Social Justice, Legitimacy and the Welfare State

Drawing together leading international experts such as Knut Halvorsen, Robert Y. Shapiro, Stefan Svallfors and Wim van Oorschot, this volume addresses issues of justice and legitimacy in the context of welfare state transformation. The contributors demonstrate that the Western welfare state is not at risk of losing support or encountering fundamental opposition, but does face serious challenges including growing social and ethnic diversity, new social risks, fiscal constraints and contested notions of justice. The volume focuses on four main aspects: attitude formation in cross-national perspective, the just distribution of burdens and benefits, political factors mediating the effects of social attitudes on public policy and challenges to the welfare state stemming from immigration and ethnic diversity. Providing a comparative perspective on the issue, Social Justice, Legitimacy and the Welfare State makes a significant contribution to the literature on the public standing of the welfare state.

'This edited collection of conference and invited papers offers a coherent, well-researched and detailed international picture of public attitudes to social justice and the welfare state.' Citizen's Income 'This book provides an up-to-date overview of research on public opinion about the fairness of welfare state arrangements. It is particularly timely as restructuring raises questions about the legitimacy of benefit systems and about citizens' willingness to pay the taxes and social contributions expected from them.' Peter Taylor-Gooby, University of Kent, UK '...the editors are to be commended for providing a stimulating contribution to the continuing moral and philosophical debate about the future of social welfare.' Reviewed in Ethics and Social Welfare

Steffen Mau is Professor of Political Sociology and Director of the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS) at the University of Bremen, Germany. He works in the fields of comparative welfare research, social inequality, transnationalization and European integration. Recent publications include The Moral Economy of Welfare States. Britain and Germany Compared (2003); and Challenges to the Welfare State (3 volumes, edited with S. Leibfried, 2007). Benjamin Veghte is Assistant Professor and Director of Studies at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany. He works in the fields of US social policy, politics, social inequality and political mobilization, all in historical-comparative context. He has published on the issues of social housing, health care, social assistance and trade-based social policy.