Bipolar bugbears - Comment on Colin Hay: 'Globalisation, welfare retrenchment and 'the logic of no alternative': Why second best won't do'

This article responds to the view that it is now time to move on from debat es about post-Fordism and the new sociology of welfare. It argues that it i s important to retain the traditional agenda of social welfare (redistribut ive state policies designed to promote social integration and challenge the outcomes of the market) at a time when an influential position in sociolog y is playing down the significance of structural factors as an obstacle to progress in welfare.