ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the impact of the transformation of the welfare state on the processes of social regeneration and public participation. It analyses initially welfare as a moral institution whose purpose is to build solidarity among individuals, generations, and social classes. The chapter describes the changes that have taken place in welfare systems, showing how reforms have contributed to the emergence of individualisation and to the weakening of the institutional and social mechanisms that used to ensure social cohesion. The traditional welfare state that emerged in the first post-war period in Western societies rested on values of solidarity and collective responsibility. The chapter concludes by describing the tensions and risks related to the weakening of the solidarist function of welfare, and stresses the importance of supporting new processes and institutions aimed at social regeneration, public participation, and reorganisation of the production of services.
