CALL FOR PAPERS

Date of the conference: June 16th-18th 2005

Place: Università degli Studi di Catania, Sicilia, Italia

Venue: Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia (ex Monasterio de Benedettini), Catania, Sicilia, Italia

Organizers:

• PhoenixTN
• Università degli Studi di Catania

Persons in charge: Prof. Laurinda Abreu (Universidade de Évora) and Prof. Patrice Bourdelais (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de Paris)

Person in charge at Catania: Prof. Enrico Iachello (Università degli Studi di Catania)

Scientific committee: Prof. Laurinda Abreu, Prof. Patrice Bourdelais and Prof. Enrico Iachello

Email for all matters, except for sending in the abstracts: catania2005.secretariat@phoenixtn.net

Conference language: English
Deadline to propose the tittle of the paper: January 25th 2005 (postponed until February 25th)
Deadline for abstracts: February 25th 2005 (postponed until March 15th)
Email for abstracts: catania2005@phoenixtn.net
Selection procedures: March 2005
Definitive invitation of speakers: end of March 2005
Deadline for submission of papers: June 5th 2005
Web-Publication of all papers: July 2005

RATIONALE

This question has been addressed in every society and in each historical period, but has a new actuality when the new members of the EEC have such different welfare systems and when the very protective ones from Western Europe have to implement restrictive reforms because of the global economic competition, as well as the internal population evolution (ageing, more poor people and families linked to unemployment, integration of immigrant population) of its internal demand (in the number of sophisticated cares) and the costs of new medical techniques and investigation.

The title has to be understood in two dimensions at least:

• The cultural importance attached to protect and maintain life for individuals and human groups.
  
  
• The allocation of resources that each society in different historical contexts has organized to reach this goal.

The Foucault’s perspective on biopolitic or the more recent notion of human capital cannot be excluded even if the organizers are waiting for more empirical approaches : new results from new researches, on new materials and sources, new methods or new questions. But a good presentation of a trouble spot will also be welcome.

We invite the participants to propose any approach which can lead to a better comprehension of the dynamics of Health and welfare systems, outside Europe, in different European countries, in an historical, anthropological, social and political sciences or economic perspective.

The conference is intellectually organized around five themes...

Institutional, social and family nets : complementarity and tensions.

Anthropologists and historians have shown how societies have tried to protect their members through a large family umbrella, the organization of social private networks (religious or professional) or by some more institutionalized systems at different scales: local, regional or national. Neither the historical dynamics or tensions between the different levels or institutions (obligations of families/ local/ national public systems) are excluded, nor the competition between public systems and private insurance companies, for instance.

The construction of European modern states has sometimes lead to specific welfare systems based on paid employment and the access to a social citizenship as a consequence of the wage-earner status. But it is not the only possible basis for a welfare system and other alternative systems could be investigated, including, if possible, their results in terms of life expectancy, for example.

Collective welfare protection : condition for economic development or consequence of prosperity?

Here is a theoretical and political issue. Two thesis are confronting each other in that field:

• The traditional liberal one considers that a collective welfare system is a consequence of the economic prosperity which allows to allocate resources to help and secure people on a collective scale (and the taxes are always too high).
  
  
• A more critical thesis advocates that in a lot of circumstances the economic growth has been facilitated by an early collective protection, increasing the work force, because of a better health, and the geographical mobility risk that people accepted to take.

These two thesis have to be seen in an historical perspective, and the observation of the 16th-17th centuries Portugal (Misericórdias) and England ( Poor Laws) can give different results to those of France and Germany in the second half of the 19th century. At the end of the latter century and the beginning of the 20th century, the public systems were in charge of a large part of the costs of the paternalist policies for the enterprises, with what result? How is it possible to interpret this transfer?

All the terms of investments in social welfare have to be taken into account including the part of the donations to the churches in the past or of volunteer associations more recently: it would be useful to have precise estimations about these resources, for a town, a religious order…or, more recently, in the volunteers movement, but also in the enterprises, the cities and the national budget.

Economic, social inequalities and Health.

The correlation between the economic/social inequalities and health is well-known even if some cases about the inverse correlation between economic wealth and health may also be interesting to investigate. But the interrelation between factors implied in the result could also be presented. For example, the links between poverty, way of life, values, hope and prevention attitudes, cares to the body for instance, could be analysed deeper.

Is it possible to pinpoint the ways in which the consequences of social inequalities on health status have been reduced? For instance with comparative studies?

On the contrary, how a deterioration spiral, in social inequality terms, may develop? Some historical case studies could be proposed.

Vulnerability and welfare systems (life course perspective for instance).

Three different dimensions could be addressed here, but others will be welcome:

• Even if the vulnerability of the poorest classes in the society is always higher than for the wealthier groups, the conjuncture, the life course can be a factor of shifting in the victim group. The life course analysis can give some results about the efficiency of the family networks and collective nets in case of economic crisis or death of a father, for instance.
  
  
• But the integration is also done in the work place. Here, we could imagine an estimate of the costs in economic and social terms of unemployment, for instance. In the last twenty years, it has been the first time that, in an historical perspective, the western societies have experimented such a long period of unemployment. The consequences on the social dimension have to be appreciated.
  
  
• Europe and its way of life, values, lodging and work, is confronted with the integration of immigrants from third countries. What are the effects of these new groups on the European welfare systems? What is the representation of the whole population about immigration and social welfare? What is the role of the social sciences, of the analysis categories they propose or deny?

Consequences of the welfare system changes on Health population.

In an historical perspective it is obvious that the development of welfare systems after the Second World War has been one of the main factors of the tremendous increase of the life expectancy. Consequently, it can be imagined that a modification, in fact a decrease of allowance and benefit, in these systems can lead to less medical care, more morbidity, less ability to work and less longevity. How is this question of balance addressed?

Some contribution about the health changes where the welfare system has already changed would be useful to investigate, ”black scenario”, or, on the contrary, to show that the economic and social dynamics will solve these problems.

HOW TO PROCEED?

Please send the tittle (even provisional) of your paper before February 25th 2005 and an English-language abstract for a paper (one page-length) until March 15th 2005 to the following email address catania2005@phoenixtn.net

The abstract must contain as heading name and institution of the author, email address and postal address.

You will be informed before the end of March 2005, whether your proposal has been accepted or not. The guidelines for the preparation and submission of papers will be sent together with the message of acceptance.

Each paper giver will have 15 minutes to present it. Papers on work in progress will be presented in separate workshops with discussants. The abstracts have to be sent also for the deadline.

Different forms of publication are foreseen for the paper sessions as well as for the workshop contribution and discussion.

Participation is only guaranteed if the deadline for submission of papers is kept: June 5th 2005. For papergivers who are members of Phoenixtn travel expenses, lodging and board during the conference will be paid for. However we also encourage others to give a paper.