The constellation of state institutions, which in industrial and post-industrial societies are oriented towards social security and arrange the provision of social services, is described as the “welfare state” (Esping-Andersen 1999). Since the 1990s, the welfare states have found themselves in a state of considerable change, which in part has also encompassed the cultural foundations of the welfare state policies (Bonoli 2003; Pierson 2001; Pfau-Effinger 2005a, b; Walker 2008). Supranational policies, in particular those of the EU, as well as international discourse have contributed to this change. However, the change affects the various institutions of welfare states and their cultural foundations in quite different ways (Oorschot/Opielka/Pfau-Effinger 2008; Meyer/Pfau-Effinger 2006).
In this regard, the direction that the change in welfare state policies takes is in part controversial. Some authors support the assumption that as a consequence of policies of supranational organisations and discourses in which neoliberal values are central, welfare states are increasingly converging with the “liberal” type of welfare regimes (following Esping-Anderson 1990, 1999) and are sharing their premises according to which the state limits the market mechanisms as little as possible (Sinfield 2005; Walker 2005). Other authors argue rather that the different types of welfare regimes each develop on the basis of their regime-specific principles (Pierson 2001; Bonoli 2003).
The aim of this Research Area is to examine the change in institutional constellations that are formed by various welfare state policies. A particular focus is on the strengthening of economic principles in welfare state policies. Also, we analyse change in welfare culture in the context of relatively new European and global discourses. Moreover, we analyse change in social governance and the impact of global social governance at the level of national and local welfare systems. The concern is also with the implications and consequences of such change in relation to social inequality, gender inequality, life course norms and social cohesion. The research is in most cases based on an international comparative perspective.
The main fields of research in Research Area 2
(1) Reforming welfare states in an era of globalisation,
(2) Change in the institutional construction of ’social citizenship’,
(3) The global ‘travelling’ of social governance and welfare culture,  
(4) Consequences for instituted life courses, social inequality, social cohesion and participation.