This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Castles, F. G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Historical and comparative perspectives on the Australian welfare state: a response to Rob Watts

Australian National University

In response to Rob Watts' critique of my work as being that of a non-historian and as being structural-functionalist in orientation, I simply plead guilty. I suggest, however, that there are extenuating circumstances in the fact that my work on the Australian welfare state is in no way intended to be a contribution to historical studies, but is rather a contribution to comparative social policy research utilising the proper sociological tools for that task. On the other hand, I plead wholly innocent of Watts' other charge that my research findings have somehow deflected Australian historians from their proper research tasks. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary—and Watts provides none—any defects in the work of historians of the Australian welfare state must be attributed to the deficiencies of that discipline and its practitioners, not to the influence of non-historians such as myself.

Journal of Sociology, Vol. 33, No. 1, 16-20 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/144078339703300102


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?