Social Policy, Welfare State

Abstract

“Welfare state” and “social policy” are generalizing concepts that legitimize political intervention in view of protecting the weaker members of society, reducing social inequalities, and promoting human capacities for action and self‐reliance. The contemporary welfare state is the institutional expression of a political system committing itself to human rights, including social rights. Social policy is the generic name for strategies to solve social problems by political intervention, as well as for an academic discipline dealing with such issues. These sociological definitions are more generalized than common descriptive definitions of welfare state and social policy or political economy approaches that center on labor market issues and “decommodification” (Esping‐Andersen, 1990).