Product Description
While welfare has been subject to pronounced criticism throughout the twentieth century, social insurance has consistently enjoyed the overwhelming support of European policy makers and citizens. This volume argues that the emergence of social insurance represents a paradigmatic shift in modern understandings of health, work, political participation, and government. By institutionalizing compensation, social insurance transformed it into a right that the employed po… More >>
Much discussion about the birth of social insurance in Germany deals with the politics of it. This book discusses the actual implementation. The original Bismarkian social insurance system, while it clearly laid the groundwork for modern social insurance, differs greatly from contemporary programs, with their emphasis on age qualification. There was less focus on age per se and more on inability to work (although it seems the elderly were generally able to qualify for by meeting the definition of invalidity). One must also marvel at the elaborate screening bureacracy that was created to certify a potential beneficiary’s worthiness. For anyone interested in the nuts and bolts and pratical history of early social insurance programs, this is a great book.
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