The Moral Economy of Welfare States: Britain and Germany Compared

by Steffen Mau

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.

252 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2003

About the author

Steffen Mau is a German sociologist and Professor at the institute of social sciences at Humboldt University Berlin.