IS THE WELFARE STATE JUSTIFIED?

"In this book, Daniel Shapiro argues that the dominant positions in contemporary political philosophy - egalitarianism, positive-rights theory, communitarianism, and many forms of liberalism - should converge in a rejection of central welfare-state institutions. He claims that they have misunderstood the implications of their own principles, which support more market-based or libertarian institutional conclusions than they may realize. Shapiro's book is unique in its combination of political philosophy with social science."--Jacket.