Social Policy and Welfare States

Essay should be no more than 1000 words. Additionally, the essays should begin with a brief abstract (this should be no more than 20% of the total essay or 200 words), which summarizes your argument. The length of the abstract is included in the 1000 word limit. Essay should be 12 pt font, single spaced with one inch margins. Make sure you cite specific passages and provide page numbers as a reference – you do not need to include a works cited page. You can do this by including a parenthesis after the quote or section you paraphrase: example Smith says… (p.12) or (Hays 13). You can use direct quotes from the text, but you should also try and put the argument into your own words when possible. Please include a word count at the end of the essay.In The Great Transformation (1944) Polanyi states, “But labor and land are no other than the human beings themselves of which every society consists and the natural surroundings in which it exists. To include them in the market mechanism means to subordinate the substance of society itself to the laws of the market…,” “the alleged commodity ‘labor power’ cannot be shoved about, used indiscriminately, or even left unused, without affecting also the human individual who happens to be the bearer of this peculiar commodity.” The Welfare State is part and parcel of the commodification process – it both makes it possible and attempts to deal with its cumulative effects. In this essay, you must analyze a set of course readings using Polanyi’s framework of embeddedness and fictitious commodification. You can choose either the readings by Zuberi – Differences that Matter or the readings by Hays – Flat Broke With Children. While neither Hays or Zuberi use commodification and embeddedness as their primary theoretical frame, their arguments are fundamentally about embeddedness and commodification. In answering this question you must use Zuberi and Hay’s writing as evidence. You must use their writings to illustrate concretely these concepts and Polanyi’s overall argument. In engaging with this question you may want to consider: What is fictitious commodification? Why is it necessary for market society? What are the consequences of commodification? What does it threaten society with and why? What is the double movement? What is the relation between the Welfare State, embeddedness, and commodification? Make sure you use Hays and Zuberi to effectively illustrate Polanyi’s theory and thus giving us a reinterpretation of their arguments.For more information on Social Policy and Welfare States