The Ethos of the Welfare State

Abstract

The welfare state has arisen as a radical consequence of modernisation and may be associated with a variety of ideologies but often is not based on any explicitly. This raises the question of what ethos has the greatest 'elective affinity' with the welfare state and three ideal types of ethos are outlined: the moralistic, amoralist and immoralist. Whereas the United States and Japan exhibit moralistic traits, an Italian peasant society the amoralist, the Netherlands particularly exhibits the immoralist, which has the closest affinity to the welfare state with its emphasis on personal authenticity, consumption, resentment and ant-institutionalism. A welfare state sustained by the immoralist ethos will be particularly vulnerable to declines in consumption when expectations are always rising.