Global social changes: risks for the welfare state

The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the fact that globalization, being the most important factor in social dynamics, leads to tectonic shifts in absolutely all spheres of social life. These changes are ambiguous and dual in nature. The purpose of this work is to identify the contradictory nature of the influence of global transformation in the context of recent challenges (COVID 19, increased international economic competition, a complex of economic problems, sanctions policy, political instability) on the scale of inequality in the modern world, the functioning of the institution of the social state, consensus on issues of social cohesion, social justice and social solidarity. The theoretical basis of the article was the work of F. Fukuyama, I. Wallerstein, P. Rosanvallon, G. E. Anderson and others. The interdisciplinary nature of the research within the framework of the identified problems requires the use of both the results of sociological research and a significant amount of international economic statistics. The authors have carried out a comprehensive analysis of the factors of global socio-economic changes that most directly affect the functioning of the modern social state. Based on current sociological and statistical data, the authors prove the complex feasibility and partly even change in the basic principles of the “welfare state” associated with social justice, social cohesion and social solidarity in modern Western European countries, which until recently were considered a standard of high quality and living standards of the population, a developed social support system, and a large middle class. It is concluded that the negative trends of global social changes are unlikely to be changed in the foreseeable future, despite the measures taken by national governments and international institutions aimed at stabilizing the socio-economic situation.