Servizi sociali in Veneto: pianificazione tra bisogni emergenti e risorse

Over the last few years, social services planners have been coping with increasingly complex and constantly changing scenarios. Among experts, the debate is currently focusing on the nature of poverty and the various factors that influence it, such as globalization, migration, demographic trends, labour market insecurities etc.. In so far as social policy is concerned, the welfare state is struggling to adapt both its structure and social services to meet the ever emerging and more complex needs given its finite fiscal resources. In this context, the allocation of resources is of crucial importance and implies difficult decisions to be taken. With the reform of the Article 5 of the Italian Constitution and the approval of the 328/200 Act, more decisional power was given to regional authorities to plan and manage their resources for the local welfare system, in an ample and complex net of relationships with the State, private citizens and local institutions. The research that will be discussed throughout this dissertation should be viewed in context to what has been outlined above, and will stem from two main points of view. Firstly, an awareness of the need for effective social interventions, which originates from the objective observations connected to the demands expressed by citizens, politicians, experts and managers. And secondly, my academic studies at the faculty of Political Sciences, which centred on the relationship between human rights and social development. Driven by both of these factors, it was my decision to explore and investigate the complex scenario of social services and, in particular, the planning and management of economic resources to meet the variety of emerging needs, as well as the role of managers and the constant and somewhat critical changes that they have encountered in recent years. This dissertation offers a theoretical analysis of the role of the welfare state and the planning of social policies: its main methodological framework will be based on morphogenetic theory as outlined by Margret Archer. In this work, the morphogenetic approach was applied to the investigation of decisional processes in the planning of social interventions which can meet the real needs of modern and complex societies. Alongside both my experience and direct observations of the social services provided by the Veneto Region, this theoretical framework will also provide the basis for the empirical research that will be illustrated in this dissertation.