ABSTRACT
It has been argued that new systems of welfare are based on targeting special needs rather than general rights because upper class moral views maintain that the poor need disciplining. This view has challenged solidarity and human rights as the base for a welfare state (Wergeland, Gulbrandsen and Claussen, 2017). This chapter poses the question: To what extent do neoliberal ideas replace or suppress ideas behind earlier versions of the welfare state in Scandinavia, and who is targeted by the new policies? This text does not have the ambition of giving a full account of changing welfare states but connects to some of the discourse in this area about the influence of neoliberal ideas and politics on the welfare state. It is important to note that the welfare state does not only concern itself with social policy but with society at large “from cradle to grave”. It is also a matter of how wealth is distributed and redistributed and how the state treats its citizens.
