WELFARE AND INDUSTRIAL MAN: A STUDY OF WELFARE I WESTERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES IN RELATION TO A HYPOTHESIS OF CONVERGENCE.

This article examines welfare in Western industrial societies from the standpoint of convergence theory. It is empirical in approach and makes no attempt to deal with the conceptual and theoretical problems relating to convergence. Briefly, the aim of the article is to ascertain the extent to which Western industrial societies are similar, or in the course of development have become more similar, with regard to welfare. Convergence theory may be said to postulate that the imperatives of industrial technology and economic development constrain societies towards a common institutional pattern. If the essence of convergence theory is that the standardizing influences stemming from the nature of industrial technology are more influential in shaping institutions than ideology and political action, then welfare is a good area in which to examine this hypothesis. However, the "welfare state" is too wide a concept to be a viable tool for cross-national comparison. In this article a much narrower concept of welfare has been employed and the term is used to designate statutory programmes designed to provide citizens with social security and education.