<P> The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism is a book on political theory written by Danish sociologist Gøsta Esping - Andersen, published in 1990 . The work is Esping - Andersen's most influential and highly cited work, outlining three main types of welfare states, in which modern developed capitalist nations cluster . The work occupies seminal status in the comparative analysis of the welfare states of Western Europe and other advanced capitalist economies . The work called into question well - established ways of thinking about differences among welfare states in advanced capitalist democracies . At the time of writing this book, Gøsta Esping - Andersen was Professor at the European University Institute, Florence . </P> <P> In The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Esping - Andersen outlines a typology of welfare capitalism in an attempt to classify contemporary Western welfare states as belonging to one of three "worlds of welfare capitalism ." The three types are characterised by a specific labour market regime and also by a specific post ‐ industrial employment trajectory . </P> <P> The three types are: </P> <Ul> <Li> Liberal regimes, characterized by modest, means - tested assistance, and targeted at low - income, usually working - class recipients . Their strict entitlement rules are often associated with stigma . This type of welfare state encourages market solutions to social problems--either passively, by guaranteeing only a minimum, or actively, by directly subsidizing private welfare schemes . </Li> <Li> Conservative regimes, which are typically shaped by traditional family values, and tend to encourage family - based assistance dynamics . Social insurance in this model typically excludes non-working wives, and family benefits encourage motherhood . State assistance will typically only step in when the family's capacity to aid its members is exhausted . </Li> <Li> Social democratic regimes, universalistic systems that promote an equality of high standards, rather than an equality of minimal needs . This implies decommodifying welfare services, to reduce the division introduced by market - based access to welfare services, as well as preemptively socializing the costs of caring for children, the aged, and the helpless, instead of than waiting until the family's capacity to support them is depleted . This results in a commitment to a heavy social service burden, which introduces an imperative to minimize social problems, thereby aligning the system's goals with the welfare and emancipation (typically via full employment policies) of those it supports . </Li> </Ul>

The three worlds of welfare capitalism chapter 2 summary