This new study assesses the welfare state to ask key questions and draw new conclusions about its place in modern society. It shows how the welfare states that we have inherited from the early post-war years had one main objective: to protect the income of the male breadwinner. Today, however, massive social change, in particular the shift from industrial to post-industrial societies and economies, have resulted in new demands being put on welfare states. These demands originate from situations that are typical of the new family and labour market structures that have become widespread in western countries since the 1970s and 1980s, characterised by the clear prevalence of service employment and by the massive entry of women in the labour market. Against this background, this book: * presents a precise and clear definition of 'new social risks'. A concept being increasingly used in welfare state literature. * focuses on the groups that are mostly exposed to new social risks (women, the young, the low-skilled) in order to study their political behaviour. * assesses policymaking processes that can lead to successful adaptation. It covers key areas such as child care, care for elderly people, adapting pensions to atypical career patterns, active labour market policies, and policy making at the EU level. This book will be of great interest for all students and scholars of politics, sociology and the welfare state in particular.
Author(s): Klaus Armingeon and Giuliano Bonoli
Edition: 1
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 272
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Figures......Page 10
Tables......Page 11
Contributors......Page 13
Acknowledgements......Page 18
Part I: The politics of new social risk......Page 20
1. New social risks and the politics of post-industrial social policies......Page 22
2. Political parties and new social risks: The double backlash against Social Democracy and Christian Democracy......Page 46
3. New social risk and political preferences......Page 71
4. Public attitudes and new social risk reform......Page 102
5. Reconciling competing claims of the welfare state clientele: The politics of old and new social risk coverage in comparative perspective......Page 119
6. Trade union movements in post-industrial welfare states: Opening up to new social interests?......Page 142
7. Combating old and new social risks......Page 162
Part II: Patterns of policy adaptation......Page 188
8. New social risks and pension reform in Germany and Sweden: The politics of pension rights for childcare......Page 190
9. New labour market risks and the revision of unemployment protection systems in Europe......Page 211
10. Childcare policies in diverse European welfare states: Switzerland, Sweden, France and Britain......Page 230
11. Providing coverage against new social risks in Bismarckian welfare states: The case of long-term care......Page 246
12. The European Union and new social risks: The need for a differentiated evaluation......Page 267
Bibliography......Page 283
Index......Page 308
