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h a n g i n g w e l f a r e s t a t e s Culture, Gender and Parenting in Europe how welfare states care CHANGING WELFARE STATESProcesses of socio-economic change − individualising society and globalising economics and politics − cause large problems for modern welfare states. Welfare states, organised on the level of nation-states and built on one or the other form of national solidarity, are increasingly confronted with − for instance − fi scal problems, costs control diffi culties, and the unintended use of welfare programs. Such problems -generally speaking -raise the issue of sustainability because they tend to undermine the legitimacy of the programs of the welfare state and in the end induce the necessity of change, be it the complete abolishment of programs, retrenchment of programs, or attempts to preserve programs by modernising them.Th is series of studies on welfare states focuses on the changing institutions and programs of modern welfare states. Th ese changes are the product of external pressures on welfare states, for example because of the economic and political consequences of globalisation or individualisation, or result from the internal, political or institutional dynamics of welfare arrangements.By studying the development of welfare state arrangements in diff erent countries, in diff erent institutional contexts, or by comparing developments between countries or diff erent types of welfare states, this series hopes to enlarge the body of knowledge on the functioning and development of welfare states and their programs.editors of the series

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In policy and research, migration and the welfare state are often seen as being at odds. When ‘strangers’ enter the welfare state, the financial and social foundations of solidarity are said to crumble. A prominent question, therefore, is whether immigrants should have the same rights as the autochthonous population. Within this frame, migrants are often ‘objects’. This paper reports on qualitative research exploring what different types of labour migrants themselves think about the Dutch welfare state in general, and about giving social rights to immigrants, in particular. The differences in national backgrounds and levels of education in labour migrants’ views are striking: lower-educated Turkish and Polish migrants show little interest in the welfare state, whereas higher-educated Western Europeans seek welfare state security. Higher-educated Indian migrants find the welfare state a totally new concept, although after a while some come to appreciate it. A significant proportion of the questioned migrants, moreover, believe that people should not be entitled to welfare state rights immediately upon arrival. They favour ‘earned citizenship’, with the welfare state being a ‘contribution state’, but stress that migrants should not have to wait too long before being entitled to such rights. The paper also suggests new topics for further research in the increasingly important field of migration, diversity and the welfare state.

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