Father of the welfare state? Beveridge and the emergence of the welfare state (original) (raw)

Liberal Economists and the British Welfare State: from Beveridge to the New Right

The chapter explores the relationship between liberal economists and the welfare state in three ways. First I look at the liberals whom Hayek associated with collectivism in the 1940s, Beveridge and Keynes, and ask how different their conceptions of the welfare state were from his. The I look at liberal critiques of different aspects of the welfare state: income support, the National Health Service, education, housing and employment policy. Finally I offer brief observations on the impact of the New Right on the welfare state in the 1980s.

Welfare State within the Scope of Bismarck, Beveridge's Attempts and Key Points of European Union

2024

This article analyzes the historical development of the welfare state concept in the European Union, dating back its roots to the social systems of Otto von Bismarck and Sir William Beveridge, which means almost 100 years between the 19th and 20th centuries. It refers to these foundational models and how they continue to shape the current approach to social welfare within the European Union. The key characteristics of a welfare state are examined including providing social security, ensuring minimum standards of living, offering healthcare access, and so on. It highlights Bismarck's social insurance system, funded through contributions, and Beveridge's universal social security system, financed by taxation, and their differentiated models, roughly. Both models aimed to address social issues, poverty, and what great events brought. It is emphasized that the strong commitment to welfare state principles within the European Union. It highlights that European Union member countries spend a significant portion of their GDP on social transfers, demonstrating their dedication to the welfare state concept. Public opinion surveys also reveal that citizens prioritize factors like standard of living, working conditions, and healthcare access, which underlines the importance of the welfare state in the European Union. It is suggested that the key concepts of the welfare state will likely remain, as they address fundamental human needs and economic stability.

Creating the Welfare State in Britain, 1945–1960

Journal of Social Policy, 1996

ABSTRACTPolitical consensus on the scope and structure of the welfare state in post-war Britain has been much overstated. The Labour governments (1945–51), committed to universalism and a planned economy, gave state welfare a central role in guaranteeing ‘fair shares for all’ and used it to help secure union co-operation over wage restraint. The Conservative governments (1951–64), committed to the restoration of ‘sound finance’, abandoned these objectives and attacked components of the welfare state designed to control prices and mediate demands for higher wages. The author concludes that, for comparative social policy studies to be effective, differing frameworks of state welfare have to be more exactly defined.

From welfare state to entitlement programmes

Futures, 2012

This paper reviews the record on the development of the welfare state. The Beveridge model though world famous had few imitators and insurance based models were more common. The irony of development was that the United States which had the greatest resistance now has the most severe problem with rising spending. From 1990 onwards there was a phase of reform with three there key variables in play, concern about competitiveness (Germany), the power of recipients of entitlement programmes (US) and concerns about work incentives (UK). The recession has made the problem of containing welfare spending more urgent but the political resistance has increased. The welfare state, the consensus programme for social solidarity of the twentieth century was set to be he focus for political conflict and social division in the 21st century.

Beveridge’s rival: Juliet Rhys-Williams and the campaign for basic income, 1942–55

Contemporary British History, 2015

Historians of Britain's postwar welfare state have long been aware of the shortcomings of the social insurance model, but the political impact of the Beveridge report has tended to obscure the alternative visions of welfare canvassed in the 1940s and 1950s. This article examines the social activist Juliet Rhys-Williams' campaign for the integration of the tax and benefit systems and the provision of a universal basic income, which attracted wide interest from economists, journalists, and Liberal and Conservative politicians during and after the Second World War. Though Rhys-Williams' proposals were not adopted, they helped establish a distinctive 'social market' perspective on welfare provision which has become central to British social policy debates since the 1960s and 1970s. 3 Harris, William Beveridge; Addison, The Road to 1945. 4 I use the term 'basic income' throughout this article in the interests of convenience and clarity, though strictly speaking it is an anachronism: it appears to have been coined by G. D. H. Cole in 1953 and only gained wide currency in the 1980s. Contemporaries generally used the term 'social dividend', though Rhys-Williams preferred to talk about 'positive allowances'. Several economists, philosophers, and social policy experts have discussed Rhys-Williams' scheme on the basis of her published works: see especially Atkinson,

Modern Social Security and Beveridge’s Giants

2021

The system of social security in the UK is comprised largely of Universal Credit. This benefit is the newest version of social security for the UK but the aims are largely similar to those proposed by William Beveridge in 1942. Universal Credit was intended to simplify the system of social security in the UK, whilst also ensuring claimants receive the best possible service along with the help and support they need. However, despite these intentions Universal Credit has faced a number of issues and criticism, not only from claimants but also from organisations such as the Trussell Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Shelter. Universal Credit is still are facing these issues with little reform in sight. This research will explore and analyse Universal Credit and the issues inherent within it along with the consequences of these issues. This research will also analyse whether these benefits still tackle William Beveridge’s social evils