ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to undertake a first conceptualization of welfare state–labor market interactions. The welfare state should also be conceptualized as a major independent variable. A crucial challenge for comparative research is to begin studying the welfare state as a major complex in modern society that has a profound influence on social institutions as the labor market, the family, the class structure, the systems of distribution and redistribution, the normative structure, and gender relations. Of the many social institutions that are likely to be directly shaped and ordered by the welfare state, the labor market is perhaps the most important. The advanced welfare state has developed new principles with regard to its proper role in its citizens’ life cycles. F. Scharpf suggests that taxation levels play a role in explaining welfare states’ capacity to expand social service employment. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
