Social welfare and social control

Cumbers, A. and McMaster, R. (2018) Social welfare and social control. In: Jo, T.-H., Chester, L. and D'Ippoliti, C. (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Heterodox Economics: Theorizing, Analyzing and Transforming Capitalism. Routledge: London and New York, pp. 499-512. ISBN 9781138899940

Abstract

This chapter provides an illustration of the elements of what may be considered to be heterodox economic thinking on the nature of social welfare and social control, and the relationships between them. We assume that social welfare relates to a class of functions, such as education, economic security, health care, and housing, which are provided by, or associated with the welfare state in developed or high-income capitalist economies. 1 This is not to say that the state necessarily delivers services in those areas, but is responsible for their provisioning, implying also some varying forms of financial commitment. Our description departs from the neoclassical economic interpretation of social welfare, which is largely delineated by welfare economics, following utilitarian and/or Paretian reasoning in attempting to establish and measure well-being (Mandler 1999). Heterodox economic approaches reject the philosophical basis of this notion of social welfare (Lawson 2006). Instead, according to Lawson, heterodoxy is concerned with the analysis of the social structures and processes that influence material well-being.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cumbers, Professor Andrew and McMaster, Professor Robert
• Authors: Cumbers, A., and McMaster, R.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 9781138899940
• Published Online: 28 July 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 the contributors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy