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Definition: welfare state from Philip's Encyclopedia

Description of a state that takes responsibility for the health and subsistence of its citizens. Limited forms of welfare were introduced by Western governments, such as that of Otto von Bismarck in Germany, in the late 19th century. Comprehensive policies covering the whole of society were introduced after World War 2, particularly in Scandinavian countries and the UK, an influential example being the National Health Service (nhs) See also Social Security


Welfare State

From Encyclopedia of Governance
The concept of a welfare state is difficult to define. In the simplest terms, it refers to a state that has assumed some responsibility for individual welfare through the provision of both income transfers and social services. Government provision of social programs includes pensions, unemployment insurance, invalidity and sick pay, social assistance, family assistance, parental leave, health care, care for the elderly and people with disabilities, employment services, specialized services (e.g., alcohol and drug treatment and foster care), and housing. The earliest welfare state developed in Germany in the late nineteenth century, when the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck extended health and social insurance benefits to workers. Today, most advanced industrial countries would be classified as welfare states, with social expenditure in 2001 accounting for an average of over twenty percent of Gross Domestic Product in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, …
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Full text Article welfare state

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
This system of national welfare provision is about the satisfaction of basic human needs , provided through the market , the state or the family . The classical dimensions of welfare are related both to material needs and to recognition and respect, and the concept of welfare has increasingly become…
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Full text Article WELFARE STATE

From Poverty: An International Glossary
The idea of the ‘welfare state’ is widely used but often ill defined (Veit-Wilson 2000). It was ‘invented’ by William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Briggs 2000) – possibly based on a translation of the German term Wohlfahrtsstaat – and defined as the embodiment of European values by the…
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Full text Article welfare state

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
the state provision of benefits and social services intended to improve the wellbeing of citizens. The term was introduced after the Second World War to refer to social legislation, particularly in the areas of health, education, income maintenance, housing and personal social services. The welfare…
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Full text Article welfare state

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
The basic premise of a welfare state is that government has the responsibility for the well-being of its citizens and that this cannot be entrusted to the individual, private corporation or local community. Welfare states typically protect people against poverty by means of unemployment benefits, …
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Full text Article Welfare State

From World of Sociology, Gale
A welfare state is created when a government uses its powers to guarantee a certain standard of living for its constituents. The actual level of aid provided depends upon the individual government; Communist states, such as Cuba and China, provide for all of their people, while capitalist states…
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Full text Article welfare state

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
Colloquial term (originally introduced by Archbishop William Temple (1881–1944), in Citizen and Churchmen , 1941) for a state which makes substantial provision through law and administration for those in need: e.g. the sick, poor, elderly, disabled and indigent. Even the US is now a welfare state in…
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Full text Article Welfare State

From The Oxford Companion to International Relations
The welfare state as a social-scientific concept denotes a modern form of statehood in which individual access to a wide range of social transfers and services is granted as a social right, not as charity or a privilege. By focusing on the form, not the content or the aims, of the welfare state, …
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Full text Article welfare state

From Routledge Dictionary of Economics
A nation that provides for basic needs by using taxation to finance benefits for low-income groups and to deliver free personal services, especially health care. Germany provides one of the earliest examples of a welfare state; Sweden, one of the most comprehensive amongst mixed economies . Since…
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Full text Article welfare state

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Concept of government in which the state plays a key role in protecting and promoting 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 who lack the minimal provisions…
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Full text Article welfare state

From Encyclopedia of American Government and Civics
In 1935 Congress passed the Social Security Act,...
While often referred to today in a pejorative way, the welfare state began as an effort to soften the harsher edges of the system of capitalism. With industrialization came urbanization as workers flocked to the urban areas in hopes of finding gainful employment, but many untrained workers had a…
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