This book examines the social bases of the European welfare state and the interests developed in or against social policy. By casting its net across five nations and virtually a whole century 1875-1975, the book establishes a broad logic of interest behind the welfare state on the basis of a very extensive range of archival material.

This book examines the social bases of the European welfare state, and the interests developed in or against social policy by various classes of society, during the period 1875-1975 in Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden.