The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State (Oxford Handbooks)

This is the comprehensively-revised second edition of a volume that was welcomed at its first appearance as 'the most authoritative survey and critique of the welfare state yet published'. Its fifty-one chapters have been written by acknowledged experts in the field from across Europe, Australia, and North America. Some chapters are brand new; all have been systematically revised, and they are right up to date. The first seven sections of the book cover the themes of Ethics, History, Approaches, Inputs and Actors, Policies, Policy Outcomes, and Worlds of Welfare. A final chapter is devoted to the future of welfare and well-being under the imperatives of climate change. Every chapter is written in a way that is both comprehensive and succinct, introducing the novice reader to the essentials of what is going on while providing new insights for the more experienced researcher. Wherever appropriate, the handbook brings the very latest empirical evidence to bear. It is a book that is thoroughly comparative in every way. The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, second edition, is a comprehensible and comprehensive survey of everything that it is important to know about the welfare state in these troubled times. It is an indispensable source for everyone who wants to know what is really going on now, and what is likely to happen next. cover The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Tables Select List of Abbreviations List of Contributors A Note on the Jacket Illustration Stephan Leibfried 1 Introduction PART I PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATIONS AND CRITIQUES OF THE WELFARE STATE 2 Ethics 3 Intellectual Roots of the Welfare State 4 The Critics of Welfare: From Neoliberalism to Populism PART II HISTORY 5 The Emergence of the Western Welfare State 6 Post-​War Welfare State Development: The ‘Golden Age’ 7 Recent Developments: Social Investment Reform in the Twenty-​First Century PART III APPROACHES 8 Research Methods 9 Public and Private Social Welfare 10 Governance 11 Social Investment 12 Families, States, and Markets 13 Disciplinary Perspectives on Welfare States PART IV INPUT AND ACTORS 14 Needs and Risks in the Welfare State 15 Democracy and Capitalism 16 Unions and Employers 17 Parties 18 Political Institutions 19 Public Attitudes 20 Gender 21 Religion 22 Migration and New Ethnic Minorities 23 European and National Social Policy 24 Intergovernmental Organizations 25 Globalization PART V POLICIES 26 Social Expenditure and Welfare State Financing 27 The Welfare State as Employer 28 Old-​Age Pensions 29 Health 30 Long-​Term Care 31 Work Accident and Sickness Benefits 32 Disability 33 Unemployment Insurance 34 Employment Promotion 35 The Regulation of Employment 36 Social Assistance 37 Family Benefits and Services 38 Housing 39 Education PART VI POLICY OUTCOMES 40 The Social Rights of Citizenship 41 Inequality and Poverty 42 Macroeconomic Outcomes 43 Gendered Outcomes 44 Welfare Retrenchment PART VII WORLDS OF WELFARE 45 Models of the Welfare State 46 The Nordic Countries 47 Continental Western Europe 48 The South European Countries 49 The English-​Speaking Countries 50 Central and Eastern European Countries PART VIII PROSPECTS 51 From Welfare States to Planetary Well-​Being Name Index Subject Index The trajectory of developed welfare states in the early twenty-first century is perhaps best understood through the idea of 'social investment'. The first section of the chapter defines social investment as a sui generis welfare paradigm, distinct from both the Keynesian-Beveridgean welfare state and its neoliberal critique, and analytically rooted in the three interrelated policy functions of lifelong human capital stocks, work-life-balanced flows, and inclusive buffers. The second section identifies the trajectories of (non-)social investment reform that have cross-cut welfare regimes in the past two decades. Section three takes stock of the impact of the economic crisis on recent welfare state developments. The final section concludes by reflecting on the challenges and opportunities for welfare reform after the Great Recession. Most notably, it highlights how high public spending on established social protection commitments seemingly operates as a 'productive constraint' that accelerates social investment reform, reinforcing employment and productivity growth, to sustain popular welfare states This is the much anticipated revised second edition of a volume that was welcomed at its first appearance as 'the most authoritative survey and critique of the welfare state yet published'. It is an indispensable one-volume guide to what modern states spend most of their time and money doing.