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After Asylums and Orphanages

Rogers, Katren LU (2022)
Abstract
In this dissertation, I investigate the effect of partisan politics on the types of care policies that replaced asylums and orphanages between 1950 and 2015. Combining insights from the historical-sociological literature on party formation and theories of welfare politics, I formulate a theory of the partisan politics of care and apply it to two uniquely old care policy areas. While asylums and orphanages have widely been understood as institutions of social control, they also served a social care function, to substitute for family-based care. During the era of deinstitutionalisation, the care of people with chronic and severe mental illness and children who could not be cared for by their parents was shifted away from large, custodial... (More)
In this dissertation, I investigate the effect of partisan politics on the types of care policies that replaced asylums and orphanages between 1950 and 2015. Combining insights from the historical-sociological literature on party formation and theories of welfare politics, I formulate a theory of the partisan politics of care and apply it to two uniquely old care policy areas. While asylums and orphanages have widely been understood as institutions of social control, they also served a social care function, to substitute for family-based care. During the era of deinstitutionalisation, the care of people with chronic and severe mental illness and children who could not be cared for by their parents was shifted away from large, custodial institutions in countries throughout Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The deinstitutionalisation movement was shaped by changing scientific knowledge and ideas, professional specialisation, the lobbying of action groups against asylums and orphanages, and growing fiscal pressure. But asylums and orphanages could not simply be closed down. Governments were faced with choices about who should become responsible for the care of formerly institutionalised populations: the state, the market, the family, or voluntary providers. I demonstrate that these choices were decisively shaped by partisan conflict, not only over redistribution, but also over how society should be organised: around individuals or families. This study of the multidimensional politics of care policy contributes to theoretical debates in comparative politics about the dimensionality of party competition and how partisanship shapes welfare policy making over time. The empirical conclusions will also be of broader interest to scholars of the relationship between science and policy making. (Less)
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author
supervisor
opponent
  • Professor Garritzmann, Julian, Goethe University Frankfurt
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
partisan politics, multidimensional politics, deinstitutionalisation, welfare state, care
pages
336 pages
publisher
Lund
defense location
Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund
defense date
2022-12-02 10:00:00
ISBN
978-91-8039-443-7
978-91-8039-444-4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ea5e3391-b744-4a78-ba10-63c43c837d17
date added to LUP
2022-11-07 15:59:34
date last changed
2023-06-01 11:12:17
@phdthesis{ea5e3391-b744-4a78-ba10-63c43c837d17,
  abstract     = {{In this dissertation, I investigate the effect of partisan politics on the types of care policies that replaced asylums and orphanages between 1950 and 2015. Combining insights from the historical-sociological literature on party formation and theories of welfare politics, I formulate a theory of the partisan politics of care and apply it to two uniquely old care policy areas. While asylums and orphanages have widely been understood as institutions of social control, they also served a social care function, to substitute for family-based care. During the era of deinstitutionalisation, the care of people with chronic and severe mental illness and children who could not be cared for by their parents was shifted away from large, custodial institutions in countries throughout Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The deinstitutionalisation movement was shaped by changing scientific knowledge and ideas, professional specialisation, the lobbying of action groups against asylums and orphanages, and growing fiscal pressure. But asylums and orphanages could not simply be closed down. Governments were faced with choices about who should become responsible for the care of formerly institutionalised populations: the state, the market, the family, or voluntary providers. I demonstrate that these choices were decisively shaped by partisan conflict, not only over redistribution, but also over how society should be organised: around individuals or families. This study of the multidimensional politics of care policy contributes to theoretical debates in comparative politics about the dimensionality of party competition and how partisanship shapes welfare policy making over time. The empirical conclusions will also be of broader interest to scholars of the relationship between science and policy making.}},
  author       = {{Rogers, Katren}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-8039-443-7}},
  keywords     = {{partisan politics; multidimensional politics; deinstitutionalisation; welfare state; care}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Lund}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{After Asylums and Orphanages}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/127882557/thesis_Rogers.pdf}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}