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RICH DEMOCRACIES
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RICH DEMOCRACIES
Political Economy, Public Policy,
and Performance
HAROLD L. WILENSKY
UNIVE(cid:2)SITY OF CALIFO(cid:2)NIA P(cid:2)ESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles,California
University of California Press,Ltd.
London,England
© 2002 by the (cid:2)egents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilensky,Harold L.
(cid:2)ich Democracies :political economy,public policy,and
performance / Harold L.Wilensky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-23176-7(cloth :alk.paper).—ISBN 0-520-
23279-8 (pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Welfare state—Case studies. 2.Comparative govern-
ment. I.Title.
ClassifNumber PubDate
JC479 .W55 2002
320.3—dc21 2001053048
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992((cid:2)1997)
(Permanence of Paper).I
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For Mary
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CONTENTS
List of Figures xv
List of Tables xvii
Preface and Acknowledgments xxiii
Part I Paths of Development of Rich Democracies 1
1. CONVE(cid:2)GENCE THEO(cid:2)Y 3
Family Structure and Political Demands 5
Female Labor-Force Participation Increased 6
Fertility (cid:2)ates and Household Size Declined and Divorce (cid:2)ates Increased 7
The Push for Equality among Minorities 14
Ethnicity and (cid:2)eligion 16
Blacks versus Others 18
Why Variation in the Integration of Minorities? 21
Gender Equality 28
Age and Equality 31
Summary 32
The (cid:2)ise of Mass Higher Education 33
The (cid:2)ise of the Media of Mass Communication and Entertainment 39
The Increasing Number and Perhaps Influence of Experts and Intellectuals 40
Social Stratification and Mobility 40
Summary 50
Hours,Schedules,and the Organization of Work 51
Hours of Work 51
Flexible Specialization? 52
The Spread of Contingent Labor 57
Is Modern Society “High-Tech”? 57
Are the (cid:2)ise in Unconventional Schedules and
Unstable Careers American Peculiarities? 58
Summary 60
vii
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Contents
The Welfare State 61
Is There Any Convergence in the Polity? 62
Decline in Collective Political Violence 62
Democracy and Markets 64
Economic Development and Democracy 65
A Postscript on Economic Development and Income Inequality 68
Conclusion 70
2. TYPES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 83
Democratic Corporatism 85
Measures 87
Corporatism-without-Labor 89
Fragmented and Decentralized Political Economies 91
Democratic Corporatism and Policy Linkages 101
Erosion, Transformation,or Persistence of Corporatism? 108
Sweden and the Netherlands as Cases of Most Change 110
Structural and Ideological Sources of Democratic Corporatism 116
Leftism,Catholicism,and Democratic Corporatism 116
Electoral Systems as a Cause of Corporatism 119
The Timing and Nature of Industrialization as a Cause 121
Does Trade Dependence Matter? 122
Why No Corporatism in Ireland? 125
Conclusion 126
3. MASS SOCIETY, PA(cid:2)TICIPATION, AND THE MASS MEDIA 131
Participation in the United States: Amount, Trends,and Effects
Primary (cid:2)elations 133
Mediating Associations and Civic Engagement 135
The Significance of Types of Association and Participation 137
Cross-National Evidence on Participation 141
The (cid:2)ising Influence of the Media of Mass Communication
and Entertainment 143
Empirical Limits 144
Theoretical Limits 145
News,Entertainment,and Politics 151
Explaining Media Content and Style 154
Big-Business Domination 154
Organizational and Occupational Contingencies 156
Country-Specific (cid:2)egulation,Control,and Financing 163
Are the Media Becoming American? 168
Will New Information Technology Change Media Content and Impact? 170
Summary and Conclusion
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Contents
4. THEO(cid:2)IES OF THE POSTINDUST(cid:2)IAL SOCIETY 186
Occupational and Industrial Trends 186
Postindustrial Values? 191
Interlocking Cycles of Family, Work,and Social-Political Participation:
A Comment on Age Cohort,Political Generation,
and Life Cycle 196
Cohort Effects? 197
Life Cycle Squeeze and the Morale Curve 197
Subjective and Objective Well-Being 202
A Postscript on Political Generations 203
Conclusion:Let’s Drop “Postindustrial Society”from Our Vocabulary 205
Part II The Welfare State and Social Policy 209
5. THE WELFA(cid:2)E STATE:
Convergence and Divergence 211
Determinants of Welfare-State Development 212
Ideology,Political System,and the Welfare State:
The Case of Pensions 216
A Crisis of the Welfare State? 221
(cid:2)etrenchment of the Welfare State? 222
Continuity at the Core: The Cases of Britain and Germany 232
Leftism,Catholicism,and Democratic Corporatism: Explaining National
Differences in Social Spending 234
Left Power and Spending 234
Left Power and Taxes 235
Catholic Power and Spending 235
Catholic Power and Taxes 236
Corporatism,Taxes,and Spending 236
The Effects of Party Continuity and Competition on Spending 239
Convergence Theory:Economic Level,Population Aging,Mobility-Meritocracy,
and Minority-Group Cleavages 241
Measures for Testing Convergence Theory 243
(cid:2)esults for Convergence Theory 245
(cid:2)esults for the Combined Models 246
6. SECTO(cid:2) SPENDING AND P(cid:2)OG(cid:2)AM EMPHASIS 252
Spending Packages 252
Sources of Variation in Sector Spending Patterns 254
Personal Social Services versus Cash Transfers? 254
The Big Trade-off:Pensions and Family Allowances versus Public Assistance,
Higher Education,and the Military 261
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