Welfare State

Abstract

The idea of the welfare state is highly contested. Across ideologies and theoretical schools of thought the welfare state is conceived differently. For liberals, such as T. H. Marshall (1950), the welfare state represents the zenith of a progressive development in rights from civic to political to social citizenship. For conservatives, such as Friedrich Hayek (1944), the welfare state represents a fundamental derangement undermining the inherent logic of a capitalist society. For Marxists, such as James O'Connor (1973), the welfare state represents an essential outcome of the contradictions of capitalism that generates increasing need for the state to compensate for the inequities and injuries associated with capitalist development, even as the growth of the welfare state makes it more difficult for the political economy to operate efficiently. All, however, agree that by the middle of the twentieth century the welfare state was emerging as an enduring feature of actually existing capitalist societies.