Welfare and Ideology explores the positions of six major ideological schools of thought towards the welfare state of today and the future: the New Right, the Middle Way, Democratic Socialism, Marxism, Feminism and Greenism. The book analyses how these ideologies interpret the development of the welfare state; their support or opposition to the welfare state; their views on social services; their ideas for change, and what they consider to be their ideal society. As debate continues on the future of state welfare, Welfare and Ideology is essential reading for students and teachers in all the social sciences, as well as those who wish to understand the depth and breadth of the politics of welfare in all industrial societies.