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Under feudalism, the producers had direct access to and
control over the means of production－principally the land－and
were able to produce for themselves. It is a self-sufficient
natural economy. As human society evolved, however, capitalism
developed within the structure of fedual society. Within a
capital economy, workers do not won or control the means of
production－the factories or offices the work in, or the tools
and machines the work with－instead they sell their labour-power
to those who do own the means of production in return for a
wage. It was this growing separation of producer from the means
of production marks the origins of poverty. The welfare
state is a common phenomenon of all capitalist societies. Most
of the services in the majority of welfare states evolved over
very long periods. In 1349 the Statute of Labourers－the first
of the English Poor Laws－was passed. In 1601 the Elizabethan
statutes were re-codified, it was known as the Elizabethan Poor
Law, established a system of relief and of parish employment for
those unable to obtain their own subsistence. In 1883 Bismarck''s
large-scale sickness insurance scheme began social insurance
system in the modern states. The growth of the modern welfare
state can be understood as a response to two fundamental
developments: the formation of national states and their
transformation into mass democracies after the French
Revolution, and the growth of capitalism that became the
dominant mode of production after the Industrial Revolution. The
essence of welfare state can be understood as an attempt to
create a new kind of solidarity in highly differentiated
societies by narrowing the extent of insecurity by enabling
individuals and families to meet certain social contingencies.
The spiraling expenditures of the welfare state were blamed for
the state of economy, and governments were perceived as
overloaded, overregulating, and overbureaucratized. These views
contributed to crisis of economy, legitimacy, and fiscal of the
welfare state. Then, Welfare Pluralism (the idea that social and
health care may be obtained from four different sectors－the
statutory, the voluntary, the commercial and the informal) arose
to resolve welfare crisis. Welfare Pluralism also implies two
meanings: decentralisation and participation. Nonprofit service
organizations can account for Welfare Pluralism well. As the
structures of society, ploity, and economy change, social needs
in Taiwan increase deeply. Social services here tend to provide
pluarlly by contracting with voluntary organizations. In the
future, besides more popular social insurances, strong social
assistance and social services are indispensable schemes.
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