Case study 6:

THE ORIGINS OF THE WELFARE STATE

”The Welfare State in Historical Perspective”.

Author: Asa Briggs, 1961 (2000).

U.K.Rognlien, 2005

OUTLINE OF THE ARTICLE

Research questions What constitutes welfare? Why becomes the state the main founder of welfare? How can we define the phrase ”welfare state” in a view of a number of historical considerations?

Main concepts – definitions ”A social service state”. ”The welfare state”. The emergence of the welfare state paradigm; the nineteenth-century background (Bismarck, Bentham, Ljoyd George) and the twentieth-century story (Booth, Rowntree, Beveridge).

Thesis and argumentsThe idea of using organized power in an effort to modify the play of marked forces and to determine the pattern of welfare services. Determinants; social (poverty, social structure),change in policy paradigm ( research, policy enterpreneurs), and political (government and social political coalitions).

Application – evidence Both social and political historical considerations are important understanding of the developement of the welfare state. Qualitative indicators.

Policy implications Attitudes towards poverty can be changed by investigation of the ”social contigencies”. An association between unemployment and welfare policy. A Welfare state can develope within market capitalism. The influence of working-class pressures of welfare legislation.

Policy implications

Main power resource

Social Policy model Politics,Laws

Poverty Research Ideology CoalitionsLaws

Booth, Bismarck, Government,Rowntree Beveridge Social Democrats,

Working class

(power resources)

A SOCIAL SERVICE STATE/A WELFARE STATE

Guaranteeing individuals and families a minimum income .

Narrowing the extent of social insecurity

Ensuring that all citizens are offered the best standards in relation to a increasing range of social services.

A SOCIAL SERVICE STATE

A social service state is a state in which communal resources are employed to abate poverty and to assist those in distress.

THE WELFARE STATE

A welfare state is a state which organized power is deliberately used (through politics and administration) in an effort to modify the play of marked forces in at least three directions:

THE WELFARE STATE

The possibility of using governmental power has been related to:

• The Context: The balance of economic and social forces (social political actors).

• The State: The available resources of the state,Expert knowledge –> changning paradigm, andEffective techniques of influence and control

• The Culture: The prevalence (or absence) of the conviction that societies can be shaped by conscious policies designed to eliminate ”abuses” which earlier had been accepted as inevitable features of the human condition.

Welfare State instruments

Social insurance Direct provision (cash or in kind) Subsidy Partnership with other agencies

(including private business agencies) Action through local authorities

THE WELFARE STATE

The demand for ”minimums standards” can be related to a particular set of cummulative pressures:

• In 1909, Webbs urged the need for government action to secure ”an enforced minimum of civilized life”.

• The idea of basing social policy as a public commitment to ”minimum standards”, become practical politics in Britain in the so-called ”Beveridge revolution” of the Second World War.

• The direction of welfare policy and distinction of the welfare state, is based on older logic of equality, citizenship and more recent history of the market.

THE IDEA AND HISTORY OF THE STATE; THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BACKGROUND

GERMANY:

• 1882 - 1945:Policy paradigm; a conservative welfare state.

Pro-state culture: less equality among citizens, less coverage (benefits, population). Social Health Insurance reforms.

(1945->: Social democratic welfare state; National Health Insurance.)

BRITAIN:

• 1834 – 1880: Policy paradigm; a liberal welfare state. (Market based health care service).

Pro-market culture: more equity among poor

and less equity among citizens, less coverage of all people.

Accusation and critics of Bismarck`s policy

The legislation would make German workers depended

upon the state.

THE WELFARE STATE;THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

1. The basic transformation in the attitude towards poverty.

2. The detailed investigation of the ”social contingencies”.

3. The rising unemployment.4. The development within market capitalism

itself of welfare philosophies and practices.5. The influence of working-class pressures

on the content and tone of welfare legislation.

THE WELFARE STATE,THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY:

CAUSALITY

1. Social context:Rising unemployment,

poverty

4. Change in Policy paradigm:State power resource;

Policy model.

5. Politics, Laws:State/government,Sociopol. Actors,

Working class.

2. Research, Policy experts:Investigation of

social contigencies

3. Culture/Public opinion:Transformation in attitude towards poverty.

THE WELFARE STATE;THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

Booth`s and Rowntree`s reaserch: a fresh impetus to the general adoption of the policy of securing a minimum condition to every individual.

Rowntree: The roots of poverty were to be found in social maladjustment. Poverty was not the fault of the poor; it was the fault of society.

THE WELFARE STATE;THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

1911: Ljoyd George`s national health insurance legislation.

William Beveridge (1879-1963): ”Beveridgism”.1942: ”Beveridge Report”.

(1909:”Unemployment”, 1944: ”Full Employment in a Free Society”).

THE RESULT: ”MATURE” WELFARE STATE POLICIES

• The Second World War urged the move from a ”minima” to an ”optima”.

• 1942: ”The Beveridge Report”.• White paper; unemployment.• The Butler Act

• 1946: The National Insurance Act, The National Health Service Act.

• 1948: The National Assistance Act

BRIGGS

Politics is something more than the study of economics.

”The Welfare State in Historical Perspective”, Asa Briggs, 2000.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISM

Design and style of writing:• From a reading point of view; the article could be improved in design when

using graphs, pictures, tables or models (e.t.c),

• The main points come in clear,

• although the author use sentences wich tends to be of particular language difficulty when she make connected references.

Technical content:• When the author refers to historical events, she has a tendence to be

unsystematically and woolly; that is in some sections she express herself in vague terms from a historical point of view.

• She emphasize the origin of the welfare state from both social and political

angle in view of a number of historical considerations, which is interesting and essential with thought of achieving a proper interpretation of essential factors and happenings in the past .