Western Welfare Regimes

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes how western welfare regimes tend to make a distinction between certain groups within society and how this distinction serves to deny, or at least limit, welfare entitlement for such groups. It examines two specific welfare regimes in order to illustrate these exclusions - those of Germany (pre and post unification) and Sweden. Using Esping Andersen's welfare typologies, those of conservative, liberal and social democratic, it examines welfare and labor market exclusions based on gender and race/ethnicity.

From the Paper:

"The West German Guestworker system, introduced in the 1950s, saw an influx of migrant workers, most notably from Turkey, recruited into low paid, low status work. Since benefit entitlements were linked to work, this group enjoyed access to a range of welfare services and benefits. However, the labor market was racially segregated, with West German workers positioned above guestworkers, and given the equivalence principle, both wages and benefits were paid at a much lower level than to German nationals. Thus, guestworkers were particularly susceptible to poverty (Clasen, 1994)."

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