Sociology I / The Crisis of the Welfare State
Practice question · Sort into groups

Sort each risk by whether it is an old social risk the contributory systems were designed around or a new one they were not.

Groups: Old social risk · New social risk

Hints
  1. The old risks all assume a single continuous earner supporting a household.
  2. Ask which risks a contributory record can insure and which it cannot.
Show the answer

Old social risk: Loss of earnings through industrial injury, Old age after a long continuous working life, Sickness interrupting the earnings of a household head

New social risk: Raising children alone on a single income, Needing long-term care at home for many years

Why

Every old risk on this list is an interruption to a career that is otherwise continuous, which is exactly what contributory insurance handles well. The new risks are different in kind: they arise from the absence of such a career, or from needs that last decades rather than weeks, and no contribution record can be built against them.

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