This is a critical overview of political philosophies of welfare pitched at advanced undergraduates and postgraduates on courses taught in political science, sociology, social policy, and philosophy. It examines classic justifications of the welfare state and then discusses recent attempts to provide alternative approaches to political theory, such as political liberalism, postmodernism, and the new-right. Based on the author's teaching, this analytically cogent account engages with both the philosophical roots of ideas and their application in institutional structures.