ABSTRACT
The legislation emanating from the Beveridge report and associated with it, and the approach to welfare that it represented have dominated the study of welfare in Britain. The chapter presents essays, which deal in general terms with the complex pattern of intellectual forces which have shaped, and are shaping, the contemporary study of welfare. It discusses the history of welfare provision or emerging approaches to analysis of welfare in society. It is clear that in which the older notions and certainties of the 'welfare state' will be even more seriously questioned. There have always been, as several essays show, those opposed to organised welfare because they believe it to be redistributive, pauperising, or a threat to morals. Several contributors indicate the insularity of British approaches to welfare which may be seen as a result of that long period of intense self-regard.
