Welfare in an Idle Society?

Reinventing Retirement, Work, Wealth, Health and Welfare
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-46761-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 702 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 1460 g

The modern welfare state is indeed one of the greatest achievements of the post-war 20th century. With its key aims of eradicating the five giant social ills of Want, Ignorance, Disease, Squalor and Idleness, it aimed to providing a minimum standard of living, with all people of working age paying a weekly contribution; in return, benefits would be paid to anyone who was sick, unemployed, retired or widowed. The modern welfare state, therefore, is about maintaining a delicate equilibrium between dependent social groups on the one hand and the active working classes on the other. In the case of old-age security, this balance is being achieved (or not) by the so-called Generation Contract. This social pact is more of an implicit, unwritten and unspecified social contract. This ground-breaking book demonstrates how countries are addressing population-ageing challenges in depth, using the case study of Austria to gain the required complexity and differentiation in a comparative European framework of empirical evidence. This is a broad social science study in political economy and sociology, not an economic analysis. Though focusing on pensions, it centres on the (im)balance between work and non-work, issues of health, work ability, employability, and benefit receipt from old-age security to disability allowance. It will be required reading for all sociologists and social policy experts and academics working within this area.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Marin, Bernd

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Soziale Dienste, Soziale Organisationen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Sozialpolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface and Acknowledgements, Introduction, Part I: Global Ageing Challenges and 21st Century Austrian Pension Future, Part II: Doomed to Fail - or Robust, Fair, and Sustainable? Reinventing Social Security, Welfare and Self-Governance, Part III: Invalidity Pensions - or Disability Insurance?, Part IV: Women’s Work and Pensions: Gender-Sensitive Arrangements, Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Bernd Marin is Executive Director of the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna, Austria.