Organizational forms and welfare coalitions: corporate law and the movement for social insurance in the US and UK

Adereth, Maya (2025) Organizational forms and welfare coalitions: corporate law and the movement for social insurance in the US and UK. British Journal of Sociology. ISSN 0007-1315

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Abstract

Scholars of the welfare state have long argued that, in liberal democracies, welfare state expansion depends on successful coalitions in its favour. Under what circumstances do these coalitions form? Party systems, economic interest, and political mobilisation have all been thought to influence the emergence of coalitions for welfare state expansion. In this article, I argue that law plays a critical role in facilitating the last of these factors. Drawing on a growing body of literature that sees law as constitutive of, rather than merely reflective of, social relations, I demonstrate that available legal forms meaningfully inform opportunities for welfare coalitions. In particular, I examine how debates over what a trade union is—a voluntary association of individuals, or a corporate body deserving of a state statute—shaped coalitions for welfare reform in the US and the UK at the turn of the twentieth century.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Sociology
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
JEL classification:	P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P16 - Political Economy K - Law and Economics > K0 - General > K00 - General J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J51 - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
Date Deposited:	08 Oct 2025 10:39
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2025 09:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129715

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