Nicht nur Humankapital aufbauen: Sozialinvestitionen weitergedacht

Over the past twenty years, the concept of social investment has been widely discussed both at the political and academic level and a common aim can be determined. Social investment calls for a (normative) re-orientation of welfare states with a view to “modernising” them: beyond guaranteeing social protection, they should also enhance people’s productive potential. Thus, despite its different versions, social investment essentially aims to increase labour market participation and productivity through human capital investments. This focus on economic goals has attracted substantial criticism that point to the normative weakness of this policy paradigm. The authors argue that, in order to reinforce its normative basis, social investment needs a different justification rationale (beyond its economic benefits), a different view of the individual (beyond “human capital”) and a different approach to welfare reform (democratic rather than technocratic). The capability and human rights approaches are potentially better in these three dimensions, providing a more solid normative basis to further develop welfare reform.