Post-doctoral position - Development of disability and old age policies in Sweden or Norway (1945-2000's)

1. Institution

EHESP-School of Public Health is a scientific, cultural and professional public institution. EHESP is a member of the network of public service schools (RESP), France Universities and the conference of Grandes écoles (CGE).

EHESP is also a component institution of the University of Rennes

As a platform for teaching and research in public health, EHESP is structured in departments (human and social sciences / management institute / quantitative methods in public health / environmental health sciences) integrated into an interdisciplinary project including certified research centres. EHESP offers training courses for senior managers for civil service, national master’s degree, specialized master’s degrees, doctoral program and a very rich offer of lifelong learning.

EHESP welcomes 1,300 students or doctoral students and 7,000 trainees in professional development from 50 different nationalities and invites more than 1,000 lecturers per year.

Website: www.ehesp.fr —Twitter feed: @ehesp

2. Departement

The post-doctoral position is based in the Health and Social Sciences department (EHESP) and is attached to the ARENES laboratory (UMR CNRS 6051). The department's mission is to analyse social and health policies from the perspective of human and social sciences in the light of contemporary issues in France and internationally: implementation, evaluation and regulation processes. It has 43 lecturers, professors and researchers representing the following scientific disciplines, professions and fields: health determinants, social inequalities and health and their causes, vulnerability and social exclusion, environments and settings conducive to health, health policies and healthcare provision, health in other policies, health behaviours, professional dynamics and practices.

3.The KAPPA project

The position is part of the Kappa project. The KAPPA project looks at the conditions of access to public support and policies for independent living. This project, led by Roméo Fontaine, is the winner of the 2022 "Autonomy" priority research programme (PPR). Led by INED, the KAPPA project is based on an interdisciplinary research consortium bringing together economists, sociologists, historians, demographers, epidemiologists and statisticians from 9 research establishments, as well as 3 associations from the medico-social sector.The KAPPA project, funded for a period of five years, aims to explore the origins, implications and future prospects of the age-based segmentation of public policies for independent living, based on a comparative analysis of policies in the field of disability and those relating to old age and loss of independence.

The qualitative and quantitative research carried out as part of this project is organised along five lines. The first series of studies will look at the historical processes that have led in France and abroad to the differentiation, or otherwise, of public policies to compensate for disability on the basis of age. A second series of studies will focus on the living conditions and life paths of people with disabilities. The aim is to explore the practical implications of implementing age segmentation. A third line of research focuses on the conditions of access to public support. A fourth series of studies focuses on the professionals involved in caring for the beneficiaries of autonomy policies. Finally, based on the results obtained above, economists from the IPP and INED will examine the preferred scenarios for structuring the fifth branch of the social security system.

4. Research field: Disability History / Old Age History / Disability Policy / Old Age Policy

The post-doctoral researcher will work under the scientific supervision of Gildas Brégain as part of Axis 1 of the Kappa project. The researchers in Axis 1 will be looking at the historical processes in France and abroad that may have led to public policies on disability being differentiated (or not) according to age.

The postdoctoral student's work will be part of a team of researchers (historians and sociologists) that is endeavouring to understand the mechanisms, scope and limits of the Europeanisation of disability and old age policies from the 1950s to 2020. Talking of the Europeanisation of public policies on disability and old age is based on two assumptions: firstly, that there are sufficiently distinct national policies, and secondly, that these national policies are subject to a form of permeability and to changes attributable to international factors. The translation of this internationalisation dynamic at national level depends on pre-existing configurations of interactions between actors. The project aims not only to examine the construction of European policies on disability and old age, and the dynamics of convergence and divergence between these two sectoral policies, but also to analyse the divergent orientations of national policies on disability and old age, by studying the construction of several national policies. The divergent orientations of national policies on disability and the elderly will be explored through the cases of France, Spain and a Nordic country (Sweden or Norway).

5. Activities

The post-doctoral researcher will analyse the transformations, convergences and divergences of disability and old age policies from 1945 to 2000 in a Nordic country (Sweden or Finland). The research will focus on the issue of accommodation (institutionalisation and de-institutionalisation) and the allocation of resources (benefits, pensions), as these two issues concern both the elderly and the disabled. The post-doctoral student will focus his/her research on the construction of public policies, paying attention to both the influence of associative mobilisations and transnational movements on these issues. With this in mind, the person recruited will delve into diplomatic archives, administrative archives and archives of associations to gain a better understanding of the construction of disability and old age policies, and the factors of convergence and divergence on these issues. The person recruited will be responsible for analysing the archive documents collected. For a comparative perspective, the analysis will be carried out in conjunction with the members of the team exploring the cases of France and Spain.

The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to participate in the dissemination and promotion of the research (writing articles, presentations at conferences and study days, etc.).