A History of the Ideologies of the Welfare State

Whenever a university modernized to become a research institute the philosophy department turned to idealism. Idealism inspired the secularization of the social sciences into History, Political Science, and Economics, which were used by the government to create the welfare state. There used to be a consensus between socialism, liberalism and conservatism as to the need for the welfare state. After WWII it was to offer a better future for the returning vets. I go into these past arguments in depth as a task of retrieving a way of thinking that no longer seems to be with us. The dominant ideology since the collapse of communism has been neoliberalism. In the 80s the welfare state was cut back though not eliminated, it was too popular. The rationale behind the welfare state changed, however, for the left. The state was to encourage healthy risk-taking by investing in 'human capital, ' while accepting free markets. Did neoliberalism assimilate the left or was there a new form of left-wing neoliberalism