The privatization of the welfare state: a review

Although the privatization of social services is not new, its purpose, form, and content have changed over time. Under the Reagan Administration, it has meant a greater role for private enterprise in a scaled-down welfare state. Intervention in the economy was historically conceived to modify the market in behalf of social justice. In contrast, privatization channels public dollars into private hands, strengthens the two-class welfare state, and reproduces the inequalities of the free market.