ABSTRACT
The basic concept of the welfare state is the use of the state to provide welfare, from guaranteeing people a minimum income irrespective of their market value to offering all citizens without distinction of status and class the best standards available in relation to an agreed range of social services and benefits (Briggs, 1965). This is fundamentally different from the concept of the welfare society, primarily the family and voluntary associations that provide welfare (Rodger, 2000; Wong et al., 2002). Therefore, the welfare state is defined as using the state to provide welfare and benefits. In Western welfare theory, the welfare state is located at the interface of two sets of rights, or “rules of the game” (Gintis and Bowles, 1982, pp. 341–5)—citizen rights underlying the democratic institutions of society, and property rights underlying the capitalist market system. These two sets of rights are in constant and persistent contradiction with each other. According to neo-Marxist theorists, the contradictions underlying the welfare state are functional for the very existence of capitalism because they legitimize the accumulation function of capital (O’Connors, 1973; Gough, 1979; Offe, 1984).
