The Welfare of the Middle Class. Changing relations in European welfare states.

What is it about?

This book is an essential contribution to ongoing public and academic debates on the unpredictability of middle-class attitudes and their changing relations with the welfare state. The book highlights that middle-class support for traditional redistributive policies has declined. A considerable part of the middle-class adheres to anti-immigration stances and expresses dissatisfaction with mainstream parties and institutions. This social stratum is increasing their pressure toward a new configuration of welfare that restricts access to benefits for immigrants, ethnic minorities and traditionally undeserving groups.

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Why is it important?

In my book, I argue that we cannot grasp the relations between the middle class and welfare in many Western European nations unless we take into account the role and the impact of the following three trends. Firstly, that welfare needs and welfare preferences of the middle class are shaped by the processes of individualization Secondly, there is weak systemic integration: institutions are not creating new forms of reintegration which are suitable for a highly individualized society. Thirdly, the middle class is a social stratum that is facing in particular processes of individualization that are weakening social bonds.

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