General objectives of the Social Policy and Social Innovation Stream

In this policy stream, students are engaged in the study of today's most significant societal challenges, at the intersection between welfare systems, demographic shifts, globalization dynamics and the increasing social equity concerns in pensions, employment, income, health and well-being. Students acquire multidisciplinary knowledge required in analyzing and designing social policy through core courses that take into account the diversity of actors involved in policy making and the innovative social processes underlying contemporary societal change. They will also learn the main practical skills to manage social policy reforms. This policy stream provides students with the skills to analyze and understand social policies from a comparative perspective, even if their professional goals are focused on working in France.

Specific Courses of the Social Policy and Social Innovation Stream

Our policy stream courses, dedicated to Social Policy and Social Innovation students, follow a carefully designed pedagogical program:

- First semester : Comparative Welfare States, their Reforms and Futures: that will explain and discuss several methodological debates via a cross-national comparison of welfare systems. Global Inequality and Sustainability: that will equip them with the necessary conceptual, analytical and empirical knowledge on global economic inequality and on its interactions with environmental sustainability

- In the second semester, students will be able to choose two courses from three subjects based on three of the pillars of the welfare state.

1/ Economics of Health and Care - Insights from the French System and Beyond : This course introduces students to the diversity of health care systems around the world and explains how they operate. It then reviews the main mechanisms that characterize health economics, including moral hazard, induced demand, and the notion of health care as a superior good. The course adopts a comparative approach and is not limited to the French context.

2/ Population Ageing and Pensions : This course provides a comparative analysis of pension systems across OECD countries and beyond.

3/ Labor market inequality, discrimination, and public policies : The class documents long-run wage and income gaps between groups and provides tools to measure discrimination in the labour market. It offers an understanding of some non-policy factors behind these long-run trends. This course also studies the role of policy and institutions in shaping gender and racial inequality

- During the third semester, students will have the opportunity to specialize in thematic social policy by choosing two of three courses addressing key issues, including gender policies, disability policies, and demographic and population-related policies.

Students will also have the choice, through elective couses, to focus on a thematic orientation related to social innovation, education policy, migration, gender or inequality; or to take on a research or professional perspective through courses led by researchers and practitioners.

Course Programme of the Social Policy and Social Innovation Stream

Career opportunities after the Social Policy and Social Innovation Stream

Graduates from this policy stream are well-positioned to pursue careers related to public service at the local, national and international levels in a diversity of fields such as education, employment, development and social protection. Graduates might consider a range of careers, including but not limited to, work in various international or non-profit organizations engaged in development, migration, global inequality, and for-profit organizations engaged in social policy and social change.

Scientific Advisor of the social Policy and social innovation stream

Bruno Palier, expert in welfare reforms in France and in Europe, CNRS Research Director at Sciences Po, Centre d'études européennes. 
Trained in social science, he has a PHD in Political science, and is a former student of Ecole Normale Supérieure. He is studying welfare reforms in Europe. He is a member of LIEPP (Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies).

Contact

• Academic advisor: Emelyne Grellety
• Academic assistant: socialpolicy.eap@sciencespo.fr