Work and Welfare: Changing Work, Worklessness and Welfare Policy
Sociologists analyse how paid work and the welfare state that surrounds it have changed, and debate what welfare policy should look like as a result. Automation and technological change have reduced the availability of many traditional, stable manual and clerical jobs, contributing to what Handy describes as a shift towards more flexible, less secure 'portfolio' careers, in which individuals combine several different types of paid work over their working life rather than a single, lifelong job. Atkinson's 'flexible firm' model describes employers dividing their workforce into a secure 'core' of skilled, permanent employees and a much less secure 'periphery' of temporary, part-time or agency workers, used to flexibly expand and contract the workforce as demand changes; the more recent 'gig economy', in which work is organised as short-term, app-mediated tasks rather than ongoing employment, extends this trend further, and Standing describes the resulting group of workers in chronically insecure employment as the 'precariat'. Beveridge's post-war welfare state was designed to tackle five 'giant' social problems (want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness) through universal state provision. The New Right, echoing Murray, argue this welfare provision should be reduced and made more conditional, since generous, unconditional welfare creates a dependency culture that discourages work, while the social democratic tradition, associated with Titmuss, argues a generous, largely universal welfare state redistributes resources fairly and protects citizens against risks (illness, unemployment, old age) that markets alone do not adequately cover.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Separate the two halves of this topic clearly: changes in the nature of work itself (automation, flexible firms, the gig economy) and debate over how welfare policy should respond to, or protect people from, those changes.
- Explain the shift away from traditional, stable employment precisely: automation has reduced demand for many traditional manual and clerical roles, and Handy's 'portfolio career' concept describes the resulting individual-level shift towards combining multiple, often short-term, types of work rather than one lifelong job.
- Use Atkinson's flexible firm model to explain the employer-level version of the same shift: firms deliberately divide their workforce into a secure, skilled 'core' and a less secure, more disposable 'periphery' used to absorb fluctuations in demand, which changes who experiences employment security and who does not.
- Explain the gig economy as a further development of the periphery model, using app-mediated platforms to organise work as short-term tasks rather than ongoing employment, and use Standing's 'precariat' concept to name the resulting social group defined by chronic employment insecurity rather than by a traditional occupational class position.
- State Beveridge's five giants precisely (want, disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness) and explain that the post-war welfare state was designed as a universal system to tackle all five together, since a partial system addressing only some would leave the others unresolved.
- Present the New Right and social democratic positions as a direct policy clash: the New Right (echoing Murray) argue generous, unconditional welfare discourages work and should be reduced and made conditional; social democrats (Titmuss) argue a generous, largely universal welfare state is necessary because markets alone leave people exposed to risks they cannot individually control.
- If the item describes a specific change in work or a specific welfare policy, identify whether it best illustrates the flexible firm/gig economy trend or the New Right/social democratic welfare debate before generalising.
- For a 30-mark essay, plan a changing-work paragraph (automation, flexible firm, gig economy), a welfare-debate paragraph (New Right versus social democratic), an evaluation paragraph weighing the two welfare positions against the item's evidence, and a conclusion answering the specific question set.
Worked example
Item A: A growing share of workers in one sector now find work through an app that assigns short-term tasks with no guaranteed hours, no sick pay and no long-term contract, and many report combining this work with two or three other similarly short-term jobs to make up a full income. Applying material from Item A and your knowledge, analyse two ways the item illustrates changes in the nature of work. (10 marks)
- Identify the item's key features: app-assigned short-term tasks with no guaranteed hours or sick pay, and workers combining several such jobs.
- Way 1: use the gig economy concept directly, the item's app-assigned, no-guaranteed-hours work matches the gig economy model, work organised as short-term, mediated tasks rather than stable ongoing employment.
- Develop way 1 using Standing's precariat concept: workers lacking guaranteed hours, sick pay or a long-term contract experience chronic employment insecurity, matching Standing's description of a growing social group defined by this insecurity rather than by a stable occupational identity.
- Way 2: use Handy's portfolio career concept for the item's detail about combining two or three jobs, this matches Handy's prediction that individuals increasingly combine multiple, often short-term, types of paid work across their working life rather than holding one lifelong job.
- Add a brief link: the two concepts describe the same underlying shift from two different angles, Standing focuses on the resulting insecurity and social position, Handy focuses on the individual-level pattern of combining varied work.
- Check both ways are tied explicitly to the item's specific detail about the app, guaranteed hours and combining jobs, not stated as a generic account of the gig economy.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What does Handy mean by a 'portfolio career'?Show answer
Answer: A working life made up of several different types of paid work combined together, rather than a single, lifelong job, reflecting a shift away from traditional, stable employment.
Q2Explain Atkinson's 'flexible firm' model.Show answer
Answer: A model describing how employers divide their workforce into a secure 'core' of skilled, permanent staff and a less secure 'periphery' of temporary, part-time or agency workers, allowing them to flexibly expand or contract the workforce as demand changes.
Q3What is the 'gig economy' and how does it relate to the flexible firm model?Show answer
Answer: An arrangement in which work is organised as short-term, often app-mediated tasks rather than ongoing employment. It extends the flexible firm's 'periphery' idea further, since gig workers typically have even less job security than traditional temporary staff.
Q4What does Standing mean by the 'precariat'?Show answer
Answer: A growing social group defined by chronic employment insecurity, such as a lack of guaranteed hours, benefits or a stable contract, rather than by a traditional, stable occupational class position.
Q5Name Beveridge's five 'giant' social problems the post-war welfare state was designed to address.Show answer
Answer: Want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.
Q6What is the key disagreement between the New Right and social democratic views of welfare?Show answer
Answer: The New Right argue generous, unconditional welfare creates a dependency culture and discourages work, so provision should be reduced and made conditional; social democrats (Titmuss) argue a generous, largely universal welfare state is necessary because markets alone leave people exposed to risks they cannot control.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Outline two ways paid work has changed in recent decades.
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Item B: A government proposal to make unemployment benefits conditional on attending regular job-search training was defended by ministers as necessary to prevent long-term dependency on state support, while critics argued the proposal would fail to help many claimants who could not find suitable work regardless of their own effort, due to a genuine shortage of stable local jobs. Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, analyse two ways the item illustrates the debate between New Right and social democratic views of welfare. (10 marks)
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Item C: Over recent decades, a growing share of the workforce in some sectors has moved from stable, permanent employment towards short-term contracts and app-mediated gig work with few guaranteed benefits. At the same time, welfare policy in several countries has shifted towards making benefits more conditional on job-seeking activity, a change some ministers describe as necessary and some campaigners describe as failing to reflect the reality of an increasingly insecure labour market. Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of changes in work and welfare policy. (30 marks)
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See real A Level Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
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