Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

Advanced

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of four semesters (or six quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

A study of the present state of poverty and social exclusion in the European Union, with special emphasis on Spain and Andalusia. The course looks at social action initiatives on the individual and group level and experimental programs and their effectiveness.

INTRODUCTION
This class is designed to help students understand the social policies of the European Union, and within these programs, the fight against exclusion and poverty. It is not possible with the limited time of the course to study all of the programs in their entirety, but the course will give the student basic information about the programs including the origin, the evolution, and the present forms of these programs within the diverse context of the European Union.

OBJECTIVES
During the class we will achieve the following objectives:
• Learn and familiarize oneself to the environment of public policies and programs
• Understand the different social policies articulated in the model of the Estado del Bienestar, as the ideologies that support them.
• Acquire the theoretical and methodological elements the allow us to approach actions against social inequality, social exclusion, and poverty.
• Understand the new phenomena of poverty and social exclusion as a result of globalization.
• Programs fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion in the European Union.

METHODOLOGY
Comprehension and analysis will be more important than pure memorization of facts. This format will be more beneficial for both the student and the professor throughout the course. During the course, the professor will present the basic material. This, along with the bibliography will comprise the fundamental nucleus of the course. The organization of debates, about previously assigned texts, and the presentation of topics will fill the class. These elements will unite diverse activities, both in and out of the class, that will help develop analytical and critical skills that will help the students contemplate the social reality of contemporary western societies.

EVALUATION
According to the class plan and methodology, attendance and active participation will be two fundamental elements, and will be criteria in the final evaluation. Because of this, attendance and participation it will count for a large part of the class, along with the presentation of individual work.
40% Final exam
20% Attendance and participation
20% Complementary activities
20% Individual work

OFFICE HOURS
The professor will be available for individual meetings with students during regular office hours.

TOPICAL INDEX
Teaching Unit I
Concepts
• Topic I Social protection
Social care, benefits, and assistance, and Social Services.
Liberal States and Social States
Models of protection. Bismarck and Beveridge.
Poverty, exclusion, integration, and social insertion
• Topic II Bienestar
Conceptualization: redistribution, universal access to basic goods, public guarantee of rent. Origin. Typology. Crisis
Social policies
Educational policies
Sanitary policies
Labor policies
Housing policies
Policies of Social Services
Teaching Unit II
Social Policies in the European Union
• Topic III European social policies and principals in the 21st century: structural elements and context.
• Topic IV Social Politics and the European Union. Historically tense and difficult relations
• Topic V The social dimension of the European Union: Environment of public politics and instruments of action.
The social agenda of the European Union
European regulation of markets, jobs, and labor relations
The European strategy of employment
The social dimension of the politics of cohesion
Programs that fight against Poverty and Social Exclusion in the European Union.
Policies of equality between men and women
The dimension of anti-exclusion and the European social agenda: policies against discrimination and marginalization.
Teaching Unit 3
The dynamics of change in social policies: comparing Spain to others.
• Topic VI Bienestar and post-industrial society: Redefinition and surge in new social policies.
• Topic VII Bienestar: Politics against social exclusion and relations among groups.
• Topic VIII Public policy in Span. Antecedents, environment, and phases.