The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify,

for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds. John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (13 December 1935)

Peter Herrmanni

Methodological considerations for Theory of Social Policy/Social Policy Research at the Interface of Political Economy and Politics of Social Order

Schwarze Rcke, seidne Strmpfe, Weie hfliche Manschetten, Sanfte Reden, Embrassieren Ach, wenn sie nur Herzen htten! Herzen in der Brust, und Liebe, Warme Liebe in dem Herzen Ach, mich ttet ihr Gesinge Von erlognen Liebesschmerzen. Auf die Berge will ich steigen, Wo die frommen Htten stehen, Wo die Brust sich frei erschlieet, Und die freien Lfte wehen.

Auf die Berge will ich steigen, Wo die dunkeln Tannen ragen, Bche rauschen, Vgel singen, Und die stolzen Wolken jagen. Lebet wohl, ihr glatten Sle! Glatte Herren! glatte Frauen! Auf die Berge will ich steigen, Lachend auf euch niederschauen. (Heine, Heine, 1826: Die Harzreise, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24249/24249-h/24249-h.htm - Juni 2013) I. Knowledge of language is surely an issue when working in international and seemingly multi-linguistic environments even if the often subtle linguistic problems are frequently unappreciated. Some of the difficulties may be taken from a look at the terms, or one may better say concepts of the heading and the translations interface Schnittstelle pointing in the English language clearly on the centrifugal aspect whereas the German highlights the separation politics of social order Sozial- und Ordnungspolitik on the one side looking order of the social whereas we see on the other side a kind of positioning of complementarities or even a juxtaposition political economy Volkswirtschaftslehre though the two are actually not the same. There is a German Politische Oekonomie, but no English Peoples Economic Paradigm as a literary translation from the German would suggest; however, there is an English Common Wealth which is completely different from the German Gemeinwohl. All this is not just about terminology and knowledge of language but about a completely different mode of complex reflections and sentiments, each including

a different Zeitgeist which is reflected in the terms and concept, each of which had been emerging in specific historical contexts. Sure, already knowledge of language in very simple terms is often not simple at all as the little clip on different accents of the English language shows: http://twentytwowords.com/2012/05/01/a-world-tour-of-english-accents/ Leaving this later dimension of understanding aside, the before mentioned aspects require deep methodological circumspection!! And a crucial part of this circumspection is the knowledge of the concrete historical circumstances and backgrounds any term reflects: concepts underlying language, the use of words and the development of terms. II. A questionable pleasure of teaching jobs is the task of marking which is usually going hand in hand with it. I faced this dimension again recently, students actually complaining about the marks I gave them. Apparently there is at various universities an inflation of high marks. Instead of offering an upgrading as response to their complains, I presented the possibility to submit a revised version on the basis of which I would reassess the students. Some of the students came to my office in order to discuss issues of their (first) submissions. To cut a long story short, the deliberations on the marks showed the underlying problem which has also a psychological dimension. Primarily the marks as such had not been at stake. Instead, the discussion developed in two directions, one being concerned with substantial issues, the other being a matter of worrying about the marks. One may translate this: it had been a discussion that had been dealing at the end with the division between use value (as matter of developing understanding and generating knowledge ) and exchange value (the grade for which one pays via fees,1 time invested in learning rather than leisurely enjoyments etc. and the outcome that can later be exchanged on the labour market).

Especially the fact of payment of fees contributes to or even evokes the inflation of high marks.

Of course, this is usually also reflected in the methodological questions applied by students and the definition of the object of the analysis chosen as subject of their assignments. And furthermore it is always a matter of determining the subject of analysis. III. The link between the two, object and subject of analysis, is given by the ultimate link to practice. So, any question is about relations of the following dimensions. Individuals relating to themselves as Selbstbestimmung and Selbstbezug. Reflexivity frequently used in this context as English term is actually going further, considering already the reflection of the self within and in relation to a given context General social others in mutual relations the allgemeine und diffuse Sozialbeziehungen, where the mutual character does by no means imply equality of power. A side remark may enlighten us a bit: the English term relation already refers to the close link to relative: kinship. This is even stronger in Italian where we have translations and synonyms as relazione/relazioni, legame, parente/parentale etc.; whereas the French relation sees them explicitly as matter existing entre choses, personnes, pays). Class relationships and relations between social strata Klassen- und Schichtbeziehungen as specified relations, actually specifically defining the general social other, based on different criteria. Emededdness in natural environments, always being a matter of a socio- environment Umweltbeziehungen und Einbettungen. IV. Looking now at recent developments may come across as a disconnected, and it may seem to be far-fetched to draw a line between marks of students essays and the floods that afflicted large parts of Europe. The link is given by the matter of streamlining, straightening lines. It is not least about the reduction of value in terms of a simplified calculability. At the end of the day this means nothing else

than disjoining subject and object and furthermore the different inherent facets of each. In other words it is about the dissolution of totalities. V. In general, much of todays social policy research is based on two fundamental flaws/limitations. On the one hand we may find a fundamentally and principally normative approach or we may find an equally fundamentally, though not necessarily principally institutionalist approach. An example for the first is a recent speech by the Irish President, addressing the European Parliament. A lengthy quote may show his approach. - Schuman, who was aware of it, reached back to recall the early monastic perigrinatio and declared Columbanus to be the patron saint of all those who now seek to build a united Europe. - The Schuman meeting, and the others which followed it, assisted by such as Jean Monnet, was responding to near and terrible events. But we should never forget, and I emphasize it today, that in their response they recognized its immense value, and drew on, the rich scholarship, philosophy, moral instincts and generous impulses of European thought as they sought, not only to replace war with peace, but more importantly, to construct a vision of Europes people working together in an inclusive way. It was not any abstract construction. It was a practical proposal drawn from the head, propelled by the heart, and uniting economy and ethics in its aspiration. (Higgins, Michael D., 2013: Towards a European Union of the Citizens. Adress to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, Wednesday, 17th April, 2013http://www.president.ie/speeches/address-by-presidentmichael-d-higgins-towards-a-european-union-of-the-citizens-

european-parliament-strasbourg-wednesday-17th-april-2013-2/ 10/05/2013)

An example for the second though not a strictly institutionalist but more economistic approach can be taken from the Foreword of the UNCTAD Report by the Task Force on Systemic Issues and Economic Cooperation. We read: The global deleveraging that first hit the world economy in mid2007 and that accelerated in autumn 2008 could not have been possible without the rare coincidence of a number of market failures and triggers, some reflecting fundamental imbalances in the global economy and others specific to the functioning of sophisticated financial markets. Chief among these systemic factors were the full-fledged deregulation of financial markets and the increased sophistication of speculation techniques and financial engineering. Other determinants were also at play, particularly the systemic incoherence among the international trading, financial and monetary systems, not to mention the failure to reform the global financial architecture. Most recently, the emergence of new and powerful economic actors, especially from the developing countries, without the accompanying reform needed in the framework governing the world economy, accentuated that incoherence. (Report by the UNCTAD Secretariat Task Force on Systemic Issues and Economic Cooperation, Foreword: ix) The latter, however, is characterised by a fundamental tension: as much as we are focussing on structural and formalised limitations, we are also confronted with the need to go actually beyond the normative claim, looking for the underlying moments that are determining what we see. However, as such these determinants also allow developing the understanding of structures and processes.

VI. Only the mentioning of catchwords of the commonly used approaches has to do suffice here: Webers view on ideal types Marx determination of societal and social laws Foucaults specific interpretation of constructivism A Phanresian approach is surely not common or even known how could it, being here presented as inspiration taking from a series of three small childrens books I wrote (Herrmann,Peter: Phanresia. Geschichten vom Anders-Sein und von den Gegensaetzen; With Illustrations by Franziska Herrmann; Bremen: Europaeischer Literaturverlag, 2010 (2nd. Edition); Phanresias Geschichten von der Freundschaft. Ein Kinderbuch; With Illustrations by Franziska Herrmann; Bremen: Europaeischer Literaturverlag, 2010; Das Grosse Zelt; With Illustrations by Franziska Herrmann; Bremen: Europaeischer Literaturverlag, 2010; also Diary from a Journey into another World. Diaries against nationalism, inspired by trying to overcome personal resentments; with Illustrations by Kerstin Walsh Europaeischer Hochschulverlag; 2012 and different sociotainment- contributions on http://rozenbergquarterly.com). This is about the use of a fantasy as means of a creative approach not to construct reality but to use forms of different contextualisation as means of developing understanding. In actually fact it is a method of a dialectical de- and re-constructive approach. With this reference to all the various relations we have also a framework for analysing complex realities as matter of structure action process aims/objectives

 Mind, that aims and objectives are mentioned at the end. Though it is impossible to determine a final rank between the four, the reason for the sequence is that we are starting with the conditions, elevating to the refinement of aims by our action by which we start change: history (and the knowledge of it, subsequently the possible ex ante control) as active process. Still, at the end we are dealing with relationality, each of the individual moments being beginning, end and final point which is the start of a new beginning. One important challenge is for any research to carefully consider this relationality of course, in practice this can only mean referring especially to the points of disruption. And: streamlining requires not least building dams and bridges where necessary and appropriate. VII Two common matters in economics are the ceteris paribus formula and the function of production, the latter reading Y = ALK saying Production equals factor productivity multiplied by labour input defined by output elasticity multiplied by capital defined by output elasticity However, both are highly questionable, as they are actually not allowing analysing concrete realities. In order to enable us doing so, reference will usefully be made to the concept of the Mode of Production. We can definine it s follows: The method of producing the necessities of life. The Mode of Production is the unity of the productive forces and the relations of production. Production begins with the development of its determinative aspect the productive forces which, once they have reached a certain level, come into conflict with the relations of

production within which they have been developing. This leads to an inevitable change in the relations of production, since in the obsolete form they cease to be indispensable condition of the production process. In its turn, the change in the relations of production, which means the substitution of the new economic basis for the old one, leads to more less rapid change in the entire society. Therefore, the change in the Mode of Production comes about not through peoples volition, but by virtue of the correspondence between the productive relations to the character and level of development of the productive forces. Due to this, the development of society takes the form of the natural historical change of socioeconomic formations. Conflict between the productive forces and the relations of production is the economic basis of social revolution. (http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/m/o.htm 09/06/2013) The latter also and importantly and increasingly includes the question of reach and scope. This needs to be linked to capitalism, territorialisation and de-territorialisation as f which Steinberg highlights the territorial state emerged concurrent with the deterritorialization of political economy and geographical imagination (Steinberg, P. E., 2009: Sovereignty, Territory, and the Mapping of Mobility: A View from the Outside. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99[3]: 467495: here: 468). Of special interest is here a point highlighted by Alex Callinicos in his book on Imperialism and Global Political Economy (Callinicos, Alex, 2009/2010: Imperialism and Global Political Economy; Cambridge: Polity). Looking at more recent structural developments and the role of state politics in the context of geopolitical shifts, he states in his conclusion that

the simultaneous operation of both economic and geoplotical determinations introduces a dagree of indeterminancy into the formation of state policy, one that has the merit of allowing some free play to other dimensions of the social. For example, scope is allowed for ideology plainly a key topic, given the imoportance of a Wilsonian conception of a global liberal capitalist order in shaping US foreign policy over the past century. It is here also perhaps that the issues higlighted by the so-called neo-Gramscian school in international relations the effort by an actual or aspiring hegemonic power culturally and politically to integrate the ruling classses of other states might find some purchase. (ibid.: 15) The consideration of this tensional linkage between political and economic dimension is surely a complex one and has to be revisited in the light of the new moves of globalisation. Importantly we have to notice the role of space and with this the complex interrelationship between socio-economic, political and natural conditions. We can understand the different approaches towards development only against such background. Presumptions that are generally underlying the analysis of definitions of the objectives are captured by the following main approaches dealing with this issue: Growth as highlighted by Rostow as a general pattern of development, characterised by five stages; Stability, an orientation claimed by Galbraith as necessity of the day; Dcroissance, a more or less recent topic, brought forward in different ways and with different facets some milestones marking this debate are the work by the Club of Rome (since 1969), the work by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED commonly known as Brundtland commission) (since 1983) and the debates on Human Development (1990) as well as Human Security (especially 1994); the

latter are of special interest as they actually aim on reconceptualising growth; Static society as proposal brought forward by Mills for the developed society and though in a different interpretation also trailed by Keynes and expressed by pointing on higher cultural and non-material needs as the essence of life which could be taken care of after reaching a certain level of general wealth: The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems / the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion. (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/john_maynard_keynes/ - 17/06/2013) Finally, freedom can be added as orientation pursued by Hegelian and Marxian thinking and differing fundamentally from the others by referring to the aim of development and thus soci(et)al practice (output) instead of accepting a teleologically given aim which is concretised by the means of achieving them (input).2 VIII3 The following presents a kind of analytical tool that allows understanding welfare systems as complex political-economic systems. By drawing on envisaged patterns of growth (s. matrix 3) the ways of generating value (s. matrix 4) resources that are standing behind the generation of value (s. matrix 5) and finally the socio-political system and the inherent claims on sovereignty (s. matrix 6) we arrive at an analytical scheme presented in matrix 1 and actually consisting of four sub-schemes, (presented in matrix 3, matrix 4, matrix 5 and matrix 6).
2

Of course, all of these approaches do not exist in pure contradistinction. There are especially issues in the last three approaches that deserve closer debate in terms of overlaps and mutual stimulation. 3 See for the following already recent postings in the William Thompson Blog.

resource reference value generation patterns of growth

socio-political system and sovereignty

matrix 1: welfare system analytical tool Each of these schemes will only be presented without major elaboration. Important is, however, to consider in advance that the core issue around which all these dimensions evolve is control in the understanding of power which itself is understood as matter of ability to act or Handlungsfhigkeit. It is coined by different points of reference, characterised on the one hand by the object of control and on the other hand by the basic mode of production which acts as a kind of counterpoint as we know it from baroque music. A rough guide is presented in matrix 2. control of means of production control of processes of production control of products control of the distribution of products capitalist societies non-capitalist societies

matrix 2: dimensions of control Actually the following has to be treated with special caution as in the one case the term development is misleading as long as we follow the mainstream understanding of it. The answer has to be sought by differentiating between qualitative and quantitative growth. This is closely linked to the distinction made earlier, namely between use value and exchange value. Whereas the latter is closely linked to the concept of exponential growth, the first is by any means a

matter of defining the object of development in different terms, namely as practice of permanently re-balancing and equilibrising the different facets of relationality as they had been outlined in the beginning of section iii. Taken from here an implicit reference is made to set use value as ultimate goal, linking competition to enhancing the use value rather than increasing its supersession by an abstract exchange value as arithmetic unit.

autocentric development extraverted development

relative economic sustainability

competitiveness

matrix 3: Patterns of Growth Coming then to the question of the generation of value, it is first useful to remember the Marxian distinction between two departments that are constitutive for the overall structuration of economic processes, department I producing means of production, department II producing means of consumption. On other occasions I emphasised that we should especially today not forget Rosa Luxemburgs elaboration in her work on The Accumulation of Capital (Luxemburg, Rosa, 1913: The Accumulation of Capital. Translated from the German by Agnes Schwarzschild. With an Introduction of Joan Robinson; London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951). She states [w]e ought to add a further department, that of production of the means of exchange, to the other two large departments of social production [those of means of production (I) and of consumer goods

(II)]. It is, indeed, a characteristic feature of this third department that it serves neither the purposes of production nor those of consumption, (ibid.: 99) Furthermore I suggested going as step further, introducing a department IV that produces in particular though not solely by providing services the social as distincted, i.e. externalised and separated are[a] of existence. Altering Rosa Luxemburgs formulation we may say that it is, indeed, a characteristic feature of this fourth department that it serves neither the purposes of production nor those of consumption, nor does it represent social labour in an undifferentiated commodity that cannot be used. Instead it is the representation of a quasi-independent area of presentation: on the one hand as re-presentation of virtuality and on the other hand as presentation of the concealed values: whereas the early realisation and presentation had been based on status from where it moved to contract and later to the fluctuation of the marketised realisation and presentation, it seems to move from there to design of an arbitrarily designed individual. (Herrmann, Peter, 2012: Rights Developing Ownership by Linking Control over Space and Time. Writings on Philosophy and Economy of Power Vol. 2; Bremen: EHV: 49 f.) With this in mind, we can gain an understanding of the different drivers of production, presented in the following matrix 4. merely representing social labour in an undifferentiated commodity that cannot be used.

focus on productive processes rationalisation/ technicisation

consumerism4

Demand-supply-

side economics

matrix 4: Value Generation It is now necessary to look at value generation in a different perspective, namely the sources in terms of the labour process. With reference to Manuel Castells (passim) we can refer to four dimensions of invested labour, to some extent going hand in hand with the traditional sectors (primary, secondary and tertiary industries), to some extent reflecting the engagement in the different departments as they had been outlined before.

Degree to which the economic process is focussed on extended reproduction

production of raw redundant material founded in producers, reduced natural resources on devalued labour

high-value production founded high-volume production in informational based in low-cost labour labour

matrix 5: Resource Reference Finally we return to the question of the socio-political system and sovereignty. Accepting the relative independence of the political sphere, we have to highlight nevertheless its close interlocking with the economic terms of the structuration of society building. In the following matrix 6 this is expressed by reference to the key instruments of steering, namely two dimensions of monetary policy on the one hand and mechanisms of societal integration on the other hand.

competitiveness

monetary policy i.w.s. as monetary policy i.w.s. as means of social means of securing integration international sovereignty

traditionality

matrix 6: Socio-Political System and Sovereignty Another dimension of this question may be even more important in the present context of the overall conceptualisation of a theory of social policy. It is the question of an integrated approach that links the question of welfare systems to the question of different capitalist modes of accumulation rather than elaborating on this, reference is only made to other works by the present author (Herrmann, Peter, 2012: Social State, Welfare State and Then? Where to Move from the Welfare state? A Cooperative State of Sustainable Sociability as Perspective for Innovation; in: Heiskanen, Johanna/Henry, Hagen/Hytinkoski, Pekka/Kpp, Tapani (eds.): New Opportunities for Co-operatives: New Opportunities for People. Proceedings of the 2011 ICA Research Conference, 24-27 August, 2011, Mikkeli, Finland; Helsinki: University of Helsinki. Ruralia Institute, 2012: 295- 313; Herrmann, Peter, forthcoming: Poverty of the Welfare State or: Poverty: Construction De-construction and a Lost Battle). IX As an outline for social policy and the theory of social policy the following may be useful. Before capitalism but also reaching into it, actually still being a relevant in practice even today we find the early clientelist systems of support and provision, not least based on religiously motivated good-doing (though

including punishment and strict exclusion), and the mutual help of the guilds. Of course all is closely bound into systems of family and kinship relations. Capitalism, now, lacked any of such support systems or even motivations for any social support systems and was thus extremely vulnerable. Nevertheless, the lack of such a motivation is true only on the individual level. As capitalist society, this system clearly showed a need and it was this, what the capitalist state had to deliver as political system, bridging the ever-widening gap between the classes. Seemingly neutral, the aim was to maintain the hierarchy and exploitation of one class by the other. In particular five functions of social policy can be seen against this background. The standard categorisation of these main functions is grasped under the following headings protective distributive productivity societal politics re-distribution X Looking more closely at the perspectives for social policy from the earlier remarks, the first and most important point is about taking the term with caution. There is no such thing as social policy in strictu sensu, i.e. as policy academic discipline or ideology

in its own right. This is at least valid if we think about science as matter of embracing reality of essentials, not as interpretation of the phenomenology5 of current existence. This means differentiating between essence and appearance.

Mind, this is not about phenomenology as methodology.

Second, we face now the fundamental problems with social policy research as they had been outlined above, namely the normativist the stucturalist/institutionalist

cage. Both are consequences of an artificial separation of parts of the social from the social as complex relational-interactional system of (re-)production. The definition that is proposed here comes from the social quality theory. In the social quality approach the social is an outcome of the interaction between people (constituted as actors) and their constructed and natural environment. Its subject matter refers to peoples interrelated productive and reproductive relationships. In other words, the constitutive interdependency between processes of self-realisation and processes governing the formation of collective identities is a condition for the social and its progress or decline. (van der Maesen, Laurent/Walker, Alan: Social Quality and Sustainability; in: 260) Of course, such separation is not a simple mistake or expression of some kind of political voluntarism. It is in actual fact the ultimate consequence of following societal practice. As such, it links subsequently and ultimately to the capitalist mode of production and its fundamental distinction between and separation of use value and with this the institutionalist approach towards social policy and exchange value and with this the normativist approach to social policy. XI At this point we may hesitate, in particular when it comes to the second point: suggesting that norms are underlying social policy is usually understood as positive orientation, thinking about norms as matter of morality, being

fundamentally concerned with the idea of a good society, frequently referring to Aristotelian thinking in a very broad understading. However, this overlooks that Aristotelian thinking, and his understanding of a good society, had been very much grounded in a specific understanding of what economy and the (re-)production of daily life is about that the conditions of that economy do not exist anymore that Aristotelian thinking had been based in and depending on structural exclusion that the reasoning today is in objective terms (i.e. as matter of the development of the productive forces) and equally in terms of the referenced values different (linking back to the second point of this list). It is also important that capitalist value as economic category is not an entirely arithmetic category. In other words, it cannot even be reduced on being objective in such a reduced meaning. On the one hand and most fundamentally the value theory is based on the calculability of the cost price for any commodity. And it is easy to accept even by mainstream economics that also labour has to be assessed in this light. The difficulty however is to go the little but decisive step further, accepting that under certain conditions (namely the conditions of a capitalist mode of production) not labour as such is the relevant category but labour power which degenerated itself to being a commodity. In this form of generalised commodity production we find in its extreme form, i.e. that of fetishism that the social relations between their private labours appear as what they are, i.e. they not appear as direct social relations between persons in their work, but rather as material relations between persons and social relations between things. (Marx, Kapital, 1867: The Capital. Volume I) However, saying that this is the extreme form means that there is on another level always some residual social meaning involved we can easily see these when the determination of the value in particular of the labour power marks the

importance of the historical-moral element and the assertiveness of the employees in their demands for higher wages, improvement of working conditions etc. (part of it not least regulated within the framework agreements [Manteltarifvertrge]). Other factors are for instance power, including the acceptance of inequality preceding and resulting from equal exchange though the cost price is the decisive moment when it come to determining the economic value, the also relevant moments are market value (as matter of supply and demand), the character of positional goods (only indirectly a matter of cost-price) and artificially influenced comparative advantages (also a matter competitive power) in addition, there are some sub-markets that are in very particular and peculiar ways prone to non-economic determinations; two examples: (1) arts and (2) informal economy etc. a fourth factor has to be added though it is already in some ways integrated in/consequence of the previously mentioned factors: the internal dimension of economic value is only relevant as such and with this strongly depending on the actual scope of internality, or the other way round: it is not least defined by the actually achieved externalisation of costs. Also and most fundamentally the category economic value is abstract, disconnected from the real economy we saw this on an extreme level reflected in recent debates that stated a separation/juxtaposition of real and finance economy. Coming from here, the following dimensions of the socio-economic power can be captured by way of a summary: (1) Production and reproduction of daily life practice, as daily action and set of activities, is social in the sense of interaction (2) This interaction as (re-)productive relation has a social policy dimension insofar we are dealing with a process of structuration of power relations

(3) This includes furthermore the definition of needs and wants. In economic theory this had been issued in various ways, in particular by Say and the law of demand-supply-balance and the fact that every supply creates sufficient demand. It is worth while to remark, that a product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value. When the producer has put the finishing hand to his product, he is most anxious to sell it immediately, lest its value should diminish in his hands. Nor is he less anxious to dispose of the money he may get for it; for the value of money is also perishable. But th only way of getting rid of money is in the purchase of some product or other. Thus, the mere circumstance of the creation of one product immediately opens a vent for other products. (Say, Jean-Baptiste, 1880: A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth; Translated from the Fourth Edition of the French, by C. R. Prinsep, M. A. with Notes by the Translator. New American Edition. Containing a Translation of the Introduction, and Additional Notes by Clement C. Biddle, LL. D.; Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger: 1880; Internet Edition: Kitchener/Ontario: Batoche Books: 57; http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/say/treatise.pdf - 10/06/2013) Furthermore Money performs but a momentary function in this double exchange; and when the transaction is finally closed, it will always be found, that one kind of commodity has been exchanged for another. (Ibid.) means that from there the relevant demand is also defined. (4) At the same time from here the way of answering needs and demands is also defined. Two dimensions are of special relevance: the definition of responsibilities (public, private, individual, social )

the definition of socially accepted inequality which means not least to define needs and wants as public, private, individual, social XII

We arrive at the point of a separation of political issues in several regards, distinct issues, though closely linked to each other and also linked in/by contradictions. public private social individual politics polities policies social economic cultural environ- mental

general real finance consumed high living culture culture together production, consumption, distribution, exchange social provision social protection/insurance every days culture matrix 7

It is obvious that contingencies are not a matter of options in terms of depending on the situation and context, but a matter of a horizon of options that is allowed within a specific context. XIII

In conclusio, and coming back to the title: Methodological considerations for Theory of Social Policy/Social Policy Research at the Interface of Political Economy and Politics of Social Order, we may point out the following as being of particular relevance: (i) Good social policy is an economic orientation that understands the economic process as something that is genuinely about the social, i.e.

outcome of the interaction between people (constituted as actors) and their constructed and natural environment. Its subject matter refers to peoples interrelated productive and reproductive relationships. In other words, the constitutive interdependency between processes of self-realisation and processes governing the formation of collective identities is a condition for the social and its progress or decline. (van der Maesen, Laurent J.G/Walker, Alan, 2012: Social Quality and Sustainability; in: van der Maesen, Laurent J.G/Walker, Alan [eds.]: Social Quality. From Theory to Indicators; Houndsmills: Palgrave 260) Importantly, social policy is also and not least about defining objectives of production, thus has also major consequences for the understanding of what the labour market, employment and employment policies is about. We may well capture this in social quality terms as matter of societal development. (ii) In differentiated, modern societies, social policy is in particular about dealing with broken links of societal integrity. As such it is very much about repairing: compensating for losses emerging from bad economics and side effects, securing legitimacy etc. This position, referring to the consequences of modernisation, poses explicitly against Ulrich Becks position speaking of a uncompleted, halbierte modernity. In social quality terms we may speak now about the matter of institutions. NB: Here it is worthwhile to look at least briefly at the question of charismatic leadership. Of course, the meaning of charismatic leadership and it legitimacy can be denied. And in strictu sensu it does not play a role within the framework of a completely rationalised world. However, its denial is about denying the fact that even the strictly rational understanding of the world is actually still depending on a remainder of irrationalities. It is about an irrational residuum that exists in leadership as it does also exist within religion. Sure, this does not say anything in terms of the meaning and even legitimacy it is only referring to accepting a rational analysis of the irrationality of the world. Cum grano salis we

may actually apply to the political and managerial level a point that Rosa Luxemburg made in respect of the economic analysis. She contends: The workers and capitalists themselves cannot possibly realise that part of the surplus value which is the be capitalised. Therefore, the realisation of the surplus value for the purposes of accumulation is an imppossible task for a society which consists solely of workers and capitalists. (Luxemburg, Rosa, 1913: The Accumulation of Capital. Translated from the German by Agnes Schwarzschild. With an Introduction by Joan Robinsom; London: Routledge And Kegan Ltd., 1951: 350) And she concludes that accumulation requires as its prime condition that there should be starta of buyers outside capitalist society. (ibid.: 352) Translating this into a political and managerial perspective on leadership, we may say that rational approaches are important for times of stability, times during which the historical-political process determines with it specific rationality the societal movements. However, in situations of upheaval, threat and innovation some form of charismatic authority will at least have to be linked with the prevailing pre-dominantly rational structure of (to use Max Webers terminology) legitimate rule. Actually Weber had been very much aware of this ongoing residual but essential meaning of different forms of legitimate rule. (iii) Social policy should not least be understood as visionary in its orientation, dealing with pursuing non-for-profit options, use value claims etc. pp. This is not, however, about normative claims but about bringing the potentials to the fore as they are needed in the move towards a new mode of production as defined earlier. Referring another time to the social quality approach this is about the dimension of communities.

(iv) Here we may look at a final dimension of social policy as matter of permanently balancing and redefining the relationship between society and community, status and contract etc. In social quality terms, this is surely a matter of both, societal development, institutions and communities (see on the latter Herrmann, Peter, 2009: Gemeinschaft der Gesellschaft die Suche nach einem Definitionsrahmen fr Prekaritt; in: Hepp, Rolf (ed.): The Fragilisation of Socio-structural Components/Die Fragilisierung soziostruktureller Komponenten; Bremen: Europaeischer Hochschulverlag: 76-107). Here it is seen as a core issue of enabling, empowering individuals to fully participate in the overall process of societal togetherness: in all aspects and on all levels. XII We may finally have a brief look at the citizenship. The standard approach had been famously brought forward by T.H. Marshall, applying a historical perspective, proposing the development of civil rights to political rights to social rights (see Marshall, Tom H., 1950: Citizenship and Social Class; in: Citizenship and Social Class; Tom H. Marshall/Tom Bottomore; London et altera: Pluto Press, 1992: 8-17). In some way it can be said that he approaches the problem from the wrong end, putting the cart before the horse.6 Instead of starting from the production of real life of real people, he replicates the construction of people according to the development of the bourgeois state as it is suggested by the most important philosophers and theorisers in this areas as for instance Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau et altera. At the centre is the abstract market citizen whose civil rights are actually the rights of the bourgeois to engage in economic activities. A decisive example for this is the claim by John Locke for whom the ultimate civic freedom is the right of property. Of course, this means ultimately that we find with this orientation on economic property rights as fundamental civil liberty a specific interpretation of rights as relation to nature in the widest sense. Actually it is about societys relation with nature which is itself based in two dimensions:
6

This is of course a consequence that actually the rights question in bourgeois societies is standing on its head, rather than being based in the real development of societal (re-)production.

the mode of production the controllability, i.e. the social and individual power as it is not least defined by religious and ideological attitudes.

On another occasion I approached this together with Yitzhak Berman (Berman, Yitzhak/Herrmann, Peter, 2012: Systems of Law and Social Quality; in: Social & Public Policy Review; Social & Public Policy Review, 2012; 6, 1, pp. 20-39 - http://www.uppress.co.uk/socialpolicy_pdf/Berman%20herman.pdf), the following dimensions and developments: Approach to Reality Immediate appropriation of nature Approach to Law Spontaneous natural law as law of nature (environmental law) Successive division of labour Divine law Successive division of control Canon law7 Emergence of systems of communal Common law production8 Heavily exchange based economies Beginning with the Lex Duodecim and societies emphasising the Tabularum the Roman law and the importance of civicness as distinct later civil law area Prospected social quality society Global Human Rights Approach matrix 8: Recognition Reality Regulation (ibid.: 35) This cannot be elaborated at this point. Important is to find again an analytical approach that recognises the different perspectives on rights and subsequently on law not as something emerging from different moral and normative systems but the other way round localises them in the context of the development of the productive forces and the mode of production. This in the given context important in order to challenge us to rethink as well the question of the meaning of rights-based approaches, overcoming the highly individualised concept and limitations of Western jurisprudence (see in this context lecture on Social Quality: proposing

7 8

Though in a wider understanding, as law of religious bodies/institutions Though well going hand in hand with a separation of power and control, thus including feudal and especially capitalist systems

Rethinking Social Policy and Economics as Mode of Social Thinking; Shanghai 2013). XIII Accepting this challenge, a little bit of fouling the own nest is at the end most appropriate, looking at academia and a rather fundamental or structural conservative attitude towards generating knowledge and academic development, a matter that had been already a long time nicely expressed by Heinrich Heine in the already quoted Harzreise.

Hinter Weende begegneten mir der Schfer und Doris. Dieses ist nicht das idyllische Paar, wovon Gener singt, sondern es sind wohlbestallte Universittspedelle, die wachsam aufpassen mssen, da sich keine Studenten in Bovden duellieren, und da keine neuen Ideen, die noch immer einige Decennien vor Gttingen Quarantaine halten mssen, von einem spekulierenden Privatdocenten eingeschmuggelt werden. .... ... Dann und wann rollte auch Einspnner vorber, wohlbepackt mit Studenten, die fr die Ferienzeit oder auch fr immer wegreisten. In solch' einer Universittsstadt ist ein bestndiges Kommen und Abgehn, alle drei Jahre findet man dort eine neue Studentengeneration. Das ist ein ewiger Menschenstrom, wo eine Semesterwelle die andere fortdrngt, und nur die alten Professoren bleiben stehen in dieser allgemeinen Bewegung, unerschtterlich

fest, gleich den Pyramiden gyptens nur da in diesen Universittspyramiden keine Weisheit verborgen ist. (Heine)
i

Dr. phil (Bremen, Germany). Studies in Sociology (Bielefeld, Germany), Economics (Hamburg, Germany), Political Science (Leipzig, Germany) and Social Policy and Philosophy (Bremen, Germany). Since 2013 he is senior academic at the European Observatory for Social Quality which is a new research unit at EURISPES in Rome, Italy. He is also adjunct professor at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Department of Social Sciences (Kuopio, Finland), honorary associate professor at Corvinus University in Budapest, Faculty of Economics, Department of World Economy and visiting professor at University College Cork, School of Asian Studies. He had been teaching at several Third Level Institutions across the EU; currently correspondent to the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law (Munich, Germany). He holds position as for instance that of a senior advisor to the European Foundation on Social Quality (The Hague, Netherlands), member of the Advisory Board of EURISPES Instituto di Studi Politici, Economici e Sociali, Rome, member of the Scientific Board and its coordination committee of ATTAC Association pour la taxation des transactions financires pour laide aux citoyens, Associate Member of the Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting, Lomonosow Moscow State University, Russia.. He held various positions as visiting professor at different universities. He also had been research fellow at National Taiwan University, Taipei; The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia; Visiting Scholar at Orta Dogu Teknik niversitesi (ODTU), Ankara, Turkey; Visiting Scholar at the Max-Planck-Institute fr Sozialrecht und Sozialpolitik, Munich, Germany. He started his work in researching European Social Policy and in particular the role of NGOs. His main interest shifted over the last years towards developing the Social Quality Approach further, looking in particular into the meaning of economic questions and questions of law. He linked this with questions on the development of state analysis and the question of social services. On both topics he published widely. Member of several editorial boards; editor of the book series Applied Social Studies Recent Developments, International and Comparative Perspectives (New York, USA) and Studies in Comparative Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy (Bremen, Germany); peer-reviewing for several journals in the social area and book series.