the.com/welfare state
Society's way of admitting bad luck shouldn't be a death sentence.
means A system where the government provides a safety net of healthcare, unemployment support, pensions, and other aid to protect citizens' basic wellbeing.
from A compound of 'welfare' (faring well, from Middle English 'wel' + 'faren,' to travel or get along) and 'state' meaning the governing body of a nation. The phrase itself is a 20th-century coinage, gaining traction especially around the mid-1900s as nations rebuilt after war and contrasted their social-support systems with the 'warfare state' — the wordplay was deliberate, framing a nation's spending on citizens' welfare as the moral opposite of spending on weapons.
- origin
- Term popularized in 1940s Britain, mid-century policy.
- bismarck irony
- First modern version built by a conservative, to block socialists.
- scope
- Ranges from cradle-to-grave Nordic model to patchwork US safety net.
- paradox
- Often most popular with people who swear they oppose it.