Wohlfahrtsgesellschaften als funktionaler Antagonismus von Kapitalismus und Demokratie : ein immer labilerer Mechanismus?

The fundamental mechanism that shapes the social order of welfare societies is the functional antagonism between the capitalist economy, on the one hand, and democratic politics on the other. This mechanism, with its mixed blessings, has been an unchanging feature of western welfare societies for around hundred years. However, for decades now we have grown increasingly uneasy observing that this constant can no longer be relied upon. In cybernetic terms, welfare societies might be in danger of losing their ultrastability and therefore their ability to counter disbalances and return to a state of stable order. How could this happen and what does it mean? Instead of giving definitive responses to such questions, I suggest a research program that may better assess the present situation in western welfare societies and, more importantly, possible future developments. Such research would be guided heuristically by the assumption that welfare societies today are being unsettled by a multitude of destabilizing factors to which actors can often only respond with coping strategies rather than with activities guided by clearly defined goals. Far from reducing instabilities, the interaction of the various actors' coping strategies tends to perpetuate or even intensify these pressures.