The Moral Economy of Welfare States

Download or read book The Moral Economy of Welfare States written by Steffen Mau and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates why people are willing to support an institutional arrangement that realises large-scale redistribution of wealth between social groups of society. Steffen Mau introduces the concept of 'the moral economy' to show that acceptance of welfare exchanges rests on moral assumptions and ideas of social justice people adhere to. Analysing both the institution of welfare and the public attitudes towards such schemes, the book demonstrates that people are neither selfish nor altruistic; rather they tend to reason reciprocally.