`Welfare Dependence': The Power of a Concept

Abstract

While the concept of welfare dependence as now formulated is logically muddled, it is very powerful in shaping our view of both the welfare state in general and the requirements of welfare reform in particular, as well as in reinforcing a variety of norms, beliefs, and interests that are harmful to both welfare recipients and the community at large. But we are not generally aware of these aspects of our concept of dependence as so formulated. Hence, we continue to use the concept as so formulated in practice and, in doing so, bring about a series of negative - and in many cases unintended - consequences, including the maintenance of a set of artificial class distinctions between dependents, i.e. welfare recipients, and the rest of us, the shutting down of serious debate about welfare reform, and the reinforcement of anti-statist values that themselves preclude the development of a democratic mode of collective protection. I set out below to bring these consequences to our attention and to show how they follow from our prevailing concept of welfare dependence. I do so by exploring the concept of welfare dependence as now formulated in depth with respect to both form and content.