Redefining the concept of disability in the United Kingdom’s conditional welfare state: Welfare scarcity approach

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct the ‘silent’ reformulation of the notion of disability within social policy systems in recent decades. Particular attention is given to the practices implemented in the United Kingdom as an example of a conditional welfare state with advanced workfare arrangements (primarily in the form of the Employment and Support Allowance scheme). The redefinition of disability from the perspective of changes in the criteria determining social benefits – that is, in reality, limiting the social rights of this, as one British economist put it, ‘silent minority’ – is framed as part of a broader trend termed ‘antisocial social policy’ and is captured through the lens of welfare scarcity, a component of welfare sociology. This proposed framing, based on a Marx-inspired critical analysis, fills the gaps in the concept of welfare state retrenchment which excessively focuses on conservative right-wing politics.