Book Review: Invisible Social Security Revisited, Essays in Honour of Jos Berghman
| DOI | 10.1177/138826271501700107 |
| Date | 01 March 2015 |
| Published date | 01 March 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
European Jour nal of Social Sec urity, Volume 17 (2015), No. 1 135
BOOK REVIEWS
Wim van Oorschot, Hans Peters and Kees B oos (eds.) Invisible Social Security
Revisited. Essays in Honour of Jos Berghman. Leuven: LannooCampus Publishers,
2014, 320 pp., ISBN 978-94-014-2121-6 (hardcover)
In 2014 Jos Berghman, a respected European academ ic with friends in ma ny
countries, retired from his position as Professor of Social Policy at the University of
Leuven. As an appreciation, colleag ues had prepared a Liber Amicorum to be o cially
presented to him on October 10. Sadly, he passed away the same mor ning. is has
changed the charac ter of the book for the readers and it now stands as a memorial to
an outstanding schola r.
e composition of the book su its this purpose wel l. e se venteen essays are
written as commentar ies on Jos Bergman’s inaugural lec ture when he was appointed
Professor of Social Secur ity in Tilburg in 1986. In t his lecture, which is now, for the
rst time, translated i nto English, he coined the concept ‘ invisible socia l security’,
arguing in favour of a n alternative understand ing of the concept ‘social secur ity’. Social
security has t raditionally been understood as a host of income bene ts but Berghman
argues that t he concept should rather be used i n the same way as health, to refer to a
state of being in which people feel secu re about their future life and livi ng conditions.
is understanding opens t he way for a much broader analysis and political d iscussion
of alternative measures for dealing with socia l problems. Of special impor tance are
preventive forms of action and alternative forms of compensation.
e papers presented in the book fully show th at Bergman’s thinki ng in 1986 has
not lost its inspirational power. Colleagues f rom numerous disciplines and many
countries have contributed, some of them wit h fresh new thoughts. Many of the essays
have a synthesising and d iscursive character. However, readers who want more hard
evidence wil l o en nd it in t he quite extensive lists of literature.
Part 1 of the book th rows light on social secu rity in a longer-term perspect ive.
Both Gert Verschraegen and John Myles, in their e ssays, show that shi s towards
knowledge-based economies requ ire more education and invest ment in people’s
personal resources. Gradually so cial investment will replace tradit ional cash transfers.
Part 2 throws lig ht on preventive and activating aspects of socia l security. Ine Van
Hoyweghen and Annelie s Debels pour some cold water on the idea that prevention
is always better tha n compensation. Both in the elds of employment policies and
health care, they nd that empirical results are m ixed and raise d i cult normative
questions. Sas kia Klosse is also s ceptical.She nds that the change from protective to
To continue reading
Request your trial