THE WELFARE REGIME OF THE US

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THE WELFARE REGIME OF THE US

• Some unorganized thoughts
• By Vache Gabrielyan

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The U.S. Liberal Welfare System

• a low degree of decommodification (i.e. the
  relative independence of the system towards the
  compulsion and risks of the capitalistic market)
  and a dominant role of the free market and the
  family
• little social rights, a low level of benefits,
  little redistribution of wealth, social
  stigmatization and a high degree of private
  welfare
• a strong institutionalized working-culture, where
  social insecurity is used as a motor of
  economical development (Esping-Andersen 1997).

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The Clinton administration (New Left) policies

• Flexibilization and deregulation of labor
• The low-wages-high-employment strategy
• Protecting the family as the basic moral
  institution.

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The Ideal Concepts (Leitbild)Behind the US
Welfare System

• Welfare capitalism (i.e. the notion that social
  problems can be solved without any state
  intervention by the economy and society itself)
  is the predominant Leitbild behind American
  welfare politics. Alternative Leitbilder (e.g.
  communitarianism) only reach the core of welfare
  politics if they fit into the liberal philosophy
  of the U.S.A.
• Moral individualism (i.e. the notion that every
  individual has a responsibility towards the
  "truly needy" and hes supposed to get involved
  somehow in political or civil associations which
  care for the poor, rather than delegate his
  responsibility to the government) is the general
  Leitbild in the American society. It keeps up the
  private dimension of welfare and makes Welfare
  Capitalism possible (Matthias Zeylmans).

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THE UPSIDE
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THE DOWNSIDE