Poverty Welfare and the Disciplinary States
Contents: Preface. 1. Redefining the poor. 2. The new agrarianism. 3. The Green Revolution. 4. Impoverishing the poor. 5. The welfare system. 6. Welfare and poverty. 7. Towards a penal state. 8. Embracing capitalism. 9. Abandoning the poor. Bibliography. Index.
A welfare state is a concept of government where the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may covers a variety of forms of economic and social organization.
Modern welfare states developed through a gradual process beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing through the twentieth. They differed from previous schemes of poverty relief due to their relatively universal coverage. The postwar welfare state was founded not to police the margins of society but to provide a universal level of security that all of us need. Perhaps the most potent of these transformations has been in a shift away from the universalism of the early welfare state to a new selectivitist philosophy.
A welfare state is a concept of government where the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may covers a variety of forms of economic and social organization.
Modern welfare states developed through a gradual process beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing through the twentieth. They differed from previous schemes of poverty relief due to their relatively universal coverage. The postwar welfare state was founded not to police the margins of society but to provide a universal level of security that all of us need. Perhaps the most potent of these transformations has been in a shift away from the universalism of the early welfare state to a new selectivitist philosophy.
