State Provisioning

The purpose of state provisioning of social welfare is to redistribute economic resources and thereby to increase social and economic equality among populations. This task has been pursued in two major ways by modern welfare states: by direct income transfers from government and by public services, such as health care, education, social services, housing, and so forth. For consumers and consumer cultures, the ways of welfare provisioning are important not only in terms of economic resources, but also in terms of social inclusion and the ability to choose between goods and services in the market. According to Zygmunt Bauman, people living in poverty in consumer society do not have free choice over marketed goods and services and are therefore in danger of becoming socially excluded. ...