The birth of solidarity : the history of the French welfare state

François Ewald's landmark The Birth of Solidarity—first published in French in 1986, revised in 1996, with the revised edition appearing here in English for the first time—is one of the most important historical and philosophical studies of the rise of the welfare state. Theorizing the origins of social insurance, Ewald shows how the growing problem of industrial accidents in France throughout the nineteenth century tested the limits of classical liberalism and its notions of individual responsibility. As workers and capitalists confronted each other over the problem of workplace accidents, they transformed the older practice of commercial insurance into an instrument of state intervention, thereby creating an entirely new conception of law, the state, and social solidarity. What emerged was a new system of social insurance guaranteed by the state. The Birth of Solidarity is a classic work of social and political theory that will appeal to all those interested in labor power, the making and dismantling of the welfare state, and Foucauldian notions of governmentality, security, risk, and the limits of liberalism. "THE BIRTH OF SOLIDARITY traces the emergence of social welfare legislation through debates about workplace accidents in France. François Ewald shows that with industrialization in the 19th century, workplace accidents became increasingly frequent and complex, and the rise of statistics and insurance shifted ideas about who should be held responsible. Whereas early commentators claimed workers and their patrons were responsible for the consequences of workplace accidents, by 1898 the French government declared that workplace accidents needed to be covered by a state-regulated social security policy. This shift in approach marked the emergence of the modern French welfare state. The book is divided into three parts. In the first, Ewald looks at the 1841 law governing child labor in factories and 1830s court cases concerning workplace accidents to show how these industrial regulations challenged the earlier liberal philosophies involving a social contract, which had assumed individual benevolence as the basis for all social assistance. In contrast, new forms of patronage emerging in the 1840s required French employers to provide compensation for their workers, including pensions, education, and company stores. The second part considers the development of insurance as an outgrowth of the philosophy of Adolphe Quételet, who applied probabilistic calculus to social phenomena, like risk. Ewald shows that insurance gave workers a way to save for the future and the wealthy a guarantee against accidents. The third part looks at legislators' increased focus on social solidarity rather than individual responsibility in the latter half of the 19th century, with the 1898 labor law solidifying the government's role as a regulator acting on behalf of workers, and insurance agents' role in assessing fault and responsibility. Ewald, who had been a Maoist activist during the French student uprising of May 1968, became Michel Foucault's doctoral student and assistant in the 1970s. When Foucault's partner Daniel Defert was commissioned by the French Labour Ministry to do a series of studies on the history of workplace accidents, Defert enlisted Ewald, along with a number of Foucault's other students, to conduct the research. This research eventually formed the basis of Ewald's dissertation and first book, Histoire de l'Etat providence: Les Origines de la solidarité, originally published in 1986, revised in 1996, and now translated into English for the first time, with a critical introduction by Melinda Cooper that discusses Ewald's later career as a state bureaucrat and consultant for industry. THE BIRTH OF SOLIDARITY will interest students and scholars of political theory, Marxism, social theory, and French history"-- Provided by publisher Franois Ewald's landmark The Birth of Solidarity first published in French in 1986, revised in 1996, with the revised edition appearing here in English for the first timeis one of the most important historical and philosophical studies of the rise of the welfare state. Theorizing the origins of social insurance, Ewald shows how the growing problem of industrial accidents in France throughout the nineteenth century tested the limits of classical liberalism and its notions of individual responsibility. As workers and capitalists confronted each other over the problem of workplace accidents, they transformed the older practice of commercial insurance into an instrument of state intervention, thereby creating an entirely new conception of law, the state, and social solidarity. What emerged was a new system of social insurance guaranteed by the state. The Birth of Solidarity is a classic work of social and political theory that will appeal to all those interested in labor power, the making and dismantling of the welfare state, and Foucauldian notions of governmentality, security, risk, and the limits of liberalism. 9781478009214-ix 2 9781478009214-xiii 6 9781478009214-001 21 9781478009214-002 25 9781478009214-003 50 9781478009214-004 67 9781478009214-005 92 9781478009214-006 96 9781478009214-007 115 9781478009214-008 134 9781478009214-009 156 9781478009214-010 160 9781478009214-011 184 9781478009214-012 200 9781478009214-013 242 9781478009214-014 269 9781478009214-015 282 François Ewald's The Birth of Solidarity--first published in French in 1986 and appearing here in English for the first time--is one of the most important historical and philosophical studies of the rise of the welfare state