Equality and Difference in the Postwar Years

Abstract

The postwar years saw the establishment of the ‘classic welfare state’ (Digby 1989, 54) based largely on the Beveridge Plan for social security (1942), which represented the culmination of the Social Democratic philosophy of meeting universal human needs. What Beveridge achieved was the introduction of a comprehensive system of national insurance that provided national minimum provision for the range of different needs arising from disrupted earnings, namely basic pensions, sickness, unemployment, maternity, widows and industrial injuries benefits. Alongside this, other universal services for basic needs were established in health, family allowances and education. In implementing Beveridge, the 1945–51 Labour government established a welfare state responsible for providing minimum provision for basic needs. In so doing, it gave the fullest expression to the Social Democratic belief that the purpose of social policy was to contribute to human fulfilment by meeting basic needs.