Institutional dimensions of social exclusion in the welfare state : an assessment of trends in the Netherlands and Germany 1985-1992
By: HEISLER, Barbara Schmitter
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ArticlePublisher: London : Routledge, June 1996Journal of European Public Policy 3, 2, p. 168-191Abstract: The concept underclass has become widely used to describe and analyse new conditions of poverty and marginality in the United States and increasingly in Europe as well. Yet, the concept remains ambiguous and subject to debate. This article contributes to the debate. Locating the underclass in the theory of citizenship and social class, the author examines the connections between social citizenship rights and the institutional structure of two corporatist/continental European welfare states, the Netherlands and Germany. She then examines the changing institutional context of several dimensions of social citizenship rights, in particular, unemployment benefits, social assistance and housing, to assess the degree to which these institutions may exclude economically weak populations. Although the Netherlands and Germany are representative of the continental European welfare state, the institutional structures and networks that provide the benefits of social citizenship to economically weak populations differ at the local level. These differences generate different fault lines that may become the bases for more significant exclusionary boundaries in the future.
The concept underclass has become widely used to describe and analyse new conditions of poverty and marginality in the United States and increasingly in Europe as well. Yet, the concept remains ambiguous and subject to debate. This article contributes to the debate. Locating the underclass in the theory of citizenship and social class, the author examines the connections between social citizenship rights and the institutional structure of two corporatist/continental European welfare states, the Netherlands and Germany. She then examines the changing institutional context of several dimensions of social citizenship rights, in particular, unemployment benefits, social assistance and housing, to assess the degree to which these institutions may exclude economically weak populations. Although the Netherlands and Germany are representative of the continental European welfare state, the institutional structures and networks that provide the benefits of social citizenship to economically weak populations differ at the local level. These differences generate different fault lines that may become the bases for more significant exclusionary boundaries in the future.
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