ABSTRACT
The prevention – or at least alleviation – of poverty is one of the central tasks of the welfare state and also one of the crucial yardsticks against which to measure its success (Ringen, 1987, p. 141; Goodin et al., 1999). Hence, questions regarding poor relief are of fundamental importance for the welfare state. Although most scholars would probably agree that the welfare state entails more than the reduction of poverty, it would still be difficult to argue that a society in which a high level of poverty prevails could be regarded as a welfare state. Hence, public support for the poor is often seen as the ‘moral bottom line’ of the welfare state (Mau, 2003, p. 117).
