Law building
Law building
Key contact:
Dr Winsome Roberts (winsome@unimelb.edu.au)
Inequality is increasing in Australia, as it is elsewhere in neoliberal regimes, and it has serious adverse social impacts.
Social work, because of its professional commitment to social justice, seeks to better understand processes generating social inequality as well as to influence public policy in ways that will limit or reverse this mal-distribution of resources.
This Unit was created in the School of Social Work in December 2006 to:
For further information on The Inequality and Social Justice Research Program please contact the Program Coordinator:
Dr Winsome Roberts
E: winsome@unimelb.edu.au
T: +61 3 8344 9422
F: +61 3 9347 4375
A graduate of University of Western Australia, with a degree majoring in social anthropology and post-graduate qualifications in social policy and social administration, Winsome started her career as a free lance researcher. She authored major reports for national government evaluations and enquiries before being appointed to full-time academic positions first at the University of Western Australia and then at the University of Melbourne, where she taught community planning, organizational development and social policy.
Joining the Victorian Public Service in 1983, she worked as a policy adviser in the policy development division of the former Department of Community Services as well as in the intergovernmental relations unit of Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Completing her doctorate (on the distribution of social capital) at the Centre for Public Policy in 1998, she then joined the Department of Political Science as a Research Fellow. Specialising in Australian politics, civil society, citizenship and democracy -that complemented her extensive experience and involvement in local community politics- she co-authored Australians and Globalisation (CUP 2001) and Australian Citizenship (MUP 2004).
Winsome took up a lectureship in 2005 with the School of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. Her research agenda focuses on political economy of social relations and she specialises in teaching critical social policy which examines the impacts of a deregulated political economy on personal lives.
2006 University of Melbourne
PARALLEL LIVES: theorizing political economy & inequality, then and now
This project is designed to theorise the findings of a case study undertaken for doctoral work. The case study reconstructed colonial North Melbourne during ‘the long boom’ 1860-90, to give a multi-layered cross-section of differing strategies of participation in the then laissez-faire economy. It examined the ways in which residents made a living in the formal economy as well as the domestic and black economy and considered the resultant differentials in wealth and income. By then turning to examine domestic and social life, it powerfully demonstrated that material inequalities were not merely reflected in domestic relations, civic life and civil society but amplified. Those who were better able to compete in earning a living, were able to capitalise on their privilege by consolidating family life, and networking further advantage through social and civic participation. Those who were struggling to make ends meet, were not only denied opportunities of further advancement, but the very struggle for material survival all too often eroded and diminished familial and interpersonal supports.
The project seeks to further theorise the finding that in a neoliberal political economy, increasing inequality can be explained by a multiplier factor, whereby privilege generates cumulative advantage and its dearth, cumulative disadvantage: personal, cultural and social.
This is an important finding of contemporary relevance because it challenges the policy paradigm of third way politics, currently in vogue, that promotes workforce participation and neighbourhood renewal as the means of redressing disadvantage. By theorising political economy, and its cultural environment, income inequality can be seen as the major driver of social inequalities and the logical point of redress, ‘bringing the state back in’.
196-003 Winners? Losers? Inequality in Australia
Australian society is becoming increasingly socially differentiated and hierarchical following the return of globalised free trading and the policy regime of competitive individualism adopted since the 1980s. This course gives a systematic overview of the contemporary culture of winners and losers. After looking at the evidence of increasing inequality, it focuses on ‘the big picture’ to show how public policy affects the allocation and distribution of resources. Adopting a political economy approach, it contrasts the ‘the welfare state’ regime and its egalitarian ideals with ‘the wealthfare state’ that reproduces growing inequalities through its policy of ‘incentivation’ for successful competitors. It then examines the multiplier effect that this sets in motion in everyday life: of cumulative advantage for winners and disadvantage, for losers. The second half of the course looks at inequality in Australia from a political perspective. It starts by considering contemporary beliefs, theories and policies that legitimate inequality. It then turns to examine the adverse social impacts of the wealthfare state regime: such as the insecurity and alienation that is widely experienced as well as the social violence felt by the most marginalised. The focus then falls on political debate of ‘what’s fair ?’ to scrutinise conflicting views of social justice that prescribe differing policies: equity (removal of discrimination), equality (of conditions) or equalisation (affirmative action). Finally it considers progressive policies and practice. It scrutinises the progressiveness of contemporary third way policies and considers alternative policy agendas, before looking at how progressive social reform has been, and might be achieved.
At the completion of this subject, students will be able to:-
These learning objectives will complement those of the second semester subject 196004 Contemporary Social Policy.
196-004 Contemporary Social Policy in Australia
Social policy focuses on how the broader political economy and social infrastructure impacts on day to day lives of different groups in society at a particular time and place. It is a complex area of study. It seeks to make explicit the normative principles that govern the broad policy regime of political economy and to deconstruct the associated discourse. This task is inherently political because it concerns contested values for the allocation and distribution of resources. Social policy is also intensely political because it analyses social infrastructure -the differential distribution of supports and opportunities- and the way this ultimately impacts on human lives. This can be studied at an aggregate level through demographics, surveys and social indices. In addition we can understand social impacts through street level observation of the diversity of experience in working lives, family and household living as well as neighbourly and community relations. Rarely are policy decisions beneficial to everyone to the same extent. Social policy is interested in looking at winners and losers and what might be done about that. The study of outcomes is therefore intensely political because it first assesses whether the flow of resources is to the already advantaged or the disadvantaged and then considers what might need to be done to conserve or reform that distributional regime.
Social workers have a controversial role in public policy making. They are professionally committed to social justice and therefore take sides with the less advantaged to enhance their share of supports and opportunities. Social workers have a unique and valuable contribution to public policy making because of their skills in integrated practice. Social workers are trained to work with individuals and households as well as groups and communities and can use that experience to provide invaluable information on the social impacts of the broader political economy. They can work to inform government, policy networks and key stakeholders and to join with others to advocate maintenance or reform of aspects of the policy environment.
The aims of this subject are to introduce students to the principles and concepts by which they can decipher and read contemporary social policy so as to understand the way government decision making changes the distribution of supports and opportunities to different groups in society and how this ultimately affects human lives. The course aims to highlight the value basis of policy decisions and the inherently political nature of social policy analysis, practice and advice. In addition, the course aims to demonstrate the unique role of social work for social policy development both because of its professional commitment to the principles of social justice as well as its integrated practice methods that allow it to keep in touch with the impacts of the broader policy environment as well as working within that policy environment.
At the end of the course students will demonstrate:
Winsome Roberts “Burning the Midnight Oil in Molesworth Street: the struggle of the industrial classes to survive in colonial Victoria 1865-1895”Working to Live: Histories of the 8 Hour Day and Working Life, Australia Centre, University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. 21-22 June 2006
Winsome Roberts “Mateship? Competitive fraternalism and cooperative fraternalism during in the colony of Victoria during ‘the long boom’1860-1890” Mateship, Trust and Exclusion in Australian History 16-17 February 2006, Victorian Trade Hall, Carlton South. Conference sponsored by School of Historical Studies, Monash University; History Australia, Eras & the Society for the Study of Labour History (Melb. Branch)
Winsome Roberts “Taking stock of social capital: where is social policy heading?”Australian Social Policy Conference 2005, July 20-22 2005, University of NSW, Sydney.
Winsome Roberts "The Flawed Logic of Third Way Politics: History's Evidence" Australasian History Workshop, 17-18 February 2005, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne