Abstract

Social policies consist in the distribution of entitlements to cash transfers and access to services to target populations. These populations have been framed by political elites and mass constituencies in terms of why it is that such policies must or must not be adopted. Codes used in such framing are deserving vs. undeserving poor, equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcomes, egalitarian distributive justice vs. allocative efficiency, consumption vs. investment, public vs. private responsibility, desert vs. rights vs. compassion, autonomy vs. dependency, generosity vs. affordability, rewards vs. incentives, social integration vs. system integration, and the like. The chapter offers some ideas and informed speculation concerning patterns of change that these frames and codes have been subject to in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) world since World War II.