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Wolff, E.A. (2024)

Social Subjecthood? The inclusion of (post)colonial migrants in Dutch, French, and British welfare states, 1945-1970

Doctoral Thesis
If diversity counteracts solidarity, as welfare state scholarship commonly concludes, then how did the expansion of European welfare states in the postwar period coexist with (post)colonial migrations? Through a historical-interpretivist lens, this dissertation studies the inclusion of migrants from the Caribbean, Algeria, and present-day Indonesia in post-war British, French, and Dutch welfare states respectively. It documents a variety of inclusions on unequal terms in French and Dutch welfare states. While those who qualified as repatriates received aid under targeted assistance schemes and expedited access to social security, many who had been disadvantaged under colonial legal codes were directed towards paternalistic arms of the welfare state aimed at surveillance and cultural conversion. In the UK, street-level discrimination and restricitonist immigration law marred the promise of equality under the Beveridgean welfare state for Caribbean citizens. These patterns were...Show moreIf diversity counteracts solidarity, as welfare state scholarship commonly concludes, then how did the expansion of European welfare states in the postwar period coexist with (post)colonial migrations? Through a historical-interpretivist lens, this dissertation studies the inclusion of migrants from the Caribbean, Algeria, and present-day Indonesia in post-war British, French, and Dutch welfare states respectively. It documents a variety of inclusions on unequal terms in French and Dutch welfare states. While those who qualified as repatriates received aid under targeted assistance schemes and expedited access to social security, many who had been disadvantaged under colonial legal codes were directed towards paternalistic arms of the welfare state aimed at surveillance and cultural conversion. In the UK, street-level discrimination and restricitonist immigration law marred the promise of equality under the Beveridgean welfare state for Caribbean citizens. These patterns were racialised, but not inevitable. Ideological efforts to construct certain migrants as deserving cultural insiders have important explanatory power. This dissertation improves the theoretical toolkit available to welfare state scholars interested in inclusion, and elucidates the relationship between race and redistribution. Diversity neither caused retrenchment, nor threatened solidarity. Rather, (post)colonial migrations offered contemporaries an opportunity to consciously and manually create it.Show less
Welfare
Migration
Race
Redistribution
Europe
Postwar
Postcolonial
Inequality
Inclusion
Diversity
All authors
Wolff, E.A.
Supervisor
Vliet, O. van
Co-supervisor
Afonso, A.
Committee
Braun, C.; Fox, C.; Meghji, A.; Muller, E.; Schrover, M.; Zwan, N. van der
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Institute of Public Administration, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University
Date
2024-06-18
ISBN (print)
9789465061177

Funding

Sponsorship
NWO
Grant number
VIDI Grant 185.159 6289