Exploring Narratives of Welfare State Reform

On the State and Perspectives of Narrative Analysis in Social Policy Research

Abstract

Research on political narratives is increasingly developing into an independent branch of research. This paper addresses research on narratives in social policy as a subdiscipline of political science. On the basis of a systematic literature review covering 70 articles from international quality journals, research questions and research fields, theoretical approaches, and methodological designs of research on narratives of the welfare state are examined. The results show that research to date has focused primarily on agenda setting in the policy process. While studies can show that narratives do influence political decision making, little attention has been paid so far on the implementation phase and the impact of narratives on the recipients of benefits or on employees of the welfare state. Research on narratives of the welfare state is characterized by theoretical pluralism: actor-centered and poststructuralist approaches are represented equally. In regard to methods, however, there is little pluralism: qualitative content analyses of policy documents and/or interviews dominate.