ABSTRACT
Post-industrial socialism has emanated mainly from Western Europe and it is clearly concerned with presenting a viable alternative to welfare capitalism. This is not to say that the values underpinning postindustrial socialism are not equally applicable in other parts of the world but rather that, in the search to find routes to a more equitable future from present conditions, post-industrial socialists tend to focus on the state of advanced capitalist societies and the potential for change therein. One of the central features of Left-libertarian theory is the critique of the welfare state and the outline of potential socialist alternatives for post-industrial social policy. The post-industrial socialist critique of the welfare state owes much to the perspectives of neoMarxism, feminism and political ecology, although it also accepts some of the elements of the neo-liberal critique of the welfare state without sharing the political sentiment underpinning the latter. Initially this chapter will focus on the areas of convergence and divergence between the neo-Marxist and neo-liberal approaches to the welfare state before moving on to highlight the features of feminist and anti-racist critiques which have also informed the post-industrial socialist perspective. The concluding section will highlight the main principles of the latter and the similarities with and differences from the angle of political ecology. To begin with, though, it is appropriate to analyse briefly some of the key social democratic ideas and principles related to the Keynesian welfare state (KWS) and the state of social welfare in general.
