...the welfare state in the new global order by gøsta esping-andersen unrisd united nations research institute for social development UNRISD work for the Social Summit is being carried out with the support and co-operation of the United Nations Development Programme. Proof-reading and layout: Rhonda Gibbes Dissemination: Adrienne Cruz UNRISD/OP/94/7 ISSN 1020-2285 Copyright United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). Short extracts from this publication may be reproduced unaltered without authorization on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to UNRISD, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. UNRISD welcomes such applications. UNRISD publications can be obtained from the same address. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute. after the golden age: the future of the welfare state in the new global order occasional paper no. 7 world summit for social development after the golden age: the future of the welfare state...
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...‘Conservatism merely reflects the interests of the privileged and prosperous.’ Discuss (45) This statement is asking whether all forms of conservatism’s values and actions in the past are because they wish to reflect the interests of those in society who are better off, sacrificing the interests of the less well off in doing so. The current debate is very unclear as opinion on this does, and always has varied greatly. Generally, left-wing labour supporters believe this statement is true whereas the rest of society do not agree. Conservatives have strenuously denied this claim over the years. This essay will argue that Conservatism does in fact merely reflect the interests of the privileged and prosperous, despite this claim being strongly denied by current and past conservatives. On one hand, Conservatism does not merely reflect the interests of the privileged and prosperous, as they believe that tradition and authority benefits everyone, as it provides security and stability in society. Authority, which is the right to exercise power over others, is seen by conservatives as a guarantee of social order because it provides security and stability. People know ‘where they stand’ and what their roles are in society. There are those that are ‘leaders’ and those that are ‘followers’. This is reflected in Edmund Burke’s belief in a ‘natural aristocracy’, which is the belief in an aristocracy, which arises out of work and competition rather than birth, education, or special privilege...
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...The welfare, intended as the set of measures and policies devoted to ensure minimum quality life standards to individuals, is normally associated to the state insomuch reference is generally made to “welfare state”. The welfare state is based on ethical ideals: it is created in the name of social justice, to implement the fundamental rights and freedoms of human beings (as developed from time to time in the various cultures). Stuart White wants to clarify in the Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, the main ethical arguments, which are inherent in the creation of the welfare state. First of all a process for the achievement of the basic needs of the citizens (questionable what are the basic needs), latterly equality, seen as same opportunities without racial or social influence, and lastly liberty, conceived as ‘negative’ liberty of coercive ‘redistribution’ in order to achieve a moral and social congruence between all the individuals. However, welfare state, even if based on ethic-philosophical findings, has many implications and effects in the economic field. As Briggs (1961) argued, the welfare state is an organization whose purpose is to modify the market forces in at least three directions: (I) ensure to the individuals and to the families minimum incomes; (II) decrease the level of insecurity; and (III) assure the best standard available of social services (Cittadini 2015). ***** Modern concept...
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...1 a) Advantages female headed household i. Female headed household get support from social welfare organizations. According to Carnoy (1994), women earn low wages in the labour market and the general condition of the welfare state contribute to the growing number of single mothers living in poverty and this attracted so many social welfare organisations like UN, UNICEF, PLAN international amongst others to support women through giving them soft loans and food. ii. Empowerment, since women have to work for themselves. iii. Freedom/flexible in decision making b) Disadvantages of female headed household Female headed households are always under the threat of rapist, womanizers and often become easy targets of criminals. i. As females are less equipped with the skills of high income generation such as tertiary education, they are not able to take up better jobs in labour market, their mobility to search job at various workplaces is also restricted, several times they are less preferred at workplace in comparison with their male counterparts and they get lesser wage or salary for the same job. Thus it makes a female headed households vulnerable to shock of poverty and risk of survival. ii. This not only restricts time with children, but opportunities for personal rest and recreation, not to mention the active cultivation of links with kin, friends and neighbours and workmates which might enhance their access to ‘positive social capital’...
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...system can no longer sustain equality liberty, and democracy to the American working class. Alperovitz argues that a radical change to our political-economic system is needed. He also believes that it is at the lower or grassroots level that this change has to take place, but that it is going to take some time and a lot of commitment on their part. An analysis of Alperovitz’s book America Beyond Capitalism provides a unique but radical perspective on overhauling our political/economical system. However, his perspective depends on the American working class people to create a new political/economic system in order to restore equality, liberty, and democracy. This idea is plausible, but reducing the federal government down to the city and state level is highly unlikely. Alperovitz claims that our political/economic system can no longer sustain our equality, liberty, and democracy for working class Americans. Alperovitz’s first argument is on equality. His concern is that globalization, changing technologies, and sectoral balances are creating a widening gap of inequality. The decline of labor unions has enabled the corporations to lead a number of campaigns that have challenged redistribution programs. Globalization has increased the influence of large corporations over our economical and political system because they have the option to take their business elsewhere. This increases the corporations bargaining power over the government. Competition for investment has created pressure...
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...Sweden and new age of globalization In the last recent years, world trade had an outstanding growth in domestic product leading to spread more about the word ’’globalization’’. However, the new market’s demand is reason of this development, yet the trade practices reduction that prevent movement of services from one state to another thru World Trade Organization (WTO) had an important impact on this growth in world (Christopher, 2011). In the start, globalization recognized as a solution to insufficiency and assistance to overcome the inadequacy, however, this view has changed after the US Presidential election speech in 2008 and globalization became a concern for both the U.S and Europe stated (Mandelson, 2008). Therefore, challenging those who state that ‘’the boom is not sustainable’’ is what Mandelson attempted to deliver. So in this paper I’m going to evaluate the globalization’s effect on Sweden’s economy & industry and will compare the achievement with Mandelson’s view. Let’s start with he’s opinion on Europe’s social models which are considerably well managed and in favor of globalization compared to the models from the states. Over the last decades, Europe attempted to come up with new social and economic model in order to handle the challenges exposed by the globalization. And one of the countries which could cope successfully with globalization challenges was Sweden by proposing ‘’Swedish model’’. This model defines that ‘’ it is perfectly possible to uphold and...
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...Transfer Payments Transfer payments are welfare payments made available through the social security system including the Jobseeker's' Allowance, Child Benefit, State Pension, Housing Benefit, Income Support and the Working Families Tax Credit. The main aim of transfer payments is to provide a basic floor of income or minimum standard of living for low income households. Current Government Spending This is spending on state-provided goods & services that are provided on a recurrent basis every week, month and year, for example salaries paid to people working in the NHS and resources for state education and defence. The NHS claims a sizeable proportion of total current spending – hardly surprising as it is the country's biggest employer with over one million people working within the organisation! Capital Spending Capital spending includes infrastructure spending such as new motorways and roads, hospitals, schools and prisons. How does government spending affect businesses? The level of government spending has many direct and indirect effects on all businesses. For firms selling goods and services to individual consumers and to other firms: Increased government spending may mean higher taxes Higher taxes reduce the ability of customers to purchase goods and services, which is likely to reduce consumer spending Consequently increased government spending is often at the expense of private sector spending and is therefore potentially harmful to some firms On the other hand...
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...through redistribution of income so that the poor are not as poor and the rich are not as rich and to redistribute this slowly the percentage of poverty could decrease over time. There are different ways the government redistribute income and reduce poverty, I have already mentioned a method in beginning, through taxes, taxes can be used to redistribute income to the poor, taking more from the rich and taking less from the poor. By taking more from the rich, the government uses tax money to fund many different programs, including some that target poverty and inequality. Another method would be welfare and unemployment benefits, welfare can provide money to people with very low incomes. This is the option that gives the recipients the most leeway when deciding how to use their benefits. Unemployment benefits can give a monetary cushion to workers who are unable to find jobs, and, like welfare, are also in the form of money. One more method would be in-kind transfers and housing subsidies, in-kind transfers can give essential goods, like coupons, to the poor. Housing subsidies give the poor money to obtaining decent housing, since rent and upkeep make up a large portion of spending in lower income families. Some of these methods are effective in achieving equity because most of these methods are actually really helpful to decreasing poverty and have benefits. The tax method is really effective, in this case, we are helping and providing to poverty so that we could encourage the percentage...
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...Oral Presentations Today, let’s tale about the sustainability of European welfare state. I have divided my presentation into 4 parts. Firstly the rationale of this presentation will be given. Secondly, I will introduce the findings of what factors influence the sustainability of European welfare state. And it include… after a conclusion of these factors. I will talk about what I have learnt from the research process and the limitations need to improve. Some researcher argue that economic globalization is the most important factor causing the plight of European welfare state. And analyse this factor from two aspects, political and economic. Politically, because of the higher social welfare spending, the common sense formed between different parties no longer exists. Conservatism still believes that well-developed welfare system is the foundation of a fair and decent society, while the liberal argues that the welfare system is the enemy of enterprise and economic development, they also advocate the cut of welfare spending. Though welfare-cutting policies have lots of benefits, it cannot get the support of citizens. So, in order to get votes, avoid dissatisfying people, the policies cannot be conducted and the conflicts between welfare and economic development cannot be solved. Economically, from the view of product and service globalization, it is likely to cause the social dumping. There is no advantage for western countries’ products to compete with cheaper products from...
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...Social Security is the economic security for Americans, retirees, disabled persons, and families of retired, disabled or deceased workers. The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. The first Taxes were collected in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump sum payments were made that same month. The regular monthly benefits were started in January 1940. The pension aspect of the Social Security program was originally designed as a prepayment plan, with benefits to contribution. Social Security is largely a pay-as-you-go program. This means that today's workers pay Social Security taxes into the program and money flows back out as monthly income to beneficiaries. This is also the pre-funded retirement program. The money is accumulated in advance so that it will be available to be paid out to today's workers when they retire. This program is another form of saving for future. It reduce the risk at the older age by avoid loss of income due to retirement, death, disability, or unemployment, and to ensure access to health care. The amount of our Social Security benefits will depend mainly on three things the number of years we worked at qualifying jobs, how much money we made, and the age we retire. Why we have problems? Right now we are facing problem in the social security because the next decade will see the largest drop in worker-to-beneficiary ratios in history, as baby boomers begin to retire. The problem gets compounded when you consider that people's life spans...
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...Esping-Andersen's typology of welfare states. Also, this article reviews the modified or alternative typologies ensuing from the debate. In Esping- Andersen’s book, he categorized welfare states into three kinds. It is liberal welfare states, conservative/corporatist welfare states and social-democratic welfare states. He connected his differentiation with variations in the historical development of different Western countries. He claimed that current economic processes, such as those moving toward a postindustrial order, are shaped not by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. In response to the way of Andersen’s description, Gelissen mainly suggests that 3 mistakes exist. First and foremost, it is about the misspecification of the Mediterranean welfare states as immature continental ones. Critics say that Southern European or Latin Rim countries have their own distinguishing characteristics. Therefore, Anderson’s act of categorizing these countries under conservative continental model while additionally terming “immature” is definitely not true. As Anderson recognized and discovered that these countries have unique characteristics which reflect their culture and society themselves, he should add new categories. In order to classify Mediterranean welfare state, Anderson must make a distinctive model and name it as “Latin Rim” or “Southern countries.” Second, it is related to the labelling of the Antipodean welfare states as belonging...
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...A New Work Ethic A New Work Ethic Let’s examine work ethic today and how it has changed. We will look at personal experiences and the typical attitudes in the work place and the implications of work ethic for the future of American business. Finally, we will examine the reasoning behind employee theft in the workplace. Describe how typical the attitudes that Sheehy reports appear to be in work environments you have experienced. As I read “A new work ethic“and the experience of James Sheehy, how typical the attitudes are in the work environments that I have experienced. I was working in a management position where the typical employee was from 18 to 25 years of age and they regarded the work as something to do until they get a real job or graduate from college. The worst offenses would come with opening and closing of the store, includes washing floors, taking out trash, cleaning the tables and cleaning of kitchen and prep for the following day. Consistent with Sheely’s observation, they would find any shortcuts and did not have any pride in their work. When I approached one employee whose assignment was to wash the floor, and mentioned he missed a section behind the bar his response was that customer’s will not see that spot. They studied the attendance policy and they knew how many times they could call off before getting written up. I also experienced the attitude of I can’t wait to graduate and get a real job leaving this job for the uneducated person. In My...
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...money. * Proportionate in character. * Levied on persons or property * Levied by the state which has jurisdiction mover the subject. Advantages * Corrects market failure. * Companies are in favor of it as they pass on the costs to their consumers. * Provides public goods. Disadvantages * Can become excessive in certain ways, discouraging investment or work. Advantages and disadvantages of taxation to redistribute income Taxation is a tool commonly used by government as a means of redistributing income amongst its citizens. In some instances, taxation can have a positive effect on the redistribution of income, other times, it can do more harm than good. Taxation helps greatly in the redistribution of income as it gives the government funds which they can use to fund public services. In countries that have solid taxation systems, revenue from taxes will be great. The more revenue there is coming from taxes, the more money there will be left over for the government to provide public services to its citizens. Without the tax revenue that taxation offers, services such as protection from national police, provision of a transportation infrastructure, social security services, etc,. Social security services like welfare check programs help spread the wealth around a nation. The poor who don’t have enough to live properly can apply for these welfare programs,...
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...This essay will focus on exploring the changing approaches and attitudes to welfare since the Poor Law, thus establishing the measures introduced or policies implemented to enable society to lead a sustainable livelihood. In addition, it will identify the individuals who were influential in the creation of a welfare state by examining six different concepts, namely: the 1601 Elizabethean Poor Law, The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, New Liberalism, Fabianism, Thatcherism and Blairism. The removal of monasteries and church welfare led the parliament to pass the first act for the relief of the poor. The 1601 Old Poor Law was a response to the issue of poverty by the state on a national scale, providing relief to the sick/elderly/disabled; able-bodied and children/orphans. Administered by parishes, it “sought to assist the 'settled' poor, who were expected to accept whatever work or relief the parish offered.” (www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/elizpl.html) There is an implication that a safety net was provided for those who had fallen on hard times, however they had no freedom of choice regards the type of employment they took on, their dietary intake, clothing etc. They were reliant on relief and were susceptible to exploitation through cheap labour. “Each parish looked after their own poor and a poor rate was levied on householders” (Moore; 2000). The lack of uniformity in system suggests that treatment and rules differed from parish to parish, however, parishes were likely...
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...Erosion of the Welfare State Since 1979 Works Cited Not Included In this essay I will attempt to examine if and by how much the welfare state has been eroded since 1979. Due to length limitations I will have to oversimplify topics covered. However I will explore issues in a coherent frame work to scrutinize the continuity of the ‘classic welfare state, (Powell 1998). Many political theorists have debated the birth of the welfare state. Poor Law which can be dated back to the 14th century (Labourers Act) maybe considered the first step in a long journey to become what we recognise as the welfare state today (Midwinter1994, Jones 2000). However others classify the beginning of the Classic welfare state by the report written by William Beverage (1942) which identified ‘five giants’ of social disorder; want, idleness, squalor, disease and ignorance. The main focus of the solution was flat-rate contributions as well as flat-rate cash benefits, (Titmuss 1950; Hennessy 1992; Powell 1998). Drawing from these two points of view the foundation of the classic welfare state I will take the latter (Five Giants) as most credible, as most of the major features of the welfare state were initiated by the Labour and Conservative governments (Labour’s landslide victory of the conservations after World War two) from this point, such as the planned, approved and implemented universal non-selective NHS 1948. As we now have a beginning context we must explore when the erosion...
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