Ensure Rising Incomes When Labor Unions Are Weak.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Is Big Government Bad for the Economy?” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Is Big Government Bad for Freedom, Civil Society, and Happiness?” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Taxes.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane and Joel Rogers. 2023 (draft). The Metrosapien Promise. Excerpt on cities and housing.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Toward the Good Society: An American Path.” The Good Society.
  • Optional: Kenworthy, Lane. “Will the Nordic Model Work in Non-Nordic Countries?” The Good Society.

Week 2
April 9
Comparative welfare states

  • Marchal, Sarah and Ive Marx. 2024. Zero-Poverty Society: Ensuring a Decent Income for All. Oxford University Press.
  • Optional: Hemerijck, Anton, ed. 2017. The Uses of Social Investment. Oxford University Press.
  • Optional: Béland, Daniel, Stephan Liebfried, Kimberly J. Morgan, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson, eds. 2021. Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.
  • Optional: Diamantopoulou, Anna, Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak, Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Elena Granaglia, Anton Hemerijck, Hans-Peter Klös, Catherine Mathieu, Pasi Moisio, Jozef Pacolet, Yves Stevens, Dorottya Szikra, and Anu Toots. 2023. The Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State. European Commission, Social Protection Unit.
  • Optional: Ronchi, Stefano. 2023. “Boosting Work Through Welfare? Individual-Level Employment Outcomes of Social Investment Across European Welfare States Through the Great Recession.” Socio-Economic Review 21, 2167-2189.

Week 3
April 16
The US welfare state

  • Sykes, Jennifer, Katrin Križ, Kathryn Edin, and Sarah Halpern-Meekin. 2015. “Dignity and Dreams: What the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Means to Low-Income Families.” American Sociological Review 80, 243-267.
  • Parolin, Zachary, Matthew Desmond, and Christopher Wimer. 2023. “Inequality Below the Poverty Line since 1967: The Role of the U.S. Welfare State.” American Sociological Review 88, 782-809.
  • Optional: Jencks, Christopher. 1992. Rethinking Social Policy. Harvard University Press.
  • Optional: Edin, Kathryn J. and Luke K. Shaefer. 2015. 2.00 Dollars a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. Houghton Mifflin.

Week 4
April 23
The case for allowing (much) more immigration

  • Caplan, Bryan and Zach Weinersmith. 2019. Open Borders. First Second.

Week 5
April 30
The progressive’s dilemma

  • Alesina, Alberto, Armando Miano, and Stefanie Stantcheva. 2023. “Immigration and Redistribution.” Review of Economic Studies 90, 1-39.
  • Yakter, Alon. 2018. “The Heterogeneous Effect of Diversity: Ascriptive Identities, Class, and Redistribution in Developed Democracies.” European Journal of Political Research 58, 820-844.
  • Optional: Polakow-Suransky, Sasha. 2017. Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy. PublicAffairs.
  • Optional: Careja, Romana and Eloisa Harris. 2022. “Thirty Years of Welfare Chauvinism Research: Findings and Challenges.” Journal of European Social Policy.
  • Optional: Marble, William and Junghyun Lim. 2023. “Migration, Social Ties, and Political Preferences.”
  • Optional: Ehrenreich, Michael. 2024. “How Denmark Keeps the Far Right at Bay.” Project Syndicate, June 13.
  • Optional: Kovats, Eszter. 2024. ‘What Austria’s Election Teaches Us About the Far Right’s Rise and Migration Fears.” Social Europe, October 14.
  • Optional: Stevis-Gridneff, Matina. 2024. “One of the World’s Most Immigrant-Friendly Countries Is Changing Course.” New York Times, October 12.
  • Optional: Leonhardt, David. 2025. “In an Age of Right-Wing Populism, Why Are Denmark’s Liberals Winning?” New York Times, February 24.
  • Optional: Polgreen, Lydia. 2025. “Sweden Has a Big Problem.” New York Times, March 28.

Empirical analysis proposal #1 due week 6: Wednesday, May 7

Week 6
May 7
Is there really a dilemma?

  • Brady, David and Ryan Finnigan. 2014. “Does Immigration Undermine Public Support for Social Policy?” American Sociological Review 79, 17-42.
  • Burgoon, Brian and Matthijs Rooduijn. 2021. “‘Immigrationization’ of Welfare Politics? Anti-Immigration and Welfare Attitudes in Context.” West European Politics 44, 177-203.
  • Optional: Holtug, Nils. 2021. “Immigration and the Progressive’s Dilemma.” In The Politics of Social Cohesion: Immigration, Community, and Justice, Oxford University Press, 125-156.
  • Optional: Crepaz, Markus M.L., ed. 2022. Handbook on Migration and Welfare. Edward Elgar.
  • Optional: Bartels, Larry M. 2023. Democracy Erodes from the Top: Leaders, Citizens, and the Challenge of Populism in Europe. Princeton University Press.

Week 7
May 14
Will the shrinking of the traditional working class solve the dilemma?

  • Harris, Eloisa and Matthias Enggist. 2024. “The Micro-foundations of Social Democratic Welfare Chauvinism and Inclusion: Class Demand and Policy Reforms in Western Europe, 1980−2018.” European Political Science Review 16, 413-430.
  • Velasquez, Paolo and Maureen A. Eger. 2022. “Does Higher Education Have Liberalizing or Inoculating Effects? A Panel Study of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Before, During, and After the European Migration Crisis.” European Sociological Review 38, 605-628.

Week 8
May 21
Can using public services instead of cash transfers alleviate the backlash?

  • Eick, Gianna Maria and Christian Albrekt Larsen. 2022. “Welfare Chauvinism Across Benefits and Services.” Journal of European Social Policy 32, 19-32.
  • Bonoli, Giuliano, Juliana Chueri, and Mia K. Gandenberger. 2024. “Welfare Solidarity in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Can Social Investment Reduce the Anti-Immigrant Bias?” Policy and Politics 52, 156-176.

Empirical analysis proposal #2 due week 9: Wednesday, May 28

Week 9
May 28
Is the real obstacle crime and disorder?

  • Sofocleous, Panayiotis. 2025. The Change in Sweden’s Immigration and Integration Policy after 2015. PhD dissertation, University of California-San Diego, Department of Sociology.
  • Optional: Traub, James. 2016. “The Death of the Most Generous Nation on Earth.” Foreign Policy, February 10.

Week 10
June 4
Supra-national social policy as a solution?

  • Levitt, Peggy, Erica Dobbs, Ken Chih-Yan Sun, and Ruxandra Paul. 2023. Transnational Social Protection. Oxford University Press.

Empirical analysis proposal #3 due week 11: Wednesday, June 11

COURSE MATERIALS AND REQUIREMENTS

Readings. The required readings are available via the course Canvas page. They should be done before class (except week 1).

Class participation. I expect you to participate actively in class each week. There are lots of ways to do this: ask questions, comment, critique, explain, think out loud.

Presentation. Each student will make one in-class presentation during the quarter, on the readings for a given week. Use the standard conference presentation as your model: about 20 minutes, with slides. Don’t merely summarize the reading(s). Tell us how they speak to the questions addressed in the course, what limitations they have, and how they could have done better.

Three empirical analysis proposals. Identify a research question in one or more of the readings and suggest an empirical analysis that might shed light on the question. (You may propose more than one analysis if you wish, but don’t spread yourself too thin.) Explain how your proposal would help to answer the question. Be specific and detailed about data and methods. Avoid lengthy introductions and meandering summaries of the reading(s). You will write three of these proposals. The due dates are listed above. Word maximum: 1,500. If you need more words, put them in an appendix and/or footnotes. Formatting: single-space with 2-inch side margins. Upload your proposals to the Canvas course page.

Grading. Class participation 25%, presentation 25%, empirical analysis proposals 50%.