ABSTRACT
The literature on unproductive labour/consumption has so far examined shows that economists had cherished the idea of the welfare state since the 18th century. The final goal of capitalist accumulation was precisely that. But once the welfare state was attained, few economists realised its importance. Yet the welfare state has constituted one of the greatest turning points in human progress. Even the lowest social classes could enjoy some constant and substantial benefit from the increase in wealth due to capitalist accumulation. The rapid and extended increase in wealth and comfort generated by the welfare state apparently caused more resistance than approval. In the past, too, similar booms of consumption had raised hostility–from the pauperist movements of the Middle Ages to the radical religious sects or the moralists of the 17th century and on to various 19th-century utopians. The views on the conclusion of the accumulation process suggest that something decisive went missing in the experience of the welfare state.
