ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the case for the 're-moralisation' of the welfare state in recent years. It describes how the element of solidarity of public policies addressed at poor and low-income groups has been explicitly excluded from the welfare debate, only to be deceivingly evoked to justify welfare cuts. The chapter explains the analysis of the most recent trends in Britain will be made from the standpoint of the 'Big Society' project and its role as a moral manifesto of the Coalition government during the recession. The Trojan Horse argument made for the British case can be also applied to the Italian context. A classic theme that is generally debated when family relationships and social safety net are taken into account is that of the Italian bamboccione. Surprisingly, and despite the profound historical differences, in the aftermath of the Great Recession the Italian and the British cases seem to realise a 'self-fulfilling prophecy'.