Some contradictions of the welfare state
Revisited
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7174178 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chris Ó Rálaigh (0000-0002-0618-1039, Technological University Dublin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 369-386 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Social Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-0183 • E-ISSN: 1461-703X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02610183241305557 |
| OpenAlex | W4406795676 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 34 |
It is now 40 years since the publication of Claus Offe's classical paper, Some Contradictions of the Modern Welfare State . Much change has occurred to the form and content of welfare states over the intervening years, yet in addition to change, continuities are very much evident, and it is this constellation of developments – alongside anniversarial convenience – which has motivated a re-examination of Offe's seminal work on the contradictions of welfare states. This anniversary article re-introduces and provides a critique of the original paper before moving on to a historical comparison of the major political economic and societal differences which sets the scene for a concluding review of the major contradictions within welfare states in contemporary times. The paper argues that the core historical contradiction identified by Offe – that between the accumulation requirements of capital and the legitimation requirements of political elites to satiate the welfare needs of populations – remains at the core of contemporary contradictions
Economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Welfare · Welfare state · Computer Science · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Power
Heat, Greed and Human Need
The Fiscal Crisis of the State
Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022
Buying Time
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
Contradictions of the Welfare State
Work–life balance and gig work
Selections from the Prison Notebooks
Not only the poor
International Migration Outlook 2023
The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism
Sustainable welfare in the EU
Benefits broods’
A Case of Mistaken Identity
Everyone Is on Welfare
How Will Capitalism End
A prolegomenon to an ecological marxism
Neo-Colonialism
Brief History of Neoliberalism
Is the left right? The creeping embourgeoisement of social democracy through homeownership
Colonialism, Postcolonialism and the Liberal Welfare State
Capitalism
Relations of extraction, relations of redistribution
The Welfare State
Global Talent Flows
The forces that shape us
Ruling the Interregnum
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |