Abstract: Western social welfare pluralism theory and Chinese social security socialization theory, the two major theoretical paradigms of welfare supply in the world today, have gone through years of evolution and have gradually been accepted by the theoretical and practical circles of social security in the world. Welfare pluralism and social security socialization both advocate pluralistic arrangements for the provision of social welfare and has altered the roles of the state, market, and civil society in welfare provision. While welfare pluralism pays too much attention to the diversification of the provider of welfare supply, socialization of social security is based on the concept of common social responsibility to realize a social security system that covers all citizens, and therefore can be regarded as a more reasonable theory of welfare governance.

Key words: welfare provision theory, welfare pluralism, socialization of social security, network governance, welfare governance