Daniel Engster, Justice, Care, and the Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 9780198719564

Abstract

Daniel Engster's most recent book, Justice, Care, and the Welfare State, is a well-researched and compelling exploration of welfare-state reform and moral theory. Specifically, Engster aims to "bridge the gap" (2) between welfare-state policies and justice theories by employing a nonideal theory of justice--based largely on the ethics of care--to defend a variety of welfare-state supports and programs. Melding care ethics and detailed empirical research, Engster imagines and justifies welfare-state provisions and reforms related to health care and poverty alleviation, as well as specific programs for the elderly, people with disability, and children. In this way, Engster provides a robust vision for the welfare state that is explicitly normative and that focuses on numerous sectors of social support and the interstices among these.