Home>"Understanding political economy and social inequalities", Interview with Emanuele Ferragina
01.03.2023
"Understanding political economy and social inequalities", Interview with Emanuele Ferragina
This summer, Emanuele Ferragina is teaching two courses for the University Programme during the 2023 Summer School: "Fighting Inequalities and Social Risks in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective" and “A Rising Invisible Majority? Capital, Labour and the Welfare State in Contemporary Political Economy".
Emanuele Ferragina is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at Sciences Po. He grew up in Catanzaro in the south of Italy. Prior to joining Sciences Po, he was a Departmental Lecturer at the University of Oxford, where he also received his PhD. His main research interest is the political economy of the welfare state. Besides academia, he has established (with a group of Italian researchers) the think tank Fonderia Oxford, which has the objective of raising public awareness about important societal issues, such as the rigidity of the Italian labour market, the lack of social cohesion in the Mezzogiorno, and the Italian brain drain. He also regularly writes for Il Fatto Quotidiano about equality, labour market issues, party politics, the welfare state, and lower league football.
You are teaching two courses this summer that address crucial issues in political economy, social inequalities and the welfare state. How do these courses differ and/or complement each other in their approach to addressing these issues?
The two courses share a basic idea: the necessity to study holistically the relation between changes in the international political economy context and a series of fundamental transformations at the economic and social level. While the first course is more focused on how public policies tackle inequality, proposing a global and comparative outlook, the second has a stronger theoretical and thematic component.
In your course "Fighting Inequalities and Social Risks in the 21st Century" (June session), students are able to better understand how inequalities and social risks are tackled differently across the globe. How does studying public policy and public economy help them to expand their knowledge of these key issues?
The course will expand students’ knowledge in at least two ways. First, it will propose a practical guide to understand how in different areas of the world public policies deal with inequalities and social risks. This perspective is rather unique, as over the years we have built a comprehensive and integrated summary of social policies across the world.
Second, it will provide tools to understand how the structure of policies is integrated to the political economy context. I think it is invaluable to have at the same time a practical (would certain policies reduce inequality?) and a critical (are these policies the best way to deal with inequality and social risks?) approach. I think the course is very well suited to all those who want to undertake international and national careers of different kinds (international organizations, think tank, public policy, academia, journalism).
Your course, "A Rising Invisible Majority? Capital, Labour and the Welfare State in Contemporary Political Economy" (July session), is both theoretical and practical. What are some of the ways that this course equips students with new critical tools to analyse the transformation of the political economy and the welfare state in contemporary societies?
The course is conceived to provide in the first part a conspicuous theoretical grounding to understand the relation between the functioning of capital, labour and their relation with class structure. Over the years, I’ve observed that universities tend to reduce the teaching of classics, of critical thinking, and students get more and more the impression that this is useless knowledge. Something dusty, that is useful only for erudition. I think this is an incredible mistake and I use these classics (Marx, Polanyi, Thompson) to show how the relation between capital and labour continue to change, affecting class structures across the globe.
This introduction sets the scene for the discussion of specific topics: welfare state transformations, the gender issue, economic crises, and social participation in the regulation of new forms of work (e.g. platform work). Also, this course is highly suitable to acquire valuable knowledge to build up international and national careers. I would really suggest this course to all those who want to develop a better understanding of contemporary issues.
What do you think will surprise students the most about your classes?
There are three key components of my teaching that normally ‘surprise’ (if we can use this term) students. The first is the level of intensity. My courses are highly dense and mix material and learning from different disciplines. Normally, students are quite surprised to look back at the end of the course and see the journey we have done together.
The second is the level of interaction. I have a profound passion for the topics I teach and I like students to gain a strong confidence in what we do. This can only pass through a very strong participation on their side. Other than studying many different topics, I want students to progressively become more comfortable with the material at end. Moreover, my style is very informal and this normally encourages participation. Students always feel free to say what they think.
Third, my classes are quite thought provoking. Students of different intellectual and ideological horizons always find good reasons to engage. I have a very critical mindset and this normally boosts students’ curiosity, especially among students that have originally very different perspectives from the ones I privilege in my teaching.
