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Since Britain announced the creation of the world's first welfare state, many countries in Europe have joined in"Welfare state"of the ranks. However, the domestic academic community is generally right"Welfare state"Be negative and always associate it with"Welfare dependency"、"Poor"、"Slouches"and other words, and even some scholars are critical and think that it is"Utopia"dreams. However, the general public is not clear about what the welfare state is talking about, and even distorts the discussion of the welfare state. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the misunderstanding of the welfare state.
The core goal of the welfare state is to pursue equality among people and to put the well-being of every citizen first. The concept originated in 19th-century Germany, when Bismarck implemented a police-state policy, which German historians described as creating one"Welfare state"policy. Nowadays, the Federal Republic of Germany is more inclined to use it"Social-state"to express similar concepts. This system is mainly reflected:"Redistribution of rich and poor"to adjust the income gap between the rich and the poor through tax payments and welfare subsidies. For example, Sweden's income tax rate is progressive, and the higher the income, the more taxes are paid, which allows the real income gap between the average person and the wealthy to narrow. As the welfare state has evolved, it has been criticized for its approach. The article "The Origin, Essence and Harm of Welfarism" published by the People's Tribune Network made a profound criticism of the welfare state. From practical criticism, the high level of welfare has led to an increase in the number of lazy people who are unwilling to work, weakened the enthusiasm and production enthusiasm of workers, and made the economic recovery lack support. Welfarism favors short-term solutions, overdrawing the future to solve problems, leading to a sharp increase in the deficit, creating enormous fiscal pressures. Politicians are constrained by votes in the hands of supporters Once the welfare system is reformed, it is easy to reduce the approval rate, leading to a vicious circle of political operation and social development. In some developed countries, inequality in the distribution of income and wealth is becoming more serious, and problems such as social **, populism and political polarization are also becoming more prominent.
From the theoretical point of view, the philosophical basis of welfarist thought is utilitarianism, which regards human beings as animals that pursue pleasure and avoid pain, and takes pleasure and pain as the only motive and criterion for behavioral choices. In contrast, Marxism regards human beings as the creative force and the most active element of social development, emphasizing the realization of human spiritual strength and dignity. Man's mission is to work for the happiness of mankind and his own perfection, not to pursue vanity. Welfarism fails to link economic problems with human dignity and full and free development, stays at the material level, and becomes an external force that restricts human development. The article argues that only by treating the state, society and the individual as one, and transforming the guarantee of the welfare system into the inner strength of the people, can the internal motivation of social labor be promoted. In fact, the welfare state is not synonymous with high welfare. The "welfare state" is often referred to as a "utopian" dream, often associated with developed countries, capitalism, high taxes and high welfare. However, a brief review of the background of the welfare state shows that "high welfare" is not a prerequisite for the establishment of a welfare state, but a characteristic that has gradually developed in the course of its development. Known as the "father of the welfare state," Beveridge's "Beveridge Report" is regarded as a milestone in the construction of the welfare state. However, neither the "Poor Law Era" that the Beveridge Report sought to correct nor the ideal society portrayed by the report itself did not possess the characteristics of "high welfare".
The "crisis of the welfare state" has long been in the dust. One of the accusations against the welfare state is that its institutional design has led to "welfare dependency," in which people receiving benefits are chronically dependent on benefits and unwilling to look for work, trapping people in the "welfare trap" while raising unemployment. In reality, however, it is not welfare per se that affects unemployment, but the health of the economy. Part of the reason for welfare dependence is unscientific welfare policies. Some welfare policies are designed with a focus on the poor, which leads to the incentive of "welfare dependency", i.e., only the poor receive benefits. Thus, it is not the welfare state that causes welfare dependence, but the policy design that causes welfare dependence. In addition, the proposition of "welfare dependence" is often based on two premises: first, the poor are an independent minority in society; Second, the purpose of the welfare state is to help these poor. However, there are two fallacies in this view. First, poverty is an economic crisis that affects almost all people in society, not just a few. Second, welfare should be seen as a necessary social security for all citizens, not just relief for the poor. In fact, the welfare state does not try to focus on poverty relief, but rather to provide services to all citizens so that they can live dedignically in times of economic hardship and avoid falling into further disadvantaged situations due to economic hardship.
It is undeniable that while some people rely on benefits to survive, the majority do not, relying on their hard work to maintain a decent living. Moreover, in terms of the functioning of the welfare state, the share of public spending has not reached a level that would make people dependent on welfare, so criticism of "welfare dependence" is mostly unfounded. The welfare state is not premised on high welfare, nor does it necessarily lead to welfare dependency. The direction of future welfare state reform tends to be political austerity, but this does not mean "exit" privatization in the traditional sense. Rather, the roles of markets, households, and the state should be realigned to ensure that welfare systems are better aligned with the overall goals of a fairer and more effective social system.