Loss of Solidarity and Civic Virtue? Shift from the Three Worlds of Welfare to Technocratic Social Investment Hybrid Welfare States

The paper examines how Esping-Andersen's (1994) "three worlds of welfare states" have evolved into social investment hybrids (Hemerijck 2006). Over the past three decades, European welfare states have become hybrids with social investment elements, driven by a technocratic and functionalist social investment framework. The rise of the social investment approach has meant a shift towards a more individualistic approach, with the loss of solidarity, especially in social-democratic welfare states.

Following Sandel’s (2010) framework of three types of justice, we argue that with the adaptation of the social investment framework there has been an ideological shift in European welfare states from communitarian and civic values towards a growing emphasis on utilitarian and liberal values. This shift has weakened solidarity, the foundation of the legitimization of welfare states, especially the Nordic welfare state. We also argue, following Sandel, that the ideological shift from communitarian values towards utilitarian and liberal values in European welfare states has also devalued work as a source of social cohesion and recognition, which is a concerning and paradoxical development given the welfare state's reliance on high employment and its central role in the social investment framework.

Also, we argue that the adaptation of welfare states to the ecological boundaries demands a redefinition of values of the good life and civic virtue, lacking both in the utilitarian and liberal goals of the welfare state. European welfare states, with their social investment approach, due to their technocratic approach and individualization, must revisit the normative discussion of the good life and the normative foundations of welfare states. There is a pressing need to rethink and potentially reinvent the welfare state into a new civic model that better balances individual freedom with collective responsibility and ecological boundaries.