Gough I
Int J Health Serv. 1978;8(1):27-40. doi: 10.2190/W1U7-NXMM-YUCQ-PVJ1.
The article considers three major non-Marxist explanations of the modern welfare state: functionalist sociological theories, economic theories of government policy, and pluralist theories of democracy. Each is subjected to a critique and all are found wanting, in that none can satisfactorily explain the observable similarities and differences in state welfare intervention within advanced capitalist countries. Functionalist theories can explain the dominant trends at work within all countries, but not the immense diversity in state policies which still persists. Economic and pluralist theories can explain the diversity but not the determinant trends. This failing is related to the separation objective and subjective aspects in historical explanation: the first school objectifies history, the second subjectifies it. The article concludes by asserting, but not arguing, that a Marxist approach offers a more fruitful way of understanding the welfare state, insofar as it rejects this separation.
功能主义社会学理论、政府政策的经济理论以及多元主义民主理论。每一种解释都受到了批判，并且都被认为存在不足，因为它们都无法令人满意地解释发达资本主义国家在国家福利干预方面明显的异同之处。功能主义理论可以解释所有国家内部起主导作用的趋势，但无法解释仍然存在的国家政策的巨大差异。经济理论和多元主义理论可以解释差异，但无法解释决定性趋势。这种缺陷与历史解释中客观与主观方面的分离有关：第一派将历史客观化，第二派将历史主观化。文章最后断言（但未进行论证），马克思主义方法提供了一种更富有成效的理解福利国家的方式，因为它摒弃了这种分离。
