한국 복지국가 연구에 대한 이론적 고찰

Abstract

This article aims at classifying the studies on the development of Korean welfare state systematically and finding out the causes of the differences among theories. Furthermore, this article points out limits of these studies and gives proposals for future research. This study differentiates 5 different theoretical positions, such as modernization, neo liberalist, productivist welfare capitalism, developmental welfare system, and historical institutionalism in the studies on the development of Korean welfare state. These positions give different arguments concerning the development and driving force of the welfare state in Korea. However, there are mainly two limits observed in these studies. From the aspect of the quantitative development, these studies underestimate the effect of welfare reforms after the economic crisis of 1997, because they don’t consider the institutional immaturity of Korean welfare systems. From the aspect of the qualitative structure, the differences of these studies don’t result from the theoretical assumptions, but from the object observed. Namely, regardless theoretical positions, the studies, which observe the development of the formal welfare systems, tent to stress the structure changes, while the studies, which observe real implementation of the welfare systems, argue the continuity of the welfare state. In conclusion, this study points out, we have to develop theories and methods, which can reflect the institutional immaturity and explain the difference between nominal systems and their real implementation, the most important feature of Korean welfare state.