Week 14 Lecture 2 PowerPoint (The Welfare State)

Question 1

Welfare State

Answer 1

wellbeing of the state

• a government that facilitates programs promoting social welfare
• committed to influencing markets and social forces with the ultimate goal of achieving greater equality

*Origins of post-war and economic disaster
*Great depression
*Canada - post WWII

A significant portion of the population lived in poverty and citizens demanded more from their state/gov
- argued states should intervene to improve the population’s quality of life

EXAMPLES OF WELFARE
- housing
- funding
- health care
- education
- labour wages
- old age pensions
- aid to those struggling financially

Question 2

THREE MAIN CATEGORIES WELFARE STATES OFFER

Answer 2

1. cash
2. goods & services (food banks, prescription drugs, child care)
3. regulation (child labour laws, mandated minimum wage, stat holidays, )

Question 3

Welfare Sectors (4)

Answer 3

Public Sector - – the welfare “state” technically only refers to government programs and/or regulations.

Private Sector - private daycares, mental health services and supports

Non-profit/community sector - can be partially government-funded or privately funded, and is often subsidized by tax deductions

Informal Sector - benefits, goods, and services that family members or other informal groups give each other (family)

Question 4

Gosta Esping-Enderson

Answer 4

famous for classifying welfare states as regimes

Argues welfare states are shaped by:

• How the working class mobilizes
• aligning interests, political groups build coalitions as societies shift (ex. Housing)
• How past reforms shape the institutionalization of preferences and political behaviour

*Once a well-fare state is selected it is engrained in society, hard to over turn because peoples attitudes tend to reinforce it

Ex. People often vote based on taxation, however, abolishing all aspects of the welfare state system would eliminate benefits people have come to rely on. (public education + Healthcare)

Question 5

Anderson THREE types of classifying welfare states

Answer 5

1. Liberal Welfare States (market-led)
   - High stratification
   - low decommodification
2. Conservative Welfare States (family-led)
   *Women staying home to care for children
   - medium stratification
   - medium decommodification
3. Social Democratic Welfare States (state is responsible for delivering welfare)
   *State responsible for offsetting inequalitites
   - Low stratification
   - High decommodification

Question 6

Social Democratic benefits

Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden

Answer 6

free childcare
free postsecondary
advanced transportation systems

Question 7

Gender in the wellfare state
ORLOFF

Answer 7

*Any analysis of welfare state must envolve gender
GENDER AND WELLFARE STATE DEEPLY ENTWINED

a. gender relations shape wellfare state

b. wellfare state shapes gender

*Women earn less than men = total pensions lower
*Women more likely to work part-time and contract = less benefits
*Women often recieve social assistance programs = survellance, stigmatized, future barriers
*Women are generally expected to take on unpaid labour in the home = caregiving, childcare, caring for seniors

Question 8

TWO DOMINANT APPROACHES TO ANALYZE GENDER IN WELFARE STATES - ORLOFF

Answer 8

1. Social reproduction of gender inequalities. Welfare states uphold the gender divide of labour, where women are responsible for domestic work and men are responsible for economic support “breadwinner”

Challenge: Parental leave now exists, paternal not just maternal leave.

2. Alleviate gender inequlaity. Welfare states reduce poverty for women post-WWII. Provide social assistance in services to women in difficult circumstances (ex. single mothers)

Question…

Either/Or or Both/And

Orloff - it’s our job to uncover…

Question 9

Orloff FOUR things we should be doing

Answer 9

1. analyze women’s roles as policy makers in the development of welfare states (men imposed welfare state on women in the past)
2. Show how ideas about motherhood have influenced welfare state formation (less stay-at-stay-at-home moms, views on child care also shift)
3. Compare of various welfare regime types impact gender relations (*From Anderson)
4. Demonstrate how the relationship between states and markets impact women’s labour force participation and roles in the family