2012 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Capitalism in crisis: How did we get into such a mess?
Capitalism and social policy have always been symbiotic; post-war welfare states allowed the affluent countries to experience rapid reconstruction and growth without the class conflicts of the interwar years. Since then social policy has been like a critical junior partner to capitalist interests - one which has had to put up with increasing slurs and indignities over the years since the early 1970s.