As governments around the world are increasingly using digital technology to generate social value, it is important to consider what types of logic underpin this value creation. Previous research has identified a dominant market logic, associated with new public management (NPM) in the public sector, which has had certain adverse effects. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to outline and compare the logic of two ideal societies: the industrial society and societies, each with its own logic. The results reveal important differences between these societies. While the welfare society neglects factors related to the mode of production and time, the industrial society lacks several important values, including human rights, solidarity, community and equality. By comparing these societies, this paper generates an understanding of why it is highly problematic for an industrial-based NPM logic to dominate in sectors such as education and health care. Such dominance is likely to lead to important values being overlooked.
Governments around the world are increasingly using digital technology to generate a variety of
(public) values.
Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to outline and compare market logic to welfare logic by using two ideal type of societies: the industrial society and the welfare society. The study examines core works of literature on these two societies.
This paper proceeds as follows. In Section 2, the industrial and welfare societies are described in more detail. In Section 3, the methodology is described. The results of the study are presented in Section 4, followed by concluding remarks in Section 5.
The ideal-type methodology was first used by
questioned. It achieved popularity in 1816 when it was used by Henri de Saint-Simon and later by
Aguste Comte to argue that the future would be industrial. It emerged in clear opposition to the
rationalist critique of theological-feudal authority and the ideals of liberty, equality and freedom of
conscience, meaning that the theory of industrial society was opposed to the ideal of democracy.
Weber believed that rationalization was the central force in the development of industrial theory,
encompassing the realms of economics, politics, public administration, law and culture. Advances
in science and the rise of intellectualization led to increased use of machine technology and the
development of modern rational capitalism, rational law, legal-national authority and bureaucratic
related to the human invention of the market economy. Darenhof (1959) highlighted a difference
assumed to refer to identical concepts. When Darenhof described the industrial society, he drew on
production of surplus value, mechanized factory production and the existence of classes. Multiple
descriptions of the industrial society exist in relation to theories of a post-industrial or
postcapitalistic society. Bell (1973),
The welfare state is often related to the idea that all citizens are entitled to a minimum standard of
living and basic social services. It is built on a combination of elements both from socialism and
capitalism: two political ideologies are combined in the idea of the modern welfare state
As aforementioned, this study revolves around two types of societies as depicted in previous
literature. These societies are studied by using Weber's ideal types: the ideal industrial society and
the ideal welfare society. These societies were outlined in the section above. The methodology of
ideal types has been further refined by
The methodology of applying factors relating to the welfare and industrial societies to the
opposite ideal-type society consists of multiple steps, in which interpretation is particularly relevant.
To ensure the study's reliability, we position it in previous research by Bell (1973) and
4.1.
This section consists of two parts. In 4.1, the industrial and welfare societies are compared based on economic factors. Then, in 4.2, these societies are compared based on welfare factors.
The aforementioned economic factors are presented in Table 1, together with the logic associated with them in relation to both ideal types. These factors are outlined in more detail below.
Service provision
Strategic resource Technology Skill base Methodology Time perspective Design Axial principle Social goods Supportive
Service work Common solutions for everyone's best
Equality
Financial capital
Machinery for production Engineer, semi-skilled worker
Empiricism, experiment Adaptation by experimentation
Economic growth Inclusion of all people
Game against fabricated nature
Under the economic factor mode of production no welfare ideal-type characterization could be
identified. The ideal welfare society does not strive for production but rather focuses on how to
create a society where every citizen is included and their individual needs are satisfied. The welfare
society is related to the provision of services to citizens and, therefore, does not have a mode of
production: citizens cannot be treated as a product. It is important to note that the welfare society
was born out of industrialization and that without economic growth and production, the financing
of the welfare state would not be possible. The economic sector of a welfare society focusses on service
provision rather than on goods production. The provision of welfare services, such as health care
and social support, is vital (Pierson, 2006). However, as mentioned above, income from taxation is
vital to support the service provision that the welfare society is built on. The resources that transformed
pre-industrial society into an industrial society included oil, gas, coal and nuclear power, which
provided new ways of creating energy. The resource that creates a welfare society is human
morality: the ability to differentiate right from wrong through moral consensus
An industrial society uses financial capital as a strategic resource, whereas the earlier pre-industrial
society used raw materials. In the ideal welfare society, the strategic resources are social goods,
which represent the services provided to citizens to increase welfare. In a welfare society, the
purpose of technology is to support rather than to provide profit and support production, as in the
ideal industrial society.
The aforementioned welfare factors are illustrated in Table 2, together with the logic associated with them of both ideal types. These factors are then outlined in more detail below. 4.2.
Order and organization Solutions Solidarity Community Societal structure Functionalism Equality
Freedom Safety and care
Policy
For everyone's best Thoughtfulness and helpfulness Togetherness and cooperation Built on two genders
Social and cultural No privileged or revoked
Economic growth
Rationalization
For profit
Built on consumption
Design and construction
In a welfare society, free human rights is a core value. However, no equivalent is mentioned in the
account of the ideal industrial society. Industrialization emerged as a rationalist critique of
secularization, theological-feudal authority and ideals such as liberty, equality and freedom of
conscience
In a welfare society, solutions should benefit everyone. The factors solidarity and community are
not found in the account of the ideal industrial society. Solidarity is not a priority in an industrial
society as evidenced in effects such as alienation, inequality and anomie
This paper compared the logic of two ideal societies: the industrial society and the welfare society. The factors that determine these societies were gathered from existing literature, and the societies were described using an ideal-type methodology. The results of the comparison between the economic factors related to these ideal societies reveal that two factors were missing in a welfare society: mode of production and time perspective. This result does not come as a surprise since the welfare society is not focused on production values. The comparison between the ideal societies in relation to welfare factors generates some interesting results, especially in the context of the economic factors frequently applied in welfare organizations, such as health organizations and social services. The account of an industrial society showed gaps in relation to the following factors: human rights, solidarity, community and equality. This research adds to the current literature by demonstrating that a welfare organization evaluated in relation to economic factors lacks important values. In parallel, without a market logic, the welfare society has no mode of production. Bell D. (1973) The coming of post-industrial society: A venture in social forecasting. N.Y: Basic Books, 2nd Ed
Marcuse H. (1964) One Dimensional Man; Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Boston: Beacon Press.
-37 in Institutional Structure: Constituting State.
Pierson C. (2006) Beyond the welfare state?: The new political economy of welfare (3rd. ed.). Cambridge
Annika Hasselblad Leif Sundberg I am a PhD student at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall, Sweden. I started my PhD journey in 2018 and are interested in investigating the values effecting technology creation and usage, and whether they becomes successful or not. I am currently writing my thesis which investigates the values affecting 'welfare technologies' used in care organizations.