Gøsta Esping-Andersen
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gøsta Esping-Andersen (; born 24 November 1947) is a Danish sociologist whose primary focus has been on the
welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
and its place in capitalist economies.
Jacob Hacker Jacob Stewart Hacker (born 1971) is an American professor and political scientist. He is the director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and a professor of political science at Yale University. Hacker has written works on social poli ...
describes him as the "dean of welfare state scholars." Over the past decade his research has moved towards family demographic issues. A synthesis of his work was published as ''Families in the 21st Century'' (Stockholm, SNS, 2016). Esping-Anderson is a pioneer of power resource theory.


Academic career

Esping-Andersen completed his doctoral studies at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
, writing a dissertation under the supervision of Gerald Marwell. While at Madison, Esping-Andersen also studied with
Erik Olin Wright Erik Olin Wright (February 9, 1947 – January 23, 2019) was an American analytical Marxist sociologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in social stratification and in egalitarian alternative futures to capitalism. He w ...
and Aage B. Sørensen, as well as Maurice Zeitlin, who mentored Esping-Andersen until his departure from the University of Wisconsin in 1977. Esping-Andersen is
professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at
Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...
in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
(
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
), and member of the Scientific Committee of the Juan March Institute and of the Board of Trustees and the Scientific Council at the
IMDEA IMDEA () is a project founded by the Madrid Regional Government, included in the ''IV Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation 2005-2008 (PRICIT)'', for the purpose of setting up advanced research centers and higher educat ...
Social Sciences Institute, both in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
(
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
). He is a member of the American Academy of Social Sciences and the British Academy. He was awarded an honoris doctor causa from the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
in 2012. He is now a research professor at
Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...
in Milan.


Major works

His most influential and highly cited book titled '' The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism'' was published in 1990 and laid out three main types of
welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
s, in which modern developed capitalist nations cluster: *Liberal *Corporatist-Statist *Social Democratic The traditional examples of the three types of welfare states are the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
(liberal),
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(corporatist-statist) and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
(social democratic). Other sociologists and political scientists went on to apply his theoretical analysis to the real world. One such example is a book entitled '' Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism'', written by
Robert E. Goodin Robert 'Bob' E. Goodin (born 30 November 1950) was Professor of Government at the University of Essex and is now Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Social and Political theory at the Australian National University. Biography Goodin atten ...
, Bruce Headey, Ruud Muffels, and Henk-Jan Dirven. While some critics claim Esping-Andersen's categories are becoming outdated, many political scientists are attracted by its intuitive simplicity. In the past decade, his research has moved to demographic issues and in particular to the consequences of women's changing roles. He has developed a multiple equilibrium framework for the understanding of changing family behaviour. See in particular his ''Families in the 21st Century and Esping-Andersen and Billari'' (2015) and ''Retheorizing family demographic change. Population and Development Review (2015)''.


Criticism

The evolving nature of welfare states often makes it difficult to categorize. Arguably, many welfare states have components from some or all typologies, making them more akin to points on a continuum rather than rigid typologies, a fact Esping-Andersen acknowledges in his writings. According to French sociologist,
Georges Menahem Georges Menahem is a French sociologist and economist whose work employs methods drawn from economics, sociology and statistics. He is a Research Director in the French National Centre for Scientific Research ( CNRS). Previously, he had been a ...
, Esping-Andersen's "
decommodification In political economy, decommodification is the strength of social entitlements and citizens' degree of immunization from market dependency. In regards to the labor force, decommodification describes a "degree to which individual, or families, can ...
index" aggregates both qualitative and quantitative variables for ”sets of dimensions” which are fluid, and pertain to three very different areas. Similarly, Menahem has concerns regarding the validity of the index, and its potential for replication. In 1996, the Italian Social Scientist Maurizio Ferrera, further developed Esping-Andersen's Worlds of Welfare by identifying a fourth subtype of the welfare state model, the Southern European Model of Welfare.


Bibliography


Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * Esping-Andersen, Gosta Families in the 21st Century (Stockholm, 2016).


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esping-Andersen, Gosta 1947 births Danish academics Danish political scientists Danish sociologists European University Institute faculty Living people Pompeu Fabra University faculty People from Næstved Municipality Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy