Welfare State

Series of laws and political decisions taken after 1945 with the aim of providing a social net and access to education, housing and health for everyone. Prepared by committees, research and inquiries about the social condition in Britain such as the Beveridge Report (1942) or the Butler Act (1944).

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005: 1732), the term Welfare State is either “a system by which the government provides a range of free services to people who need them, for example medical care, money for people without work, care for old people, etc.” or it refers to “a country that has such a system.” This article will mainly deal with the first possibility of the above definition.

Literature:

Wehmeier, Sally et al. (eds.). Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.