Gendered analyses reclassified the welfare state from effect to cause of women’s well-being.

Evidence

Before the nonsilent revolution in the literature of the 1990s, the welfare state often appeared as the dependent variable: one explained the causes of its origin or expansion. In contrast, much of the gender literature looks at the impact (or not) of the welfare state on women’s quality of life. A core question is the in- fluence of the welfare state, not its causes. Not surprisingly, this is one area where rights play a key role. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 605

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The move from dependent to independent variable is not a stylistic shift but a re-specification of the causal model: what counts as the outcome determines which concept dimensions exist at all.
• XREF: Connects to the volume’s earlier argument (chapters 1-5) that concept structure and causal theory are mutually constitutive.