Social Policy in Poland and the Transformation of the European Social Model
Keywords:
European social model, welfare state regimes, social policy, social and economic inequalitiesAbstract
The European social model is a vision of society that combines sustainable economic growth with the reduction of economic and social inequalities through income redistribution, ensuring a high level of social security and universal access to basic social services. Some economists argue that the last three decades have witnessed a rapid transition towards a new minimal welfare state, in the wake of the rising importance of services (post-industrialism), globalisation, population ageing, changing family and gender relations. In that perspective, the European social model is more chimera than reality. The author argues that the existing social democratic model of the welfare state is likely to be a response to the challenges social policy currently faces. Furthermore, the social democratic model corresponds well with the assumptions of the European social model. With the transformation of the early 1990s, Poland abandoned its socialist welfare system. Although it is debatable whether current social policy in Poland can be classified according to any of Esping-Andersen's well-known welfare types, changes in the labour market will be crucial for the size and shape of the Polish welfare state in the future. The sustainability of the generous welfare state ultimately depends on the citizens' participation in the labour force participation.
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