The state and the social structures of welfare in advanced industrial democracies

Abstract

I develop here an analysis of the contemporary welfare state in advanced industrial democracies. The central thesis is that mature welfare states have their structures and benefits woven into social structures that they themselves have reshaped. This makes it difficult to dismantle or roll back welfare states even when governments of the ideological persuasion of Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan attain office. Welfare states, whatever their institutional differences, are deeply integrated into the social and political structure of contemporary industrial societies. In an important sense, the analysis implies that the form or character of these contemporary industrial democracies has been transformed significantly by the development of welfare states, that is, substantial state intervention into the political economy and social structures. Allowing for some variation among countries, the division between state and economy is much less clearcut than in the nineteenth century or in the pre-1945 period. However, welfare states do not constitute simply a further stage of capitalist development and level of state intervention but a more fundamental restructuring of these countries. Through an examination of the contemporary form of welfare states and social structures greater purchase upon recent political developments, including the advent of ideologically conservative governments, can be attained. Indeed, without analyzing the form of the welfare state and its integration into advanced industrial democracies it is difficult to explain, for example, why the Thatcher and Reagan administrations have been less effective than they desired in retrenching welfare state expenditures and commitments. It is because the latter are an integral part of society (both culturally and structurally) that such attacks are unlikely to succeed.