"Welfare in and for the Welfare State constitutes an important and relevant reading today. It provides a comparative perspective on welfare racism, and it helps us understand how welfare systems are being used around the world to exclude (instead of including) certain ethnic and economic categories. The book is ... a comparative perspective on how welfare racism can shed light on both the challenges and opportunities for achieving racial justice and equity within welfare institutions, across different national contexts." (Giacomo DiPasquale, Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Vol. 6 (2), 2023)
1. Racism in and for the Welfare State (Fabio Perocco)
2. The Welfare State Struggling with Capitalist Hybris (Alain Bihr)
3. Welfare State and the Hint for "Social Benefit Cheaters and Profiteers" Migrants: The Case of Belgium (Nouria Ouali)
4. The Swedish Racial Welfare Regime in Transition (Diana Mulinari & Anders Neergaard)
5. The Public Charge: The Capitalist Politics of Labor, Migration and Austerity in the United States (Justin Akers Chacón)
6. Whose Welfare State? A Racialized Logic to [Un]protect Immigration and Asylum in Spain (Olga Jubany, Alèxia Rué)
7. The 23 Million of Romanians, Igor and the Others: Welfare State, Migration, and Racism in Hungary (Petra Andits)
8. Continuities and Transformations of Racism in German Welfare Capitalism (Christoph Gille & Jonas Kohlschmidt)
9. In a Country Boasting a Welfare State, do Black Lives Matter Less? (Steve Jefferys)
10. Welfare State as a Political Weapon: Institutional Racism Against Arabs, Asylum Seekers and the Minorities of Israel (Diego Alberto Biancolin)
11. The System of Racial Discrimination in the Italian Welfare State (Fabio Perocco)
12. Anti-Immigrant Racism within the Brazilian Welfare State and the Expulsion of Cuban Doctors (Patricia Villen)
13. Japanese Welfare State and Racism: Is the Myth of Social Homogeneity Overshadowing Discrimination Patterns on Migrants? (Nicola Costalunga)
Fabio Perocco is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Venice, Italy.
This book analyses politics, practices, and discourses of welfare racism against immigrants under neoliberalism. As an instrument of selection, exclusion, exploitation, and stigmatisation, welfare racism is a distinguishing feature of anti-immigrant racism which has gained new momentum over the last decades. The strength and persistence of this form of racism are linked to several factors, including the colonial roots of the welfare state, racism’s structural position in modern society, the intrinsic limits of social rights in capitalism, and migration policies that are almost always punitive in nature. Rich in documents and historical perspective, this book presents a global analysis of racism within and in the name of the welfare state. It examines discriminatory laws, measures, and practices by state actors and discourses by public figures and organizations, demonstrating the ways these developments are related to the dismantling of the welfare state in the neoliberal era, and to the war on labour and social rights. Integrating perspectives from Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Perocco highlights welfare racism as a global and structured phenomenon producing inequalities and concerning labour as a whole.
Fabio Perocco is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Venice, Italy.