Welfare state on the theoretical crossroads: analysis of the twenty-first-century studies

ABSTRACT Welfare theories, models, and programs vary in historical development and country. In the 21st century, socio-economic and economic changes significantly impact the welfare state and its social development and role. The aim of the paper is to identify the main focuses of welfare state research in the 21st century based on scientific articles. For this purpose, the tasks were set to implement bibliometric research, textual analysis, and systemic structuring results. The methodology covers bibliometric/authors co-occurrence analysis and automated content analysis, as well as general analysis and synthesis methods. Considering the dynamics and number of publications, the respective emphases of welfare state research are presented in three periods. First, bibliographic pairing analysis revealed clusters comprising conceptual nodes based on the keywords. After regrouping according to the close similarity enlarged 5 clusters presented in the paper are as follows: (1) welfare, (2) political issues, (3) service and care, (4) countries, and (5) women. The study will enable scientists and the interested public to gain an insight into current thematic and future research trends of the welfare state. Some interesting intersections for further research are suggested.