The structure of the social welfare - The welfare mix
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document in English
political science
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published 02/03/2007
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SummaryOver the past century, the provision of social welfare has changed drastically in both the recipients of this welfare care and the scale of social protection services.
This evolution is mainly due to the development of welfare states. In the 1910s and ‘20s the growing of movements as trade union movements or Labour Party in Britain has enlightened and sort of created a conflict between the poor working class and the industrial and powerful class. The state intervention was seen as the only efficient solution in order to protect the workers against the industrial capitalism.
The provision of social welfare is commonly linked with the notion of welfare state. However, the state is not the only entity which can respond efficiently to social problems. There is a mixed economy of welfare and according to Alcock we can distinguish four sectors that make up the provision of social welfare. In addition to the state, we can find the private market, the voluntary sector and the “informal welfare” that is, the family, the neighbourhood, etc. This welfare mix takes a different form based on the time period during which and to the country in which it has been developed. On the one hand, the development of the welfare state in Britain is, for example, mainly a consequence of the Beveridge Report in 1942 stating that it was time to “remove the five giant evils that had haunted the country before the war : disease, idleness, ignorance, squalor and want”. This conception was challenged – quite unsuccessfully – by Margaret Thatcher afterwards. Nowadays the concept of welfare state is being questioned and more than ever the boundaries between the different sectors in this welfare mix are blurred. On the other hand, in the United States the provisions of social welfare are in the largest part dedicated to the private sector whereas in the Scandinavian Countries the state takes a greater part in the social welfare provision.
Table of Contents
- The informal sector constitutes the basis of social support
- Since the 1940s, the state has been expected to play a more significant role in the provision of social welfare
- Welfare provisions through the voluntary and private sectors co-exist with the informal and the public sectors
- The relation between these four sectors shows us the difficulties an efficient social policy has to face. Each sector has its own limits and others have to compensate for them
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