Case study 6: THE ORIGINS OF THE WELFARE STATE

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Case study 6THE ORIGINS OF THE WELFARE STATE

• The Welfare State in Historical Perspective.
• Author Asa Briggs, 1961 (2000).
• U.K.Rognlien, 2005

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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 arguments
• The 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.

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Policy implications

• Main power resource
• Social Policy model Politics,
• Laws
• Poverty Research Ideology Coalitions Laws
• Booth, Bismarck, Government,
• Rowntree Beveridge Social Democrats,
• Working class
• (power resources)

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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.

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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.

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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

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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 gt changning paradigm, and
• Effective 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.

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Welfare State instruments

• Social insurance
• Direct provision (cash or in kind)
• Subsidy
• Partnership with other agencies (including
  private business agencies)
• Action through local authorities

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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.

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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-gt 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.

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Accusation and critics of Bismarcks policy

• The legislation would make German workers
  depended upon the state.

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THE WELFARE STATETHE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

• The basic transformation in the attitude towards
  poverty.
• The detailed investigation of the social
  contingencies.
• The rising unemployment.
• The development within market capitalism itself
  of welfare philosophies and practices.
• The influence of working-class pressures on the
  content and tone of welfare legislation.

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THE WELFARE STATE,THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY
STORYCAUSALITY
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THE WELFARE STATETHE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

• Booths and Rowntrees 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.

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THE WELFARE STATETHE TWENTIETH-CENTURY STORY

• 1911 Ljoyd Georges national health insurance
  legislation.
• William Beveridge (1879-1963) Beveridgism.
• 1942 Beveridge Report.
• (1909Unemployment, 1944 Full Employment
  in a Free Society).

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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

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BRIGGS

• Politics is something more than the study of
  economics.

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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 .