After Corporatism: A Comparison of the Role of Medical Professionals and Social Workers in the Dutch Welfare State

Abstract

This article compares the emerging role of professional groups in two areas of welfare policy in the Netherlands. The focus is on the role of medical professionals in Dutch disability programs and of social workers in the area of public assistance. The study shows that medical professionals have come to replace the labor and capital interests formerly engaged in disability policy-making. In the area of social work, professional social work agencies have superceded religious charity organizations that found their basis for policy influence in a “pillarized” society. The argument presented is that a policy shift accounts for this change in what formerly were corporatist policy institutions. The policy shift results from a change in the nature of welfare policy debate from fundamental discussions of the rights basis of welfare programs toward technical discussions of how best to make the programs operate. An examination of retrenchment debates in the 1980s shows that professionals remain important actors in the policy process. The implications for corporatist theory are discussed.