Imagining Welfare State Futures - Seminar by Prof. John Clarke on 21 april
Prof. Clarke explores how welfare states are shaped by competing social imaginaries rather than fixed institutional designs. He argues that this perspective challenges the narrow empiricism that has long dominated welfare state research. The seminar takes place on the 21st of april and is part of the Welfare Futures Seminar Series.
Prof. Clarke will discuss “Imagining welfare state futures.” He will start by considering welfare states as the uneven and unstable institutionalizations of multiple and contested imaginaries. This orientation, Prof. Clarke will argue, is a necessary antidote to the reductive objectivism and empiricism that has dominated welfare state studies. As a way of developing this approach, Prof. Clarke will turn to Raymond Williams’ (1977) distinction between dominant, residual, and emergent cultural forms and formations as a framing device for historical analysis. Using this framing, he will then explore some of the contending imaginaries though which welfare and states are currently represented. These range from residual attachments to welfarism through the recurring dominant efforts to reinvent welfare – and states – in neoliberal terms, to the diverse emerging concerns with mutualism, repair and reparation, and imperatives of care across a range of scales and sites. How might welfare, states and the articulations between them be remade?
Practical information
What
‘Imagining Welfare State Futures' by Prof. John Clarke.
When
21 April, 15.30-17.00, followed by drinks.
Where
T.B.A.
If you are not able to join in person, you can also follow the talk and discussion via the live stream (with the option to pose a question in the chat).
Prof. John Clarke’s bio
John Clarke is an Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the Open University, UK. He did postgraduate work at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in the 1970s, where he was involved in collective work on youth subcultures, leisure and working class culture, and the rise of authoritarian populism, notably in Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke and Roberts) in 1978, recently republished by Blackwell. He has subsequently written on welfare states, the impacts of consumerism and managerialism on public services, travelling policies, and the moment of Brexit in British political culture. His most recent book is The Battle for Britain: Crises, Contradictions and Conflicts, Bristol University Press, 2023.
Welfare Futures Seminar Upcoming Events
12 May 2026: Emil Wolff
June 2026 (exact date TBD): Summerson Carr
