Fostering the Socially and Ecologically Sustainable Digitalisation of Welfare States

Digitalisation of societies and welfare systems is often touted as a driver of increased efficiency and service quality, enabling flexibility for service users and a possibility to save on costs. Big data, data analysis tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) are argued to bring opportunities for managers and decision-makers to lead better with knowledge derived from so-called real-time data. Yet, in practice, data pose numerous challenges to interpretation and simultaneous utilisation for multiple purposes (e.g., Hoeyer, 2023). The European Commission (2022) has presented ambitious aims for digital targets for 2030. However, insufficient attention has been given to how digitalisation supports or contradicts social and ecological sustainability. In other words, policies often overlook the broader ramifications of digitalisation for environmental and social justice.

We argue that neglecting ecological and social sustainability is short-sighted, particularly considering the pressing need for welfare states to address environmental crises alongside rapidly ageing populations. In practice, this means that the reform of welfare systems cannot afford to overlook social and ecological sustainability (Saikkonen & Ilmakunnas, 2023). Sustainability and digitalisation are frequently addressed as separate concerns, digitalisation often being regarded primarily as a technological matter. Only a limited number of reports have emphasised the ecologically unsustainable aspects of digitalisation, whereas social sustainability is predominantly acknowledged within the discussions on “decent work,” the platform economy, datafication, and surveillance, rather than focusing on the social sustainability of digitalised welfare systems.

We argue that social and ecological sustainability should be considered essential parts of the digitalisation processes of welfare systems. Without policy coherence, it is impossible to achieve the advantages of digitalisation. The socially sustainable digitalisation of welfare systems requires that all stakeholders (citizens, frontline workers /street-level bureaucrats, managers, decision-makers, and consultants, to name a few) be involved in the process and that practices be planned based on the careful consideration of wherein and how digitalisation, automatic decision-making, or AI bring betterments to all groups of citizens and their welfare. Furthermore, welfare services and benefits should specifically support citizens in challenging life circumstances (e.g., sickness, unemployment, loss of loved ones/bereavement, or lack of safety net during life crises) when immediate access to the welfare system is essential for citizens in these life situations to mitigate their situations from deteriorating further.

All citizens should get access to necessary benefits and services, regardless of their varying levels of skills or ability to use digital services (Saikkonen & Ylikännö, 2020). Therefore, the relation between online and on-site services should be carefully investigated when digitalising welfare systems, with special emphasis placed on providing adequate support to citizens during the transition periods from in-person to online services, and potentially even afterward. Currently, there is a lack of research knowledge to show how to ideally combine online and on-site services now or in the future.

Ecological sustainability demands policy coherence as well. Welfare systems may have a direct impact on ecological sustainability (e.g., energy efficiency, an ecological footprint of the ICT system), but more importantly, welfare systems modify institutional trust and protect from social risks. The digitalisation of the welfare system does not happen in a vacuum: The existing system and its earlier development have an impact on the processes whereas political decision-making steers the aims of digitalisation (e.g., cost-efficiency, public or private system supplier, data collection, and use of data). (Digitalised) welfare systems, with their novel technologies, reformulate the relationships between citizens and welfare state institutions by strengthening social inclusion for some citizens and amplifying old—or creating new—disadvantages for others (see, e.g., Alston, 2019; Buchert et al., 2022; Choroszewicz & Mäihaniemi, 2020). If policy coherence is taken seriously, the digitalisation of welfare systems could increase discussion on individual and collective responsibilities and redirect attention away from the individualisation of social problems and towards improving welfare systems to mitigate structural causes of actual individual problems.

In this thematic issue, we invite methodological and empirical contributions that address the above-mentioned aspects as well as the following questions:

• What kind of digitalisation in welfare systems may strengthen social or ecological sustainability and how?
• How is social and/or ecological sustainability already being (directly or implicitly) addressed in the current processes of digitalisation of welfare systems?
• When is digitalisation advancing client work and who benefits from it in the welfare systems? What are the implications for social justice or social sustainability?
• How is the digital divide among citizens present or non-existent in current digitalisation processes of welfare systems? How are different groups of citizens currently included in the digitalisation processes?
• What are the differences and similarities between countries in the digitalisation of welfare systems and how might those be connected to earlier developments of the welfare systems?
• How do we create welfare imagination, i.e., a capacity to see and understand novel ways to blend in-person and online services? Are there any good examples?

References

Alston, P. (2019). Report of the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (A/74/48037). OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25156

Buchert, U., Kemppainen, L., Olakivi, A., Wrede, S., & Kouvonen, A. (2022). Is digitalisation of public health and social welfare services reinforcing social exclusion? The case of Russian-speaking older migrants in Finland. Critical Social Policy, 43(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183221105035

Choroszewicz, M., & Mäihäniemi, B. (2020). Developing a digital welfare state: Data protection legislation and the use of automated decision-making across six EU countries. Global Perspectives, 1(1), Article 12910. https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2020.12910

European Commission. (2022). Europe’s digital decade: Digital targets for 2030. https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/europes-digital-decade-digital-targets-2030_en#digital-rights-and-principles

Hoeyer, K. (2023). Data paradoxes: The politics of intensified data sourcing in contemporary healthcare. MIT Press.

Saikkonen, P., & Ilmakunnas, I. (2023). Reconciling welfare policy and sustainability transition—A case study of the Finnish welfare state. Environmental Policy and Governance. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2055

Saikkonen, P., & Ylikännö, M. (2020). Is there room for targeting within universalism? Finnish social assistance recipients as social citizens. Social Inclusion, 8(1), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i1.2521