ABSTRACT
The ongoing neoliberalization of social welfare policy itself is now taking place during a time of transformation that is fraught with risks for individuals, families, and societies as a whole, indeed for the global economy overall. The neoliberalization of social welfare policy indicates a stark shift in orientation. Neoliberalism evolved in the twentieth century from being the preoccupation of economic theorists to becoming the default logic for public policymaking across the globe. Neoliberalism is not anti-liberalism, instead it is a new form of liberalism. It is about both economic and political liberalism. Neoliberalism as enacted today is producing nothing less than a regime-wide transformation of the welfare state. Neoliberalism involves both carrots and sticks; it is about discipline more than just punishment. The marketization of the welfare state involves both neoliberal organization reforms and policy tools to enact its market-centered focus to combating welfare dependency.
