Worlds of welfare services and transfers

Abstract

The discussion on the existence and nature of the welfare regimes of Western democracies has been ongoing for more than 15 years, and many significant contributions have been made. The scholarly work has, however, had a tendency to focus on the transfer component of welfare states, thereby losing sight of the welfare service component. This article argues two aspects. First, the transfer component and welfare service component are two distinct dimensions of welfare regimes. Second, great differences exist between health care and social care services; health care is characterized by very uniform levels of expenditure across countries, while expenditure on social care services conforms to the regime typology of Esping-Andersen. This is taken to indicate that the welfare service component consists of two different types of services distinguished by the importance of the two ideological dimensions of familiarism and statism during the formative years of these welfare service sectors.