ABSTRACT
The labour market has a strong influence on the definition and development of social policies. Notwithstanding, the social policy of a state is not merely an appendix of the labour market; the labour market itself is also influenced by the social policy. The neoliberal paradigm conditions the policy-making process through conceptions of the social. This chapter studies the recent historical development of social policies in Spain, being very influenced by the church and the lack of rights during the dictatorship. A quantitative characterisation of the evolution of state expenditure in social policy follows. It has been low in comparative terms and stable after the 1980s. Then it deals with some tendencies which have marked the nature of these policies, especially with individualisation, moralisation, punitive control, and decentralisation. Minimum income support is dealt with in more detail to illustrate the functioning of the neoliberal social policies.
