Opportunity and Solidarity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2115247
AutoresPeter Taylor-Gooby (0000-0002-4825-1250, University of Kent, autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume40
Fascículo3
Páginas453-470
Data de publicação2011-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279410000681
OpenAlexW2010225793
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas51

Current restructuring of provision across European welfare states emphasises proactivity, individual responsibility and access to opportunities. Much established social protection rests on a more passive approach and seeks to provide security against the risks encountered during a normal life-course, together with some redistribution towards the poor. A more liberal individualism may suit a more globalised and post-industrial world in which the logic of markets is more powerful and the working class correspondingly weaker. From one perspective, it risks damaging the support for collective provision on which the welfare state rests. This paper uses data from the 2008 European Social Survey to examine whether the shift in responsibility for outcomes more towards individuals may threaten the political legitimacy of welfare states. It shows that a corresponding proactivity of government to secure good access to more equal opportunities for vulnerable groups is required to support individual proactivity in grasping opportunities

Business · Economic Justice · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Individualism · Legitimacy · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Proactivity · Redistribution (election) · Restructuring · Solidarity · Welfare · Welfare state · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology