The history and future of social democratic welfare capitalism: from modernization to the spectres of ultramodernity

Abstract

How should we examine the history, tensions, contradictions, dynamics and possible futures of social democratic welfare capitalism? Has the inexorable transformation of globalizing economies and societies undermined the conditions for western welfare states? Which domestic and global socio-economic conditions are necessary for these regimes to continue, albeit in altered forms? These questions are the impetus for this chapter. Below is sketched an outline of a proposed larger conceptual, historical and comparative examination of this basic problem in the political economy of global capitalism. One way to approach these issues is via a comparative examination of two once similar but now diverging zones of welfare capitalism - the Nordic and Australasian zones. Their trajectories over the past century or more and particularly over recent decades are revealing about the nature of social democratic welfare capitalism (SDWC), its adaptiveness and its tendencies.