[Sociological reflections on the phenomenon of welfare].

The article starts with a brief discussion of the modernization of welfare, using two constructed types as heuristic devices: welfare as religious charity and welfare as a legal right. In the process of modernization the second type has become ever more prominent. The result was the emergence of the welfare state, whose qualitative and quantitative development lagged behind in North-America if compared to North-Western Europe. The welfare-state has been characterized as being without ideology and as being technocratic. It is argued in the present article that yet an ethos can be discerned which functions as a cultural binding agency in the welfare state. Some essential elements of this ethos are discussed, in particular 'consumentism' and 'immoralism'. Next, the consequences of the present stagnation of the welfare-state for this ethos are briefly mentioned. Finally, the article concludes with a few notes on the relationship between the former reflections and social issue of the aged in contemporary society.