What is the evidence of welfare state retrenchment in western welfare states?

1. Introduction

1. Crisis of Welfare State

At the end of the 1970’s, the welfare state moved into crisis (OECD, 1981; Rosanvallon, 1981). As the period of high economic growth ended and stagflation appeared, governments couldn’t afford the social expenditure which had been expanded before. Fiscal deficit appeared and unemployment rate started to increase with economic depression.

The idea shared by neo-Marxists and neoliberals was that the redistributive logic of the welfare state was contradicted by the logic of capitalism and that the welfare activities of the state would have to be rolled back or reconfigured so as to conform to the …show more content…

< References >

김인춘. (2002). “복지축소 시대의 복지국가: 이념과 정치”.
조영훈. (2000). “복지국가의 몰락?: 스웨덴 사례 분석을 통한 세계화론의 복지국가 쇠퇴론 검토”. 한국사회학, 제 34집, pp929-949.

Bruno Palier. (2004). “French Welfare Reform in Comparative Perspective”. Revue française de sociologie, Vol. 45, Supplement: An Annual English Selection, pp. 97-124.
Fiona Ross. (2000). “Framing Welfare Reform in Affluent Societies: Rendering Restructuring More Palatable?”. Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 169-193.
Gunther M. Hega. (1996).. “Book Review”. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 917-920.
Jacob S. Hacker. (2004). “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States”. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 98, No. 2, pp. 243-260.
Jonas Edlund. (2006). “Trust in the Capability of the Welfare State and General Welfare State Support: Sweden 1997-2002”.
Michael K. Brown. (1988). “Remaking the Welfare State: Retrenchment and Social Policy in America and Europe”. Acta Sociologica, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 395-417.
Paul Pierson. (1994). “Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher and the Politics of Retrenchment”.
Richard Clayton and Jonas Pontusson. (1998). “Welfare-State Retrenchment Revisited: Entitlement Cuts, Public Sector Restructuring, and Inegalitarian Trends in Advanced Capitalist Societies”.
Samuel H. Beer. (1998). “Welfare