Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment - Revista ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
doi:10.5477/cis/reis.170.19
Power Resources Theory:
A Critical Reassesment
La teoría de los recursos de poder: una revisión crítica
Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola
Key words Abstract
Class Power resources theory (PRT) has been one of the dominant
• De-commodification approaches in the study of the development of post-war welfare states.
• Welfare State Its central idea is that different class power balances produce different
• Gender forms of welfare states. However, scholars have increasingly questioned
• Power Resources its explanatory ability to account for recent transformations in post-
industrial welfare states. This article analyses the origins and contents of
the PRT, reviews three of the main critiques it has received and
suggests a path for the reconstruction of its research programme,
arguing that it is a good starting-point for assessing recent changes in
the welfare state and for promoting a dialogue with other neighbouring
fields of research.
Palabras clave Resumen
Clase La teoría de los recursos de poder (TRP) fue uno de los enfoques
• Desmercantilización dominantes en el estudio del desarrollo de los Estados de bienestar de
• Estado de bienestar posguerra. Su idea básica es que los diferentes equilibrios de poder
• Género de clase explican las diversas formas adoptadas por estos. No
• Recursos de poder obstante, cada vez más autores cuestionan su capacidad explicativa
para dar cuenta del devenir de los Estados de bienestar
postindustriales. Este artículo analiza los orígenes y contenidos de la
TRP, revisa algunas de las principales críticas que ha recibido y sugiere
una vía para la reformulación de este programa de investigación,
mostrando que es un buen punto de partida para abordar las
transformaciones recientes del Estado de bienestar y establecer un
diálogo con otras áreas de investigación colindantes.
Citation
Campillo, Inés and Sola, Jorge (2020). “Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment”. Revista
Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 170: 19-34. (http://dx.doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.170.19)
Inés Campillo: Universidad Complutense de Madrid | ines.campillo@ucm.es
Jorge Sola: Universidad Complutense de Madrid | jorgesola@cps.ucm.es
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3420 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
Introduction namics and structural limits, and we examine
how aspects of these critiques have been
The welfare state (WS in what follows) oc- incorporated into PRT’s research pro-
cupies a key place in contemporary western gramme1. Lastly, we discuss the continued
societies, although its form varies from coun- applicability of PRT and we suggest two
try to country. Why is the WS more devel- paths for its reconstruction in future research.
oped, its welfare policies more generous and
universal, and its redistributive effects more
egalitarian in certain countries? Such ques- Power resources theory
tions have occupied the attention of many as a research programme
scholars in the last four decades, forming a
research agenda that has produced impor- PRT appeared in a specific political and theo-
tant advances in our knowledge of the ori- retical context: at the end of the 1970s with a
gins and development of the WS. focus placed on the experience of Scandina-
Among the different perspectives analyz- vian social democracies. The theory’s foun-
ing variations in the WS, the most well-known dational studies (Korpi, 1978, 1983; Stephens,
is probably the power resources theory 1979; Esping-Andersen, 1985) aimed to ex-
(PRT). This approach explains the develop- plain the differential success of Scandinavian
ment of the welfare state and its different WSs and explore the possibilities of demo-
forms as being the result of the balance of cratic-parliamentary policy. This way they in-
power among social classes. Whether be- tervened in two parallel debates. On the theo-
cause its contribution to the renewal of the retical level, PRT was a response to the two
study of the WS in the 1980s, or because it dominant visions of the state: pluralism and
has been the subsequent target of attacks “orthodox” marxism. PRT rejected both the
and debate, PRT occupies a central place pluralist perspective that state power trans-
even among its critics (Pierson, 2000). lated the pressures from a multiplicy of actors
with similar influence, and the marxist per-
In addition to the centrality of this ap-
spective that it was a simple apparatus to
proach in this flourishing field, there are two
protect capitalist interests. In contrast, the
other reasons for examining PRT. The first is
state and its policies were understood to be
that it is a research programme that exampli-
the crystallisation of the “democratic class
fies how social theory and empirical research
struggle” (Korpi, 1983). In other words, the
can go hand in hand, coherently combining
the study of substantive issues with method- state was sensitive to the variable distribution
ological rigour. The second is that its focus of power between classes, essentially ex-
on the “iceberg of power below the surface pressed by the strength of the workers’ move-
[of public policies]” (Korpi, 1998) can be in- ment. The political correlate was the empha-
spiring in a time of crisis and great inequality. sis on the possibilities for social change
The aim of this article is to provide a crit-
ical review of PRT and the debates it has in-
1 These are not the only critiques directed to PTR. With
spired, as well as to discuss its relevance for no attempt to be exhaustive, we can mention studies
future research on the WS and for other re- that emphasise, rather than class conflict, support from
lated fields. The article is structured as fol- business elites (Swenson, 2002) and the centrality of
investment in human capital (Estevez-Abe et al., 2001)
lows. The key ideas behind PRT are present- in the development of the welfare state, or the literature
ed in the first section. Then, in the three that focuses on partisan competition and growing elec-
sections that follow, we address three cri- toral volatility (Anderson and Beramendi, 2012; Haüser-
mann et al., 2013). For reasons of space, this article
tiques based, respectively, on its lack of at- focuses on these three groups of criticisms (which also
tention to gender inequality, institutional dy- constitute quite heterogeneous alternative approaches).
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 21
offered by political democracy under capital- The innovation of PRT consisted not only
ism, illustrated by the advances achieved by in proposing a new explanation for the devel-
the Scandinavian social democracy, which opment of the WS, but also in reconceptual-
was ultimately presented as an experience of ising this very phenomenon; not only offering
a “transition to socialism” (Stephens, 1979). an alternative explanans, but also revising the
This context is key, but the success of PRT very explanandum. The explanans was the
was precisely based on preserving its explan- balance of “class power resources”, con-
atory performance despite expanding the ceived as attributes that “provide the capac-
geographical and temporal universe of its ap- ity to reward or to punish other actors” (Ko-
plication. rpi, 1983: 15). While capitalists, due to their
On the explanatory level, in contrast to property and control over capital, have an
the dominant functionalist perspectives, PRT enormous power in distributive conflicts,
emphasised political factors. The former ex- workers have only their labour power to ne-
plained the development of the WS by its gotiate in the labour market. The only way
functional character in industrial societies, or they have of increasing their power resources
in the reproduction of capitalism: for pluralist is through collective organisation by means
authors associated with the “logic of indus- of parties and unions2.
trialism”, the WS was basically a response to Regarding political parties, the main vari-
“economic growth and its demographic and ables proposed to operationalise power re-
bureaucratic outcomes” (Wilensky 1975: xiii), sources were percentage of votes, number of
independently of the political direction of seats and government posts held by left-
governments; while for those authors linked wing parties and, above all, years of left-wing
to “structural marxism”, the WS developed to governments. Comparative historical analy-
ensure the longterm stability and legitimacy sis also revealed the importance of historical
of capitalism (O’Connor, 1973). Although a legacies and alliances of working class par-
certain level of socioeconomic development ties with other social actors. Regarding right-
was a necessary condition for the appear- wing parties, a distinction was soon estab-
ance of the different WSs, this does not ex- lished between liberals and Christian
plain the qualitative differences in their sub- Democrats, for their different contributions to
sequent evolution. the construction of WSs.
The core of PRT can be summarised as Regarding labour unions, the main vari-
follows: the distribution of power resources ables chosen were their organisational struc-
among class actors is the engine for the de- ture (degree of unity/fragmentation) and the
velopment of welfare states and explains level of union membership (Korpi, 1983).
their variations. In particular, the greater the Strike activity was discarded as an indicator
power resources of the working class are, the because it declined as the workers move-
more generous and egalitarian is the WS. The ments, thanks to the increase and institution-
key lies not only in the importance of class alisation of its power, was capable of shifting
conflict, but also in the recognition that the and broadening the distributive conflict from
distribution of power among classes varies the employment sphere to the political arena
from one society to another, in contrast to (Korpi and Shalev, 1980). This “politicisation”
many pluralist and marxist approaches that of the distributive conflict benefited workers,
“assume that the distibution of power in as the political-democratic logic (“one per-
Western societies has been relatively stable
although they disagree on whether this dis-
tribution is relatively equal or grossly un- 2 Capitalists also have power through their capacity for
equal” (Korpi, 1998: vii). collective action.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3422 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
son, one vote”) was more favourable to them address the degree to which social policies
than the logic of the market, where capital counterbalance the distributive logic of the
had the upper hand. As a British Labour slo- market and reequilibrate social relations in a
gan said: The rich man has his money, the manner favourable to the working class.
poor man has his politics (Hirsh, 1978: 269). Esping-Andersen operationalised de-com-
The development of the WS can be seen as modification through the generosity of, and
the product of “politics against the market” access to, various benefits (illness, unem-
(Esping-Andersen, 1985). ployment and pensions), although the con-
In this sense, PRT also represented a dual cept can be operationalised in other man-
turn with respect to the conceptualisation of ners as well.
the explanadum: the development of the WS. The second turn in the PRT consisted in
Earlier literature had basically addressed its broadening the focus of study to not only the
quantitative dimension, expressed as the state, but also welfare regimes: “qualitatively
level of social spending as a percentage of different arrangements between state, mar-
the GDP (Wilensky, 1975), a choice fostered ket, and the family” in the provision of welfare
by the unavailability of other type of data. (Esping-Andersen, 1990: 26). Inspired by the
Supporters of PRT, in contrast, defended a work of Titmuss (1981), Esping-Andersen
qualitative perspective: what was important constructed his famous typology that distin-
was not how much the WS spent, but rather guishes among welfare regimes in function of
how and with what effects, in other words, its their degree of de-commodification: in as-
coverage and redistributive impact when it cending order, liberal or anglo-saxon re-
comes to achieving greater equality and gimes, conservative or corporatist regimes,
guaranteeing “social citizenship” to all the and social democratic or Nordic regimes.
population3. As Huber and Stephens state: Social policies in each one would be guided
“The struggle over welfare states is a strug- by different principles (lack of resources, em-
gle over distribution, and thus the organiza- ployment status or citizenship) and would
tional power of those standing to benefit have different effects on stratification. This
from redistribtution, the working and lower typology, which is broadly accepted today,
middle classes, is crucial” (2001: 17). would later be broadened to include other
regimes, such as those of the Antipodes or
In terms of measuring the impact of the
southern Europe.
WS, the most successful criterion was that
of “de-commodification”, which refers to the Along with the redistributive effects of
degree to which “social rights... permit peo- the WS, PRT addresses its political-ideolog-
ple to make their living standards indepen- ical impact. On the one hand, de-commod-
ification attenuates labour market divisions
dent of pure market forces...[and] strength-
and competition between workers, fostering
ens the worker and weakens the absolute
their unity and organisation for collective ac-
authority of the employer”4 (Esping-Anders-
tion (Esping-Andersen, 1985). On the other
en, 1990: 3-22). The study of WSs should
hand, the social policies associated with the
ideal of citizenship promote a “moral econ-
omy” of egalitarian norms and principles
3 To apply this theoretical approach to empirical
research, Korpi and Esping-Andersen promoted the (Svallfors, 2006). In this sense, the medium
Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP), and Lyle term continuity of left-wing governments
Scruggs, The Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset contributed to changing “the preferences of
(CWED).
actors,... the universe of actors (and thereby
4 The term is inspired by the work of Polanyi (1989), and
according to Offe (1996), it occurred to him in a conver- the distribution of preferences) and/or ... the
sation with Esping-Andersen. expectations of actors” (Huber and Ste-
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 23
phens, 2001: 28), shifting the limits of what bridge for exchange with feminist research-
was perceived as possible and desirable in ers on the citizenship of women (Sainsbury,
political debate. Once applied, policies cre- 1994). These scholars would reveal the un-
ated an ideological/institutional setting that derlying gender biases of the key catego-
was more difficult to reverse and that could ries of PRT (market, state, stratification and
survive very different governments. social citizenship), and would offer ap-
PRT inspired a large number of studies proaches to rectify them5, with a view to
supporting its main thesis that the distribu- elaborating a theory on power and inequal-
tion of class power explains the development ity under welfare regimes that would con-
of the WS. Following in the path of the theo- sider both men and women (Orloff, 1993;
ry’s founding studies, a focus on more spe- O’Connor, 1993).
cific social policies emerged, such as on First, feminist criticisms were aimed at
pensions (Myles, 1984; Palme, 1990), health the notion of “welfare regime”. Although this
care (Kangas, 1991) and family support concept refers to the interaction among
(Wennemo, 1994), as well as on aspects of state, market and family in the provision of
the labour market, such as levels of unem- welfare, empirical attention using PRT had
ployment (Korpi, 1991), quality of work (Gal- focused on the relationship between the
lie, 2007) and the functional distribution of first two institutions (expressed, for exam-
income (Kristal, 2010). PRT has become one ple, in classic income transfer programmes,
of the most influential approaches in examin- such as pensions, sickness and unemploy-
ing the development of the WS, but it has ment) and had ignored the family. As a re-
also been the object of much criticism. The sult, not only was the key role of the family
ambitious book by Huber and Stephens (and women) in the provision of care ig-
(2001) —which combines statistical and his- nored, but gender inequality within the fam-
torical-comparative analyses over a time ily and the labour market was concealed.
span of half a century— is illustrative in this For this reason, feminist researchers indi-
sense: its conclusion is that power resources cated the need to examine how welfare re-
were a decisive factor in the development of gimes affected not only the position of
the post-war WS, but have ceased to be so workers in the market, but also that of wom-
in the last three decades; a finding that plac- en within the family —the degree to which
es the validity of the theory into question, they impacted the sexual division of labour
something which we will examine later. How- within and outside the family— with the aim
ever, before doing so, we will look at some of of better evaluating the kind of “citizenship”
the criticisms that have been raised against it. promoted by each regime.
This demanded addressing the familist
ideology –or “politics of need interpreta-
The feminist critique: tion” (Fraser, 1989)– that each regime put in
women’s power resources place: in other words, addressing the extent
The first group of criticisms came from femi- to which the male breadwinner family mod-
nism, which accused PRT of ignoring gen- el was maintained, and welfare related
der and being based on allegedly neutral rights that were different for men and wom-
categories (worker, citizenship and family)
that, in reality, were based on masculine ex-
perience and rooted in the sexual division 5 Other researchers would follow a different path and
would formulate approaches independent from PRT that
of labour. However, the centrality that PRT primarily focused on gender inequalities (Lewis, 1992;
gives to power and stratification provided a Sainsbury, 1994).
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3424 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
en (Lewis, 1992; Sainsbury, 1994). It also employers, but also regarding the family and
required broadening the concept of social spouse or partner (O’Connor, 1993).
stratification underlying PRT to incorporate In addition, feminist reworking of PRT was
gender inequality. The analysis of the strat- also aimed at the explanans: to understand
ifying effects of each regime should not be the character of the different welfare regimes,
restricted to market dynamics and class the power resources of women had to be
divisions, but should also address family added to those of class. Class organisations
dynamics and gender divisions, as well as
were not the only relevant ones for achieving
the interaction between these factors. The
a WS favourable to women (Hernes, 1987); on
WS could attenuate gender inequality, but
the contrary, it was necessary to examine the
it could also reproduce it: this was the case,
“power from below” (Siim, 1988) of other or-
for example, among corporatist regimes. By
ganisations, such as feminist movements and
linking social rights to employment status,
lobbies. These power resources of women
much more precarious for women (who are
were deployed in the discursive sphere and in
more likely to be unemployed, have tempo-
political mobilisation through alliances be-
rary jobs or work part-time), many women
were prevented from accessing welfare pro- tween the feminist movement and left-wing
grammes, reinforcing their economic depen- parties (Orloff, 1993). In fact, various empirical
dency and weakening their citizenship. studies have shown that the level of protec-
tion for women workers and single mothers
The feminist critique was also aimed at
(Hobson and Lindholm, 1997), and the level of
the idea of de-commodification as the foun-
monetary assistance to families (Wennemo,
dation for social citizenship. This notion as-
1992) and childcare services (Gustafsson,
sumes a prior “commodification”: in other
1994; Mahon, 2006; Naumann, 2012) depend
words, a life experience that was specific to
men, based on full-time labour market par- largely on the strength and strategy of the
ticipation during the majority of adult life, feminist movement in alliance with left-wing
and which represented the path to access- parties6.
ing many social rights. But this was not the These feminist critiques were to a great
experience of the majority of women, who extent accepted by defenders of PRT. The
lived (and, in part, continue living, although case of Esping-Andersen (2000) stands out,
intermittently) outside of the labour market. as he was the target of the majority of femi-
In fact, the commodification of women nist criticisms7: in addition to emphasising
could have an emancipatory aspect when the importance of the family economy, he
we consider their subordination in the home. addressed a common error committed at
Given that de-commodification did not cap- present consisting in designing public poli-
ture the complexity of women’s social citi- cies for a traditional family model that is in
zenship, some authors proposed comple- decline. Likewise, he introduced, along with
menting it with two new dimensions that the proposals mentioned, a complementary
would capture the degree to which welfare criterion for analysing welfare regimes: “de-
regimes fostered women’s access to paid
work, and the degree to which they fostered
the capacity of those who provide care (in 6 The majority of these studies have focused on the
their majority, women) to form autonomous post-war period up until the 1990s, largely ignoring the
households (Orloff, 1993). These three di- following period, probably because of the subsequent
predominance of institutionalism.
mensions would capture the degree to
7 Ironically, this focus on gender and the family would
which each regime fostered personal au- be accommpanied by his gradual distancing from
tonomy, not only regarding the market or PRT.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 25
familiarisation”8, which referred to “policies personal autonomy welfare regimes will pro-
that lessen individuals’ reliance on the fam- vide them (and vice versa).
ily; that maximize individuals’ command of
economic resources independently of famil-
ial or conjugal reciprocities” (2000: 66). Anal- Institutionalist critique:
ysis of public spending on services for fami- historical inertias
lies, or the coverage of public services for
PRT’s hegemony was undermined in the
childcare and homecare for the elderly,
1990s by institutionalism. This label groups
showed that social democratic welfare re-
gimes stood out in comparison to liberal and together different approaches that share a
corporatist regimes, which were much less common assumption: state institutions mat-
de-familiarised (although in the liberal re- ter9. According to Theda Skocpol, the main
gimes these services fall more on the market, exponent of the theoretical task of “bringing
and in corporatist regimes, on the family). the state back in” (Evans et al., 1986), PRT
conceived politics as “socially deterministic”
Korpi (2000) also did not shy away from
and “that governmental activities express so-
criticisms and has since concentrated on
cial conditions and straightforwardly respond
stratification, studying how different WSs
to social demands” (Skocpol, 1995: 40).
foster class as well as gender equality or
Against this determinism, she proposes "a
inequality, understood not only in material
polity-centered analysis", the central argu-
terms but also in terms of agency. Thus,
ment being that historically constituted gov-
through the analysis of different policies (so-
ernment institutions, established public poli-
cial security programmes, fiscal policies and
cies, state-bureaucratic personnel and the
social services), he distinguishes three wel-
political-electoral system are not a mere set-
fare state models based on the family model
ting of conflict or an instrument in the hands
they support: traditional, dual earner/care-
of opposing social groups, but constitute
giver family, and market oriented family. Hu-
forces that are relatively independent from
ber and Stephens (2000), for their part, em-
class conflict.
phasised the importance of public services
(with quality employment) to activate a virtu- Although this basic idea has been devel-
ous circle that facilitates women’s access to oped in different lines of analysis10, the dom-
employment and increases their political inant theoretical perspective until very re-
power; labour market participation, women’s cently has been the so-called "new politics"
organisations and their influence on political of the WS (Ferrera and Hemerijck, 2003; Pier-
parties become, in turn, key factors in the son, 2001, 1996; Bonoli, 2006; Green-Peder-
development of the WS. sen and Haverland, 2002). According to this
approach, PRT and its assumptions based
In short, PRT has undergone an (unfin-
on “old politics” are valid for accounting for
ished (Orloff, 2009)) "gendering" process that
has broadened its thematic interests and
lines of research. The basic proposition that
9 New institutionalism is somewhat broader: of the three
is at the core of the feminist reformulation of
types (historical, rational choice and sociological institu-
this research programme is: the greater the tionalism) that Hall and Taylor (1996) distinguish, we are
power resources of women, the greater the basically referring to the first. However, we do not analy-
se certain classic studies, such as Rothstein (1998),
which can also be categorised as “institutionalist”.
10 Analyses have focused, on the one hand, on political
8 A term taken from Lister (1994) and Saraceno (1997), institutions, which establish the rules of the game; on
which has, according to Orloff (2009), lost some of its the other, on institutions of the WS, which assure the
critical edge. provison of welfare (Starke, 2008).
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3426 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
the post-war expansion of the WS, but not is reinforced by the existence of political-con-
for explaining the changing dynamics of the stitutional “veto points” (Immergut, 1990). For
post-industrial WS. The key to this obsoles- this reason, institutionalists have emphasised
cence would be the influence that pre-exist- the continuity of the WS and discarded the
ing institutional arrangements have on politi- possibility of major changes, although they
cal conflict and the continuity of welfare recognise that a process of restructuring of
programmes: in other words, the policy feed- the WS is underway —in three directions: re-
back effects that already consolidated WS commodification, cost containment and “re-
activate. calibration”— to adapt them to the new con-
This argument has developed in two ba- text of “permanent austerity” (Pierson, 2001).
sic directions. First, the very institutional con- In reality, the classic formulation of PRT
solidation and would have legitimacy of the did not ignore the importance of institutional
post-war welfare states would have pro- legacies, and its defenders have been recep-
foundly altered political dynamics. While the tive to institutionalist contributions11. Their
key conflicts of the “old politics” mainly re- response has introduced three important nu-
volved around the expansion of rights and ances, regarding the explanandum (the evo-
the increase of social spending, the new lution of the WS), the degree to which institu-
politics has to confront a context of “perma- tions are determining factors and the way in
nent austerity” and grapple with cutbacks in which power is integrated into their study.
welfare programmes. In addition, while the
First, the predominant image of the rela-
old politics was dominated by the class con-
tive stability of the WS tends to fall into the
flict between a “pro-welfarist” left and an
old error of taking the level of social spending
“anti-welfarist” right, the consolidation of
as a percentage of GDP as the dependent
welfare programmes would have forged new
coalitions of beneficiaries in their support, variable (Korpi and Palme, 2003). To this
which would go beyond traditional class or- foundational criticism by PRT, must be added
ganisations. As a result, defense of the WS that although this indicator has barely altered
would no longer be only led by left-wing par- in recent decades, the social reality upon
ties and labour unions, but would also in- which WS policies act has indeed changed:
clude new actors, born under the shelter of since the 1980s, the spectacular increase in
consolidated programmes —both beneficia- unemployment, changes in the family model
ries and public employees— and voters of all and the ageing of the population mean that
stripes. Given the great popularity of the WS, the same level of spending cannot satisfy so-
all political parties have electoral incentives cial needs in the same way, nor can it main-
to introduce partial reforms instead of at- tain prior levels of equality; as a result, the
tempts to dismantle it, in such a way that well-being achieved with this level of spend-
political dynamics are more consensual and ing is notably less (see Clayton and Pontus-
gradual than in the past. son, 1998). Secondly, Huber and Stephens
Secondly, there has been an insistence on (2001) have explicitly incorporated a weak
the importance of institutional inertias, par- version of institutional inertias and legacies,
ticularly in terms of dependence on historical broadening the focus by taking into account
trajectories (path dependence). The basic ar- four causal mechanisms that favour continu-
gument is that, once created, WS programmes
become a central part of the institutions and
11 Some, such as Esping-Andersen, even accept the
logics of the state, they become the status
idea that “[E]xisting welfare states tend to be captive in
quo, which renders them more difficult to be their own institutional logic” (2000: 12) and have to a
reversed than to be preserved. This dynamic certain extent abandoned PRT.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 27
ity: the ratchet effect, structural limitation, 1980; Offe, 1974; Therborn, 1978) suggested
regime legacies and ideological hegemony; diverse explanatory mechanisms —from re-
but they reject a strong version according to cruitment of and social interaccions among
which key milestones in the development of state civil servants to the inertia of adminis-
a WS determine its future trajectory. Third, trative logics— that questioned the optimism
this catalogue of causal mechanisms point to of PRT. However, these issues were forgotten
a factor that Korpi (2001, 1989) has theorised with the academic decline of marxism and
more systematically: institutions are not set- PRT did not established a dialogue with
tings or instruments independent of power them. A possible development in this direc-
conflicts between social groups, rather, they tion could have analysed the historical-geo-
are the result of past conflicts and contribute graphic variability of these class biases and
to structuring future conflicts, so that they are the interaction between state constraints and
intersected by the divisions of power privi- class actors (in other words, up to what point
leged by PRT. The productive dialogue parties and labour unions could reduce them
opened up between both approaches can or see themselves trapped by them), which
also be enriched by the critique from a third would also link up well with institutionalist
approach: marxism. debates.
The second path of marxist criticism
looks at the “structural dependency” of the
The marxist critique: state in its relationship to capital: indepen-
structural limits dent of what political force is in government
and what the dominant class does, state ad-
The third group of critiques accuses PRT of ministrators (politicians and civil servants)
magnifying the explanatory power of demo- are structurally interested in maintaining a
cratic politics and minimising structural limi- good “business climate” that favours busi-
tations. If PRT emerged in response to func- ness investment and achieves economic
tional-structuralist perspectives on the WS, it growth, wich ultimately ensures the econom-
runs the risk of making the opposite error, ic viability and political legitimacy of the state
that of ignoring the structural limits that (Block, 1977). As a result, state policies move
constrain its development. First, PRT should within certain limits that foster investment; if
take into account that in a market economy not, they run the risk of capital flight and con-
“control over the choices of economic poli- sequent crisis. Of course, within these limits
cies... does not ensure control over economic there are margins for variation, essentially
outcomes” (Scharpf, 1991: 361), which de- determined by the pressure of class conflict.
pend in great measure on economic dynam- That is, the state must weight three conflict-
ics. However, the critique ultimately rests on ing demands: promoting investment, pursu-
two more sophisiticated arguments, that the ing its own interests and satisfying social
state is subject to class biases and that it has demands. All these contributions pointed, in
a structural dependency on capital. one way or another, to the frictions that can
Regarding the first, various marxist au- be observed between the development of
thors have argued that the state must not be the WS and the pressures of capitalism, so
conceived as a neutral setting in class con- well summed up by Offe: “while capitalism
flict, as it possesses specific structural char- cannot coexist with, neither can it coexist
acteristics that systematically favour the re- without, the welfare state” (1984: 153).
production of capitalism (Poulantzas, 1982). PRT has been more receptive to the sec-
Despite the functional touch of this idea, the ond criticism. Huber and Stephens admit
debate that took place in the 1970s (Miliband, that “capitalist interests have a systematic
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3428 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
advantage... aggravated by globalization” duced until almost disappearing in terms of
(2001: 13). However, state dependency on being able to account for the evolution of the
capital can be more pressing in regard to cer- WS since the 1980s. Huber and Stephens
tain policies (fiscal pressures) than others themselves, seem to accept this conclusion,
(social policy), and ultimately, it is a question which to a great extent predominates in re-
of degree, the study of which faces a meth- cent literature. Among the theory’s initial pro-
odological obstacle: it is difficult to establish ponents, only Korpi has remained firm in his
where the structural limits are situated and to defense.
know if a policy conflicts with them. Offe Should we reject PRT for this reason (or
(1974) argued that these limits can only be confine it to explaining the past)? In our opin-
discovered empirically when social conflict ion, doing so would be hasty and harmful. To
openly challenges them, but even then they explain why, it may be useful to refer to the
may not necessarily be clear (see, for exam- ideas of Lakatos (1978) on the advance of
ple, the causes for the defeat of the Meidner scientific knowledge. According to this Hun-
plan in Sweden in Pontusson, 1992). garian philosopher, science does not work by
In any case, that structural limits (or pres- dismissing a theory as soon as evidence
sures) exist does not eliminate policy varia- contrary to it appears, but rather by trying to
tions, as shown by the case of globalisation. accomodate emerging anomalies within a
As Clayton and Pontusson indicate, “the broader programme of research. A research
question of whether capital mobility exerts programme consists of a theoretical “core”
downward pressure on welfare states should and a “protective belt” of “auxiliary hypoth-
not be conflated with the question of wheth- eses” that surround it. When anomalies ap-
er capital mobility produces convergence pear that do not fit within it, there is scope for
among welfare states” (1998: 71). In other modifying certain parts of this belt with the
words: “the absence of convergence does aim of preserving the theoretical core. The
not demonstrate an absence of effect [of glo- success of a research programme depends
balisation]” (Schwartz, 2001: 23). Thus, to on its reconstruction being “progressive” and
offering a “positive heuretics”: in others
sum up, although structural limits are impor-
words, on its being capable of explaining
tant in the development of the WS, they do
new phenomena, rather than avoiding con-
not completely eliminate the variability PRT
trary evidence with patches that lead to a
seeks to explain; however, its research pro-
dead end.
gramme would suffer if it lost sight of them,
above all in the current context of crisis (see, PRT can be understood as a research
for example, Streeck, 2014). programme: it contains a theoretical core
(that the development of the WS is explained
by the political articulation of class and gen-
A progressive reconstruction der divisions) and a protective belt of auxil-
of prt? iary theories that specify, among other things,
how this political articulation is produced (for
Although the theoretical developments of example, partially shifting distributive con-
PRT have widened the phenomena that it flict, through labour unions and parties, from
can explain (variations in WSs in terms of the market to the political arena of the nation-
gender) and the complexity of its explana- state). To discard PRT based on the valid
tions (integrating institutional and structural criticisms made of the theory would be hasty
factors), this has not always been accompa- and harmful because we do not have a better
nied by empirical results: for many authors, research programme available to account for
its explanatory performance has been re- the development and crisis of the WS. The
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 29
majority of institutionalist alternatives seem resulting from strategies and conflicts that
to be partial or ad hoc explanations, that ac- structure the “democratic class struggle” in
curately identify certain relevant factors but an unequal manner in terms of the interests
are not capable of integrating them in a co- of different social groups (Gowan, 2000; Ab-
herent research programme. PRT, in con- delal, 2007). That is, PRT should include in its
trast, possesses a healthy theoretical ambi- research programme the systematic study of
tion: it is based on the “iceberg of power” these processes and their effects: to analyse
that describes the social structure and con- in what way power resources have been mo-
nects with other research traditions (marxist, bilised on a supranational level and the re-
feminist and weberian) and key substantive sults this has produced. In a certain way,
problems (the relationships between power, these two processes raise doubts about the
class/gender and politics) in social sciences. above-mentioned achievement of a shift of
This theoretical ambition has been used the distributive conflict from the market to
the political sphere (the nation-state), and
empirically in a fruitful way: TRP stands out
distributive conflict from the market to the
for its methodological effort to specify and
political sphere (the nation-state), and repre-
empirically test its hypotheses; which it does
sent the opposite process: a return to the
by means of historical-comparative study
market. Globalisation has facilitated capital
and statistical analysis. As we have shown,
mobility and, therefore, has increased the
the dialogue it has established with its critics
“structural dependency” of a increasingly
has been helpful: PRT has been reformulated
disarmed nation-state. The result is the fa-
to address gender, has incorporated a “verti-
mous trilemma of Rodrick (2011) between
cal” perspective on institutions and has inte-
national sovereignty, globalisation and de-
grated a focus on structural limits. But the
mocracy (and the essential impossibility of
acknowledgment by some of its adherents
reconciling the latter two). Financialisation
that it is incapable of explaining the evolution
has not only increased the weight of finance
of the WS since the 1980s demands a deep
in the economy, but has shifted distributive
rethinking. How can a “progressive recon-
conflict to a particularly opaque sphere that
struction” of PRT be carried out?
is resistant to the collective action of popular
In our opinion, this reconstruction could classes. Along with these two processes, we
be developed in two directions —upward must also point out the impact of the con-
and downward— that, conserving the core struction of the European Union, whose evo-
of PRT, modify some of its auxiliary hypoth- lution in recent decades reflects the hayekian
eses. The underlying idea is that power (im) ideal of a market protected from democratic
balances based on class and gender divi- would pressures coming from the nation-
sions continue being central in explaining state (Streeck, 2014). Much of the literature
social and employment policies, but their on the WS has assumed “permanent auster-
political articulation has undergone enormous ity” as the background in which public poli-
changes in terms of the spheres in which cies move. PRT provides a key for opening
distributive conflict takes place and the or- the “black box” of these three phenomena
ganisational weapons available to the popu- (as expressions of balances of power) and
lar classes. connecting them with the evolution of wel-
First, PRT should look “upward”: pro- fare and employment regimes.
cesses of financialisation and globalisation Secondly, PRT must look “below”: the
should not be understood as simple exoge- evolution of political parties (in particular,
neous factors that reduce the margin of ma- social democratic parties) raises the ques-
neuvre of political actors, but as processes tion of whether they continue to be power
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3430 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
resources in the hands of the working class. es based on class (and gender) continue be-
The rise of the “cartel party” model (Katz ing central, but that their articulation differs
and Mair, 1995) implies a convergence of substantially from that which existed in the so-
these organisations, as a result of their col- called “golden age of capitalism”. This does
lusion with the state and in detriment to the not mean that the importance of class has
connections that anchored them to society disappeared13, but rather the opposite: the
(Mair, 2013). The weakening of the organic organisational dearticulation of popular class-
ties between party and society is particu- es and the supranational rearticulation of
larly important in the case of “class parties”: capitalist classes become key factors in ex-
along with the shift of their electoral support plaining the recent evolution of the WS.
toward the middle class (Gingrich and
Häusermann, 2015), a decline in their mili-
tant base, a change in the social composi- Conclusions
tion of their cadres and leaders, and their
distancing from trade unions (Moschonas, This article offers a critical review of PRT af-
2002) seem to have contributed to cutting ter presenting its research programme and
those ties, with the consequent effects on reviewing three specific critiques (feminist,
the policies that they defend and apply. institutionalist and marxist), we have sug-
Despite some supporters of PRT having gested a dual path for a future progressive
emphasised that “there need to be organi- reconstruction of this research programme
zations that articulate class interests... [and] based on the reformulation of power resourc-
political parties perform [that] crucial medi- es in two directions: supranational rearticula-
ating role” (Huber and Stephens, 2001: 17-18), tion (processes of globalisation and finan-
there is a gap in the study of these organisa- cialisation) and organisational dearticulation
tions in PRT —which seems to take the of class conflict (the mutation of political par-
class-party link for granted. However, PRT ties). This proposal is aimed at conserving
offers tools for opening this “black box” and the heuristic capacity of PRT in accounting
studying in what way and to what extent for the recent evolution of welfare and em-
left-wing parties continue to represent the ployment regimes, and seems promising in
interests of the working class12, in connec- two ways.
tion with recent debates over the WS, the In regard to the general study of the WS,
decline in class voting in partisan politics it continues to offer a good theoretical start-
(Häusermann et al., 2013) and social duali- ing-point and permits researchers to avoid
sation. the danger of “abstract empiricism” (that is,
The systematic consideration of these the analysis of data and descriptions of phe-
upward and downward processes seems a nomena without a theoretical framework that
promising route for taking advantage of the gives them meaning and value). In fact, refor-
core of PRT with a view toward explaining mulated as we suggest, PRT seems more
the current transformations of the WS, and, capable than rival theories of accounting for
in general, of welfare and employment re- the evolution of the WS during the so-called
gimes. The key idea is that power (im)balanc- Great Recession, renewing attention on the
relationships between power, class and poli-
12 Based on what we have previously discussed, stud-
ying this “black box” must also include consideration of 13 “Just as the absence of strong and vocal feminist
gender, and could benefit from the path opened up by movements in countries such as Saudi Arabia need not
feminist scholars in analysing the influence of women in imply that in this country gender is irrelevant” (Korpi and
political organisations (see, for example, Morgan, 2013). Palme, 2003: 440).
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 31
tics. In addition, its focus on power lends a Bibliography
critical punch to PRT, that permits it to avoid
Abdelal, Rawi (2007). Capital Rules: The Construction
the usual uncritical acceptance of the con-
of Global Finance. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-
cepts and arguments behind the public poli- sity Press.
cies, as well as to clarify their underlying nor-
Anderson, Christopher J. and Beramendi, Pablo
mative positions. But the reconstruction of (2012). “Left Parties, Poor Voters, and Electoral
PRT also offers a way of avoiding academic Participation in Advanced Industrial Societies”.
hyperspecialisation, connecting the study of Comparative Political Studies, 45(6): 714-746.
the WS with other fields of research: from in- Block, Fred (1977). “The Ruling Class Does not Rule:
ternational political economy to the organisa- Notes on the Marxist Theory of the State”. Social-
tional study of parties and labour unions, as ist Revolution, 33: 336-328.
well as political behaviour and theories of Bonoli, Giuliano (2006). “New Social Risks and the
power. The basis for a possible exchange Politics of Post-industrial Social Policies”. In:
Armingeon, K. and Bonoli, G. (eds.). The Politics
among all these fields may be found in the
of Post-industrial Welfare States. London: Rout-
initial question posed by one of PRT’s found- ledge..
ers: “How important are class and power for
Clayton, Richard and Pontusson, Jonas (1998). “Wel-
conflict and change in Western societies?”14 fare-State Retrenchment Revisited: Entitlement
(Korpi, 1983: 4). Cuts, Public Sector Restructuring, and Inegalitar-
PRT appeared at a time in which class, ian Trends in Advanced Capitalist Societies”.
World Politics, 51(1): 67-98.
power and equality were on political and
academic agendas. The relative decline of Emmenegger, Patrick; Häusermann, Silja; Palier,
Bruno and Seeleib-Kaiser, Martin (2012). The Age
the PRT in academic debates is related to the
of Dualization. The Changing Face of Inequality
gradual disappearance of these issues since in Deindustrializing Societies. Oxford: Oxford Uni-
the 1990s. Social sciences are not immune versity Press.
to fashion, and in following it, they run the Esping-Andersen, Gøsta (1985). Politics against Mar-
risk of building sand castles that lack conti- kets: The Social Democratic Road to Power.
nuity over time, which is an obstacle to ac- Princeton: Princeton University Press.
cumulative progress (Geddes, 1991). The Esping-Andersen, Gøsta (1990). The Three Worlds
end of the neoliberal belle epoque and a re- of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton Uni-
newed interest in inequality invite us to dust versity Press.
off the research programme of PRT, above all Esping-Andersen, Gøsta (2000). Fundamentos so-
considering the inability of institutionalist ap- ciales de las economías postindustriales. Barce-
proaches to account for the evolution of the lona: Ariel.
WS after the crisis. The theoretical-concep- Estevez-Abe, Margarita; Iversen, Torben and Soskice,
tual clarity and empirical-methodological ap- David (2001). “Social Protection and the Formation
of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State”.
plicability of this research programme facili-
In: Hall, P. and Soskice, D. (eds.). Varieties of
tates this task, and invite us to engage in a Capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
dialogue with neighbouring fields. In this
Evans, Peter; Rueschemeyer, Dietrich and Skopol,
sense, PRT should be understood as “a Theda (1986). Bringing the State back in. New
work-in-progress, not an arrival” (Korpi, York: Cambridge University.
1998: xii). Ferrera, Maurizcio and Hemerijck, Anton (2003). “Re-
calibrating Europe’s Welfare Regimes”. In: Zeitlin,
J. and Drubek, D. M. (eds.). Governing Work and
14 Along with class, one should add, three and a half Welfare in the New Economy. Oxford: Oxford
decades later, gender. University Press.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-3432 Power Resources Theory: A Critical Reassesment
Fraser, Nancy (1989). Unruly Practices. Cambridge: Immergut, Ellen M. (1990). “Institutions, Veto Points,
Polity. and Policy Results: A Comparative Analysis of
Health Care”. Journal of Public Policy, 10(4): 391-
Gallie, David (ed.) (2007). Employment Regimes and
416.
the Quality of Work. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. Kangas, Olin (1991). The Politics of Social Rights.
Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Geddes, Barbara (1991). “Paradigms and Sand Cas-
tles in Comparative Politics”. In: Crotty, W. (ed.). Katz, Richard S. and Mair, Peter (1995). “Changing
Political Science, Looking to the Future. Evan- Models of Party Organization and Party Democ-
ston: Nothwestern University Press. racy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party”. Party
Politics, 1(1): 5-28.
Gingrich, Jane and Häusermann, Silja (2015). “The
Decline of the Working-class Vote, the Recon- Korpi, Walter (1978). The Working Class in Welfare
figuration of the Welfare Support Coalition and Capitalism: Work, Unions and Politics in Sweden.
Consequences for the Welfare State”. Journal of London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
European Social Policy, 25(1): 50-75. Korpi, Walter (1983). The Democratic Class Struggle.
Gowan, Peter (2000). La apuesta por la globalización. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Madrid: Akal. Korpi, Walter (1989). “Power, Politics, and State Au-
Green-Pedersen, Christoffer and Haverland, Markus tonomy in the Development of Social Citizenship”.
(2002). “The New Politics and Scholarship of the American Sociological Review, 54(3): 309-328.
Welfare State”. Journal of European Social Policy, Korpi, Walter (1991). “Political and Economic Expla-
12(1): 43-51. nations for Unemployment: A Cross-National and
Long-Term Analysis”. British Journal of Political
Gustafsson, Siv (1994). “Childcare and Types of Wel-
Science, 21(3): 315-348.
fare States”. In: Sainsbury, D. (ed.). Gendering
Welfare States. London: Sage. Korpi, Walter (1998). “The Iceberg of Power below
the Surface”. In: O’Connor, J. S. and Olsen, G.
Hall, Peter A. and Taylor, Rosemary C. R. (1996). “Po-
M. (eds.). Power Resources Theory and the Wel-
litical Science and the Three New Institutional-
fare State, A Critical Approach. Toronto: Univer-
isms”. Political Studies, 44(5): 936-957.
sity of Toronto Press.
Haüsermann, Silja; Picot, Georg and Geering,
Korpi, Walter (2000). “Faces of Inequality: Gender,
Dominik (2013). “Rethinking Party Politics and the
Class, and Patterns of Inequalities in Different
Welfare State”. British Journal of Political Sci-
Types of Welfare States”. Social Politics, 7(2):
ence, 43(1): 221-240.
127-191.
Hernes, Helga M. (1987). Welfare State and Woman Korpi, Walter (2001). “Contentious Institutions: An
Power. Oslo: Norwegian University Press. Augmented Rational-Action Analysis of the Ori-
Hirsch, Fred (1978). “The Ideological Underlay of In- gins and Path Dependency of Welfare State In-
flation”. In: Hirsch, F. and Goldthorpe, J. H. (eds.). stitucions in Western Countries “. Rationality and
The Political Economy of Inflation. London: Mar- Society, 13(2): 235-283.
tin Robertson. Korpi, Walter and Palme, Joakim (2003). “New Poli-
Hobson, Barbara and Lindholm, Marika (1997). “Col- tics and Class Politics in the Context of Auster-
lective Identities, Women’s Power Resources, ity and Globalization”. American Political Science
and the Making of Welfare States”. Theory and Review, 97(3): 425-446.
Society, 26(4): 475-508. Korpi, Walter and Shalev, Michael (1980). “Strikes,
Huber, Evelyne and Stephens, John D. (2000). “Par- Power, and Politics in the Western Nations, 1900-
tisan Governance, Women’s Employment, and 1976”. Political Power and Social Theory, 1: 301-
the Social Democratic Service State”. American 334.
Sociological Review, 65(3): 323-342. Kristal, Tali (2010). “Good Times, Bad Times”. Amer-
Huber, Evelyne and Stephens, John D. (2001). De- ican Sociological Review, 75(5): 729-763.
velopment and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties Lakatos, Irme (1978). The Methodology of Scientific
and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago: The Research Programmes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University of Chicago Press. University Press.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34Inés Campillo and Jorge Sola 33
Lewis, Jane (1992). “Gender and the Development Palme, Joakim (1990). Pension Rights in Welfare
of Welfare Regimes”. Journal of European Social Capitalism. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Policy, 2(3): 159-173.
Pierson, Paul (1996). “The New Politics of the Welfare
Lister, Ruth (1994). “‘She Has Other Duties’: Wom- State”. World Politics, 48(2): 29.
en, Citizenship and Social Security”. In: Baldwin,
Pierson, Paul (2000). “Three Worlds of Welfare State
S. and Falkingham, J. (eds.). Social Security and
Research”. Comparative Political Studies, 33(6-7):
Social Change: New Challenges to the Bev-
791-821.
eridge Model. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Pierson, Paul (2001). The New Politics of the Welfare
Mahon, Rianne (2006). “The OECD and the Work/fam-
State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ily Reconciliation Agenda: Competing Frames”. In:
Lewis, J. (ed.). Children, Changing Families and Polanyi, Karl (1989). La gran transformación. Madrid:
Welfare States. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. La Piqueta.
Mair, Peter (2013). Ruling the Void. London: Verso. Pontusson, Jonas (1992). The Limits of Social De-
mocracy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Miliband, Ralph (1980). El Estado en la sociedad
capitalista. México: Siglo XXI. Poulantzas, Nicos (1979). Estado, poder y socialismo.
Madrid: Siglo XXI.
Morgan, Kimberly J. (2013). “Path Shifting of the Wel-
fare State: Electoral Competition and the Expan- Poulantzas, Nicos (1982). Political power and social
sion of Work-Family Policies in Western Europe”. classes. London: Verso.
World Politics, 65(1): 73-115.
Rodrik, Dani (2011). The Globalization Paradox. New
Moschonas, Gerassimos (2002). In the Name of So- York: W.W. Norton & Company.
cial Democracy: The Great Transformation, 1945
Rothstein, Bo (1998). Just Institutions Matter: The
to the Present. London: Verso.
Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare
Myles, John (1984). Old Age in the Welfare State. State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sainsbury, Diane (1994). Gendering Welfare States.
Naumann, Ingela (2012). “Childcare Politics in the London: Sage.
‘New’ Welfare State”. In: Bonoli, G. and Natali,
Saraceno, Chiara (1997). “Family Change, Family
D. (eds.). The Politics of the New Welfare State.
Policies and the Restructuring of Welfare”. In:
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OECD. Family, Market and Community: Equity
O’Connor, James (1973). The Fiscal Crisis of the and Efficiency in Social Policy.
State. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Scharpf, Fritz W. (1991). “Limitaciones económicas e
O’Connor, Julia S. (1993). “Gender, Class and institucionales a las estrategias de pleno empleo”.
Citizenship in the Comparative Analysis of Wel- In: Goldthorpe, J. H. (ed.). Orden y conflicto en el
fare State Regimes: Theoretical and Method- capitalismo contemporáneo. Madrid: MTSS.
ological Issues”. British Journal of Sociology,
Schwartz, Herman (2001). “Round Up the Usual Sus-
44(3): 501-518.
pects! Globalization, Domestic Politics, and Wel-
Offe, Claus (1974). “Structural Problems of the Cap- fare State Change”. In: Pierson, P. (ed.). The New
italist State”. In: Beyme, V. (ed.). German Political Politics of the Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford Uni-
Studies. London: Sage. versity Press.
Offe, Claus (1984). Contradictions of the Welfare Siim, Birte (1988). “Towards a Feminist Rethinking of
State. London: Hutchinson. the Welfare State”. In: Jones, K. B. and Jonasdot-
Offe, Claus (1996). Modernity and the State: East, tir, A. G. (eds.). The Political Interests of Gender.
West. Cambridge: Polity Press. London: Sage.
Orloff, Anne S. (1993). “Gender and the Social Rights Skocpol, Theda (1995). Protecting Soldiers and Mothers:
of Citizenship”. American Sociological Review, The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United
58(3): 303-328. States. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Orloff, Anne S. (2009). “Gendering the Comparative Starke, Peter (2008). Radical Welfare State Retrench-
Analysis of Welfare States: An Unfinished Agen- ment. A Comparative Analysis. Basingstoke: Pal-
da”. Sociological Theory, 27(3): 317-343. grave Macmillan.
Reis. Rev.Esp.Investig.Sociol. ISSN-L: 0210-5233. Nº 170, April - June 2020, pp. 19-34You can also read
