Categoria: works, projects, publications

Looking Back – Looking Forward: Responsibilty

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, social quality, works, projects, publications

It is so easy: Talking about Human Rights as matter of charity and good will and virtues. And it is so difficult: of course we find this blunt, brutal violation: open for everybody. And of course we have to everything we can against the killing of women for religious reasons, religious fundamentalism (which, by the way “we” enlightened people of the west, can easily see as serious issue when we look at them, though we are easily overlooking when it comes to religiously motivated  violation in the christian traditions in every days life).

Some real issues are then easily left out – and can easily be seen not only here but also here – just mentioning two examples: Not just the gap between rich and the poor – but especially the fact that this growing is not least consequence of the rich gaining on the back of the poor. Just one of the interesting facts that had been mentioned during the one of the sessions of the conference that took place over the last days: tax evasion as one of the causes – and it is so easy. Another issue which cannot be easily issued is the fact that the mode of production is limited not least by its orientation on commodity production which is systematically, structurally fading out issues of producing the social as equity oriented system.

Of course, it is a complex issue – and I hope that I can make at least some contribution to the debate. It had been part of the work I undertook in Ankara and Moscow over the last month and will be part of the work which is planned for the next month – it is on the way under the title

Social Policy – Production rather than Distribution. A Rights-Based  Approach.

The final publication of this publication will hopefully be announced some time at the end of the year, proposing the need for a fundamental change of  the social policy debate. It is also meant to lay the ground for a shift in the social quality debate and its orientation on sustainability.

Indeed, human rights are about economics and the responsibility of the rich countries. – Surely something to be further discussed during the next days in Esslingen,where we will be working during the XVth International INKRIT-workshop on the Historical-Critical Dictionary on Marxism.

A short PS: on the positive, not to say delighting side: though not dominant in the published debate, sessions on such critical issues had been well attended.

On another positive side: the forum I attended and I mentioned in earlier posts took actually place in the building which in earlier years hosted the German parliament. It is now an international conference centre. Other buildings, formerly hosting parts of the German government, are now accommodating offices of the United Nations. Some shifts, at least ….

Done – And Hopefully Not Dusted

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in works, projects, publications

And perhaps even raise some dust.

Finally the new publication on social services is available:

Herrmann, Peter

The End of Social Services?

Economisation and Managerialism

Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy, Vol. XIII

The volume provides a critical contribution, looking at the development of social and health services. Though discussing also contemporary issues, the focus is a more fundamental critique, dismantling the ideological questions behind these developments. As such, the profound analysis links well into the context of the critique of capitalism and modernisation. On the other had this is links into some important issues that are commonly forgotten. Talking about the need of general interest is in the political perspective and the defence of social services surely important. However, the elaboration of the argument in the present volume also shows that that engaging in such dispute easily end in a trap: strong contradictions do actually not allow presuming anything like a general interest. The society we are living in is characterised by the ‘general interest’ of profitability, efficiency, managability and the like. And importantly all this is only understood in a short term perspective. As much as the text argues indirectly against methodological individualism, it presents in a first step an argument against methodological contemporariness, the limitation of the current system by the reduction of criteria for defining and assessing social services as matter of short term benefits rather than a commitment to an understanding of complex sustainable social quality.

In addition, one contribution looks in particular at the development of human resources in the UK and in another contribution an analysis of empirical data is provided ­ it looks at the perspective from EU-NGOs active in the sector of social service provision. The book concludes with a contribution compiled by an informal network of various EU-NGOs, looking in an exemplary way at difficulties faced by the recent developments of marketisation and liberalisation.

Is the actual question about getting the right indicators?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in social quality, works, projects, publications

I got the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on initiatives of “Going Beyond GDP”, looking for indicators that are not narrow-minded and stubborn in insisting that economic growth is a way of answering today’s challenges. Actually there are already since the 1960s/1970s searches and proposals for alternatives, not least known under the tilte Social Indicators.

In an article for the International Journal of Social Quality, titled Social Quality – Moving Forward I claim that

the following debate has to look also at the wider developments in the field of indicator research, since recently (again) claiming the need for acting as alternative to traditional GDP-oriented measurement of societal development. The major stance of the present argument is that indicators are not measurement instruments but instruments for developing an understanding of complex issues and their trends. Second, this requires to elaborate within the social quality approach more the interaction and relation between conditional, constitutional and normative factors. The central moment is the need to draw attention on ontological relationality – this is the third ambition of the article and it is in particular linked with a fourth moment, namely the plea for taking economics seriously within social quality thinking.

Road Works – Highway-Building

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in works, projects, publications

Ananta Kumar Giri from the Madras Institute of Development Studies in India offered me sometime ago an exciting opportunity, inviting me to contribute to the book he is editing:

Pathways of Creative Research: Towards a Festival of Dialogues.

Taking this invitation as opportunity to think about where we – as researchers – want and have to go encouraged me to go beyond usual modesty of usual subordination under the rules of the game, looking for the small paths and alleyways with the thorny shrubs we automatically path while we try to durchwinden

My point in the contribution, titled

Research as Searching for Nescience

We have to look for the underlying soci(et)al developments and structures: socio-political control, political practice and (social) science apparently lost their sound reference to the actuality of the  social. And this means as well, that they lost any foundation on which creativity can be based. This means that control emerges as more or less oppressive power, political practice moves towards short-term oriented executism and science develops as utilitarian instrumentalism. Thus the search for pathways towards creative research has to concern itself with looking for wide roads rather than just pathways, if it is right to understand the latter as narrow openings. Nevertheless, these wide roads, possible new highways will have to be pathways as we are not seeking to simply replace the existing approaches. Instead the aim has to be to weave a new network of access routes that can serve as facilitator of new research and cognisance.

I look forward to the finished product – and further engagement with the other contributors from all over the globe.

Challenges and Possibilities

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, general, works, projects, publications

There are approximately 40 million Kurdish people inhabiting Kurdistan. In addition, there are several millions Kurds living abroad, mainly in Europe and North America,

but other parts of the world, as well. Since World War I, the Kurdish people have been forced to migrate due to the lack of freedom and discrimination imposed by the countries occupying the area.

For decades the Kurdish people have struggled for recognition of their basic human rights, and now for the first time are drawing international attention to their cause with the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the continuous tension in northern Kurdistan and a new approach to bring relevant issues to light. These factors and the recent waves of changes in the Middle East and North Africa have created a source of inspiration to strengthen and harmonize the Kurdish efforts for the future of Kurdistan.

This is taken from the website of the World Kurdish Congress.

This “Kurdish question” is several respects employing me for a very long time already – though only occurring as a kind of background noise, but not in Luhmann’s understanding but though in the background it is very loud and very clear. And it has for me different dimensions, changing over time: simply the “old solidarity” but as well the challenges, many challenges linked espcially to the unknown. The role of religion(s), the roleof economic development which is in this case very much about a twofold or multiple peripherialisation, the question of human rights of course and also the role of the international influence: developmental politics and its too often oppressive character.

And still, it is shocking how little is known. Though I personally surely would loke to know more that I actually do, I probably have to accept the simple insight: the brain is smaller than the world. But I am glad to be able to support at least the initiative to enhance research and to join The Supportive Committee of World Kurdish Congress (WKC) the Establishment of the World Kurdish Congress (WKC)

Without ambitions to develop sound overall expertise I look forward to the debates during the first congress, planned for October in Amsterdam.

Support versus Disciplining – Disciplining through Support

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, works, projects, publications

On the occasion of my recent visit in Warsaw were I attended a conference on which the translation of one of my books had been launched I had been after my presentation asked by Jan Smoleński from Krytyka Polityczna (Political Critique), an organisation of the Polish left if I would be available for an interview. Dealing with a critique of current developments and looking for the fundamental politial-economic shifts in particular in the EU-member states over the last decade(s), the interview is now available on the website of the organisation.

Social Pedagogy for the Entire Lifespan, Volume I

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in social quality, works, projects, publications

Now available is a new publication which may revive an old and never ended debate:

Jacob Kornbeck / Niels Rosendal Jensen (Eds.): Social Pedagogy for the Entire Lifespan. Volume I.

Es editor of the series Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy I am glad to make this announcement. The book is published with Europäischer Hochschulverlag in Bremen. My personal of working internationally in the area of social professional activities convinces me of the importance to develop an unprejudiced discussion. I hope my own contribution in the volume, titled

The Lifespan Perspective in Comparative Social Policy Research: a Critique of Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s Model of Three Welfare States and its Implications for European Comparisons in Social Pedagogy

will give some useful perspective, not least aiming on developing a more political perspective as framework and questioning Esping-Andersen’s position which I find (to say the least) rather limited in its ongoing repetition of a perspective that maintains to fail to provide an understanding of the welfare state, just by reproducing the cage of traditional ‘welfare capitalism’. With this he falls short in developing a truly historical perspective, repeating the pitfalls of affirmative policy orientations of social science in general and social policy in particular.

Visit for further details the website of the series Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy. The book can also be ordered in the usual ways, including of course your local bookshops and Amazon.

Managerialism

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in social quality, works, projects, publications

Managerialism is often seen as distinct “political form” of steering, formalist and led by technocrats, still on this ground serving specific interests: on the one hand seen as matter of “bad governance”, ignoring higher political virtues and based on individual greed; on the one hand as pure “administrative violence” to engineer neoliberakl interest.

During today’s presentation during the second Globalistics congress in Moscow I presented a different view, highlighting the importance to base the debate on the development of modes of production and accumulation regimes. In this perspective e may distinguish in particular four management approaches:

  • a complex “political” management approach close to and part of production (for instance in the Aristotelean understanding)
  • a “technicist” management approach close to and part of production (for instance in the form of Taylorism)
  • a complex “political” management outside of production (for instance in the form of welfare states etc.)
  • a “technicist” management approach outside of production (for instance in the form bureaucratisation)

Considerations are surely only at an early stage. But following from here it will also be possible to develop the Social Quality Approach further, linking it closer to questions of the economic system.

The publication of a version of the presentation will be hopefully announced soon.

Social Quality – Sustainability

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in social quality, works, projects, publications

I took the opportunity to emphasise in today’s presentation at the All-Russian-Centre of Living Standard the dimension of sustainability as an important aspect that has to be increasingly looked at in the work on Social Quality.

The  third book of the European Foundation on Social Quality which is now near to be send for publication to Macmillan elaborates also on this topic. But it is most important to take an approach that goes fundamentally beyond “adding an environmental perspective”. The real challenge is to bring people back into a true relationality, being part of nature.

Still, this is by no means a really a new approach. It can draw very much from the original work by Karl Marx. According to recent works – part of it will be further elaborated during the upcoming Globalistics-conference middle/end of the week – there are two issues requiring more attention:

  1. the fundamental separation between human beings and nature, which emerged from utilitarianism and classical economic thinking. Although nature and human beings cannot be separated from each other – and are developing an increasingly closer dependency – the classical and utilitarian ideology, as wrong consciousness, is suggesting and enforcing such split
  2. the dislocation of management, which is reduced on a technical dimension rather than being seen as integral part of a complex process of production, encompassing manufacturing, distribution, consumption and exchange as dimensions of production as developed in Marx’ Grundrisse, in particular in the introduction which looks at Production in General.

The visit at the Centre can be seen as first step of a close future cooperation.

Worthwhile reading – History of social work canon

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in general, works, projects, publications

One of the messages conveyed during the ENSACT conference on Sustainable social development is that innovation is not always only connected to the future. We should also be learning from our past, both from successes and from failures. The international version of the History of Social Work Canon allows users to look back and learn from a timeline/website on the history of social work. This initiative was launched in 2010 following the success of the Dutch-language equivalents for the Netherlands and Flanders. The website is free for users, and always will be. The costs associated with developing the website and writing/editing the contents are carried by a number of public shareholders. They have an interest in making this information available to the global community of social work.

The first draft version of this website can be found at http://www.historyofsocialwork.org There are currently 20 icons available, but the full version will contain 50 icons. Suggestions on what to add to the current icons or which icons to add are welcome. The Flemish ministry of welfare and the Dutch ministry of welfare provided the initial budget to kick-start this website. The current version is the result of this support. Organisations interested in providing support for the further development of this initiative are welcomed to contact the initiators.

jan@steyaert.org

from: Newsletter of ICSW European Region; March & April 2011