ABSTRACT
The concept of modernization in this chapter emphasizes the multidimensionality and interre-latedness of developmental processes. It is concerned with the relationship between the growth of mass democracies and welfare state policies, since sufficient information on the growth of state bureaucracies is still largely missing for most European countries. The concept of modernization has largely replaced the traditional concept of development as well as superseded more specific concepts such as industrialization and democratization. The distinction between markets, associations, and state bureaucracies as the three main organizational sectors of society is used now to draft a sectoral model of the development of welfare states. Since the origins of the modern welfare states are closely related to the "social question" and the labor movement, differences in the strength and coherence of working class parties and trade unions are most important for explaining variations in welfare state developments.
