Theories of the welfare state: a critique

Ian Gough

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The article considers three major non-Marxist explanations of the modern welfare state: functionalist sociological theories, economic theories of government policy, and pluralist theories of democracy. Each is subjected to a critique and all are found wanting, in that none can satisfactorily explain the observable similarities and differences in state welfare intervention within advanced capitalist countries. Functionalist theories can explain the dominant trends at work within all countries, but not the immense diversity in state policies which still persists. Economic and pluralist theories can explain the diversity but not the determinant trends. This failing is related to the separation of objective and subjective aspects in historical explanation: the first school objectifies history, the second subjectifies it. The article concludes by asserting, but not arguing, that a Marxist approach offers a more fruitful way of understanding the welfare state, insofar as it rejects this separation.

JEL-codes: E6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1978
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in International Journal of Health Services, 1978, 8(1), pp. 27-40. ISSN: 0020-7314

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60805/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:60805

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().