William Alexander Robson - Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality

Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...51

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: WELFARE AND THE STATE

Volume 17

WELFARE STATE AND WELFARE SOCIETY

WELFARE STATE AND WELFARE SOCIETY

Illusion and Reality

WILLIAM A. ROBSON

First published in 1976 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1976 George Allen & Unwin Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-61373-7 (Set)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45813-2 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-62485-6 (Volume 17) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-45868-2 (Volume 17) (ebk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Welfare State and Welfare Society

Illusion and Reality

by

WILLIAM A. ROBSON

Professor Emeritus of Public Administration in the University of London Honorary Fellow and Lecturer at the London School of Economics

London

George Allen & Unwin Ltd

Ruskin House Museum Street

First published in 1976

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers.

George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1976

ISBN 0 04 360040 9 hardback

0 04 360041 7 paperback

I had three main aims in writing this book. First, to describe the sources and origins of the welfare state and to explain its nature. In doing so I have gathered together many different aspects of social life which have not hitherto been recognised as elements of the welfare state, but which I regard as forming an essential part of it. At the same time, I have shown how unsatisfactory is the view that the welfare state is mainly or exclusively concerned with providing social services of various kinds to the needy and underprivileged members of the community. It is my firm conviction that a welfare state worthy of the name must be concerned with the well-being of the entire nation.

A second aim has been to distinguish the welfare state from the welfare society. The welfare state is what Parliament has decreed and the Government does. The welfare society is what people do, feel and think about matters which bear on the general welfare. Failure to understand the difference is the cause of much conflict, friction and frustration, for there is often a yawning gulf between public policy and social attitudes. Unless people generally reflect the policies and assumptions of the welfare state in their attitudes and actions, it is impossible to fulfil the objectives of the welfare state.

The third aim is to inquire how far the hopes and expectations which were centred in the welfare state during the post-war years have been realised. To deal with this question in detail would require a work of much greater magnitude; but I have attempted to give a brief appraisal of some major features.

In the course of discussion I have indicated the economic, social and political policies which are likely to promote the purposes of a welfare state and also, per contra, the policies or doctrines which do not appear to be appropriate though they are often advocated in the name of the welfare state.

There is at present no philosophy of the welfare state and there is an urgent and deep need for such a theory. I cannot claim to have formulated a welfare state philosophy, but I have presented a number of propositions on which such a philosophy could be based. I find it strange that political philosophers should spend their time endlessly working over the texts of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill and the other great men of the past, without attempting to bring the world of thought into relation with the contemporary world of action.

The short length of this book made it necessary to touch briefly on many matters which could and should be explored at much greater length. Many detailed studies of particular aspects are needed, and some have already been published. But the book I wanted to write was one which took a broad look over a wide horizon, and this inevitably involves the acceptance of certain limitations. The first book I wrote was a long-forgotten study entitled The Relation of Wealth to Welfare published in 1925. During the ensuing half-century I have been more or less continually concerned with problems of human welfare.

My references to Japan in are based on three visits to that country in recent years. During two of these visits I was asked to advise the Governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government about problems concerning the administration, organisation and planning of the capital city. I have also visited the other great cities of Japan, and, in addition, have had exceptional opportunities for becoming acquainted at first hand with the problems of New York City.

My thanks are due to the Rockefeller Foundation for a grant which enabled me to appoint Mr W. H. Hampton as Research Assistant some time ago. I am grateful to Professor David Donnison for reading the manuscript and giving me the benefit of his comments. I am also greatly indebted to Mrs Shirley Grinter and Mrs Barbara Sloane for their valuable help in typing the manuscript.

WILLIAM A. ROBSON

London School of Economics and Political Science

Contents

Since the end of the Second World War the statement has been made with increasing emphasis that Britain is a welfare state. The statement is generally accepted by the British people, but not much effort has been made to discover what is the nature of the welfare state. The object of this book is not only to analyse the nature of the welfare state and its problems, but also to consider the meaning of welfare and the characteristics of a welfare society. A welfare state and a welfare society are by no means synonymous. Indeed, some of our most serious difficulties are due to the fact that we are trying to be a welfare state without being a welfare society.

Next page

1234567...51

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality»

Look at similar books to Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Bill Jordan

Freedom and the Welfare State

Jennifer Dale

Feminists and State Welfare

Fiona William

Welfare Research

Powell

The Political Economy of the Irish Welfare State: Church, State and Capital

Ramesh Mishra

Welfare State Capitalst Society

Paul Spicker

Arguments for Welfare: The Welfare State and Social Policy

Goodin

Reasons for Welfare: The Political Theory of the Welfare State

Gamble

Can the Welfare State Survive?

George R. Boyer

The Winding Road to the Welfare State: Economic Insecurity and Social Welfare Policy in Britain

James Bartholomew

The Welfare State We’re In

Bent Greve

Historical Dictionary of the Welfare State

Gerhard Lehmbruch

Renegotiating the Welfare State

Discussion, reviews of the book Welfare State and Welfare Society: Illusion and Reality and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.