Social Support Programs

U.S. Programs in a Comparative Perspective

In his seminal work on the welfare state and its place in capitalist economies, GØsta Esping-Andersen introduces the “three worlds” typology. The categories of this typology—social democratic, conservative, and liberal—reflect contrasting approaches to social support programs. Esping-Andersen uses the term welfare regimes to describe these categories. The ways in which welfare is produced and allocated between state, market, and family differ across the three regime types. Two aspects of Esping-Andersen's typology [Page 805]are of particular importance: the extent to which welfare states grant entitlements independent of market participation and the ways in which welfare states both reduce and produce inequality. Esping-Andersen calls the former “degree of decommodification” and the latter “modes of stratification.”

Degree of decommodification and modes of stratification differ across the three welfare regimes. Hence, contrasting arrangements between state, market, and family exist among the regime types. In general, social democratic welfare regimes offer universal entitlements, marginalize private welfare, and implement full employment policies. This approach results in low poverty and low inequality. In contrast, liberal welfare regimes extend entitlements based on demonstrable and abject need, encourage private welfare, and avoid state involvement except in cases where the market fails. This approach results in high poverty and high inequality. Finally, conservative welfare regimes fall somewhere between social democratic and liberal welfare regimes. Entitlements are associated with occupational status, and the state intervenes only when the family's capacity to take care of its members is exhausted. The conservative approach reinforces traditional status relations.

Though he contends that welfare states cluster into these three different regime types, Esping-Andersen acknowledges that no single pure case exists. For example, a predominantly social democratic welfare regime may not be free from certain liberal elements. Nevertheless, Esping-Andersen determines that the Scandinavian countries are social democratic, the continental European countries are conservative, and the Anglo-Saxon countries are liberal. According to Esping-Andersen's typology, then, the United States is a liberal welfare regime. In short, what this designation means is that the United States relies heavily on the institutions of the private sector when it comes to social support programs. Although many countries provide social supports as an entitlement of citizenship, labor market participation strongly conditions access to these supports in the United States. The passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, which introduced Social Security, unemployment insurance, and poverty assistance, firmly established the link between work and eligibility for public support. The rules pertaining to coverage and eligibility for each of these programs are based on individuals’ participation in the labor market.

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