DEFINITION ESSAY: WHAT IS A WELFARE STATE?

With the current deadlock in the US over affordable health care and the Republicans accusing Democrats of espousing socialism, it is time to remind ourselves what exactly a welfare or social state is. Do your research and make notes, which you can then use to write a definition essay on the topic.

Reading material to annotate

1.       “What is a welfare state?” http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-welfare-state.htm

2.       “Marching to Bismark’s drummer: the origins of the modern welfare state” by: Richard Ebeling; http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/marching-to-bismarcks-drummer-the-origins-of-the-modern-welfare-state#axzz2hD3tCv1t

3.       “How to conceptualize the welfare state” http://www.pitt.edu/~heinisch/concept.html Note to the student: skip this link unless you are an advanced student.

4.       “Welfare state” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639266/welfare-statea

5.       “Welfare state: Germany” http://www.goethe.de/ges/soz/ein/en21967.htm

Videos to watch and make notes on

1.       “Welfare state” http://www.answers.com/topic/welfare-state Note to the student: there are a series of videos on this site on the issue all of which are interesting.

2.       “A social democratic model of  civil society and the welfare state” http://blip.tv/the-holberg-prize/per-selle_l-h264-720p-5489963

3.       “How economic inequality harms societies” http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html

     Refer to my second blog, The Essay Archive, for sample essays: https://theessayarchive.blogspot.com.tr/