The Politics of Post-Industrial Welfare States - Adapting Post-War Social Policies to New Social Risks (Hardcover, Annotated Ed)

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. They secured his place in the labor market and provided a replacement income when work was not possible because of old age, invalidity, sickness or unemployment. 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 labor market structures that have become widespread in western countries since the 1970s and 1980s, characterized by the clear prevalence of service employment and by the massive entry of women in the labor market.
Against this background, this book:
* Presents a precise and clear definition of "new social risks." A concept being increasingly used in the 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 behavior.
* 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 labor 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.