Abstract:

Giddens’s “The Third Way，” which emerged in the 1990’s when the welfare states faced a lot of crises， advocates the “progressive centreleft” in a globalized economy beyond the classic LeftRight division. From a social policy perspective and against the background of the welfare states being in crisis， this paper first analyzes Giddens’s “The Third Way” in describing the constitution of posttraditional society and his “outofthebox” idea of a sixpoint framework for a reconstituted radical politics. The paper then moves on to the definitions of the external risk and manufactured risk in Giddens’s theory and another “outofthebox” idea of his about passive welfare being transformed into positive welfare. The paper concludes with proposed principles derived from “The Third Way” for the social policy reform and development in China.

Key words: social policy, Anthony Giddens, the Third Way, positive welfare