ABSTRACT
One of the principal effects of the advent of 'post-industrial' values has, therefore, been to extend the concept of 'welfare' from the material to the psychological sphere. This has given rise to pressures for the reform or the elimination of institutional arrangements which are seen as inhibiting, as well as the creation of new agencies to maximise individual welfare. Post-industrial values are accordingly seen as both creating a particular 'mental cast', in which policies reflect the assumptions which are 'taken for granted' in policy-makers' view of the world; and producing a motivation for changing particular situations. Judgments as to what constitutes an 'optimum' are of course likely to be highly relative; but should presumably, in an 'ideal' post-industrial system of social policy, be determined by the prevailing level of 'opulence', and what, within it, are felt to be reasonable expectations.
