REFRAMING SOCIAL POLICY: DIFFERENT ORIGINS, COMMON PATHS? FIFTY YEARS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIAL POLITICS IN EUROPE Sven E O Hort, Södertörn University College, Department of Social Studies, Huddinge(Metropolitan Stockholm), Sweden Plenary Address at the International Conference on Social Work and Social Policy at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, September 29 th 2007 “The conquest of the illusion of inevitability is not confined to dra­matic political revolutions. It has been part of the whole transforma­tion that we call modernization and industrialization, one that has been going on ever since the rise of commercial cities in the later phase of European feudalism. There was an earlier burst in a different form that began before the pre-Socratics and petered out about the time of Alex­ander the Great.” Barrington Moore Jr.(1978): Injustice – The Social Bases of Obe­dience and Revolt. New York: M E Sharp p. 462 Introduction Today, and yesterday, we celebrate the teaching of social policy and social work in Skopje. Thus, the topic I have chosen for my intervention here today is“fifty years of social science, social policy and social politics in Europe” starting with“com­mon paths, different origins?” Space and Time are not taken for granted, nonethe­less a matter of course. The question mark is there to remind us to be cautious and realistic also on a birthday or two. Of course, the topic will also to some extent in­clude social work. This is an anniversary, 50 years ago was the founding moment of social education in Skopje, at that time the capital of one of the constituent republics of the Federa­tion of Yugoslavia. Only slightly older than this School, I will take the opportunity 14