Varieties of equality in European welfare states: A multidisciplinary approach to redistribution.

This text examines the concept of equality in the context of welfare state policies in industrialized countries, focusing on how social policy can address rising income and wealth inequality. It integrates philosophical, economic, and political perspectives, referencing thinkers such as John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum, and discusses welfare state models based on Esping-Andersen's Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (liberal, conservative, and social democratic). The author highlights the impact of globalization since the end of the Soviet Union, noting a general decline in welfare state commitment and a rise in inequality, with Northern and Nordic European countries showing stronger redistribution efforts compared to Southern and Eastern Europe. The work concludes that equality is a relative concept shaped by political leadership and that welfare states redistribute wealth primarily from the top 10 percent to other income groups, though it offers limited new insights on addressing contemporary challenges to social justice.