Bøker av Peter Herrmann

Pandemics ¿ it seems that it had been the beginning of a new era, after a first shock wave a new normality commenced trying to, repress the complex challenges while living under a new Sword of Damocles. Origins and consequences of the virus had been frequently issued, but only little attention had been paid to structural problems of societies, making it difficult to cope with the exceptional situation. The present book, focusing on the German polity and its structural weakness, analysis the situation in a historical perspective. It is completed by an essayist globalist outlook on the pandemics.The provocative thesis is that the precarity of society is itself a kind of virus, in many ways as dangerous as the Corona virus. The latter one showed the weak ¿ and dangerous ¿ points of the failure of the polity that need urgent and thorough political answers.

The theory of value is probably the most disputed feature of Marx political economy, while mostly another problem namely the issue of transformation -- is addressed. Two particular reasons for this contestation are the following: it stands at the centre of marking the political of political economy; it is cross-cutting with respect to the micro- and macro-level and especially the personal/individual and the societal/institutional aspects of economic thinking. In addition, some illusionary reasoning, suggesting that we are all better off than we had been 10, 50 or 100 years ago, remains more in the vein of a Yes, we can supposition, not arriving in reality. Furthermore, the questionable character comes even more to the fore as we witness again the existence of a group of plutocrats (Freeland, 2012), a class of superrich whose affluence is beyond reason and even imagination. However, at the core stands an obviously far-reaching change of the mode of production. Notwithstanding the critique then and now, there are good reasons to emphasise the usefulness of the theory of value. These will be taken up by exploring explicitly the tensions mentioned, and discussing them against the background of the contemporary shift within the capitalist mode of production. Marxism, in this light, is instrumental for the analysis of globalisation as it allows a clearer understanding not least of the emergence of poverty chains and the role of the capitalist state as an institution that maintains centre-periphery patterns of inequality within the productive sphere. Furthermore, we can find here at least clues for answers Marxism has when it comes to fighting for societal change, not least changes and challenges that are linked to the emerging processes around digitisation.

The book provides a critical contribution, looking at the development of social ad health services. Though discussing also contemporary issues, the focus is a more fundamental critique, dismantling the ideological questions that are behind these developments, standing in the context of the critique of capitalism and modernisation. In addition, one contribution looks in particular at the development of human resources in the UK and in another contribution an analysis of empirical data is provided - it looks at the perspective from EU-NGOs active in the sector of social service provision. The book concludes with a contribution compiled by an informal network of various EU-NGOs, looking in an exemplary way at difficulties faced by the recent developments of marketisation and liberalisation.

Developing the before presented methodological framework further, is a self-referential and self-reflexive process. This means that detailing and weighing criteria can only emerge from already applying the historical analysis, by this enabling the author to develop the foundation further theoretical and then more detailed historical analysis.

Welfare is a global issue challenging the lives of many. Investigations are constantly being made to find answers in search of the most proficient social model. This book presents the usefulness of an enhanced model for welfare regime analysis and shows the localisation of social professional orientations.

Part One of this new book presents four lectures not meant to be a textbook in the traditional sense. Nevertheless, it is meant to be used as material guiding lectures and students alike through their work in the field of European social policy-making. Being understood as guidance, this means as well that many parts are not fully elaborated. Some hints are given -- and in many cases there is a debate behind them that would justify its own book. For example there is a complex debate on European integration and the question if and in which sense it is legitimate to interpret current processes as processes of ''nation'' or ''state building''. Part II is seemingly quite different, a piece of academic work, going back to the authors involvement in a project on social indicators under the auspices of the European Foundation on Social Quality. Still, there are at least two strong links or similarities. This document is as well very much a discussion document -- it evolved from an intense debate in the project, being already a revision of previous versions.

A work guided by the following question: In which way, if at all, can we define a framework that allows a comparative view on social professional activity in an international perspective?