The Lifestyle State “Needs become luxuries. Welfare becomes lifestyle.” A Theoretical Framework on the Succession of Legitimacy from Welfare Provision to Lifestyle Branding Arif Jameel Independent Scholar | Reuters Certified Digital Journalist Lahore, Pakistan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9290-6195 — Zenodo — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20824313 Central Hypothesis The classical Welfare State derived its legitimacy from the collective provision of basic security, including food, shelter, health, education, and social protection. This paper argues that the basis of legitimacy has not disappeared, nor has it simply expanded — it has succeeded to a different ground. As living standards, digital connectivity, and consumer aspirations expanded, the underlying welfare function continued to operate, but institutions increasingly came to be evaluated, trusted, and rewarded not by the adequacy of what they delivered, but by the branded, aesthetic, ...
