This edited volume assesses from a variety of perspectives the policies introduced to support the development of household services across Europe. It highlights the impact of these costly policies on the creation of low quality jobs and on labour market dualisation, and questions their social and economic outcomes.

Since its first issue in 1988, much interesting and inspiring material has been published in "Groupwork." Most of this still says much of use to today's groupworkers, and there is a steady stream of requests for reprints. We are therefore making back volumes of "Groupwork" available in volume form. Authors in this volume include leading academic figures in the field as well as practitioners working in the field. Any groupworker will find this material of enduring interest.

In this landmark work, Neil Gilbert addresses the long-standing tensions between capitalism and the progressive spirit. Challenging the contemporary progressive outlook on the failures of capitalism, Capitalism and the Progressive Spirit analyzes the empirical evidence for conventional claims about the real level of poverty, the presumed causes and consequences of inequality, the meaning and underlying dynamics of social mobility, and the necessity for more social welfare spending and universal benefits. A careful reading of the research reveals that these issues are far less serious than contemporary progressive claims would have the public believe. Progressive leaders, however, remain firmly wedded to the established social agenda, which conveys a vision of the good society that disregards the historically unprecedented and wide-spread abundance in the advanced post-industrial countries. Meanwhile, the progressive agenda inadvertently caters to the corrosive effects of insatiable consumption and the commodification of everyday life, from which modern capitalism profits. The analysis suggests that it is time to resist the material definition of progress that stands so high on the current agenda and envision alternative ways for government to advance society.

This text describes the relationship between political authoritarianism and people's welfare in modern China. Based on a study of Chinese political discourse from the 1898 reform period to the present, the book aims to demonstrate that support for authoritarian rule in modern China is best understood when compared to ancient political traditions of authority and welfare that were established in China's late Zhou dynasty by the Confucian philosopher Xunzi (298-238 BC).

Financial sustainability is one of the key challenges confronting Europe's universities today. Despite the fact that universities are at the centre of knowledge creation and development, which itself is seen as one of the main engines of economic growth, public funding of higher education in most countries is not increasing or at least not increasing enough in real terms. "Democratisation of higher education" has led to the fact that the higher education budgets per student are relatively low in most European countries compared to Europe's competitors. Despite declarations of intent to increase spending on higher education and research, it is not very likely that public expenditure will grow significantly on average in Europe and therefore be able to keep up with rapidly inflating costs in the years to come. One of the reasons for this is that higher education and research have to compete with other priorities in public budgets (e.g., security, health, etc.). Furthermore, the recent economic downturn has contributed to the decision in many European countries to decrease the levels of investment in higher education and research. Such trends are particularly worrisome for universities across Europe, whose continuing dependence on public funding puts their future sustainability under pressure. New funding schemes and incentives have been discussed and introduced in many European higher education systems, including competitive funding schemes for research under the name of "excellence" policies. Despite the different national institutional configurations in Europe, higher education systems face similar demands of promoting sustainable funding models, maintaining high academic standards, and equality. Thus, financial sustainability is not an end in itself; it aims to ensure that the public university's goals are reached by guaranteeing that the institution produces sufficient income to enable it to invest in high quality education and produce equitable outcomes. For these reasons, this book analyses funding reforms from a multidimensional approach.

The changing economic conditions of the 1990s now demand a review of the framework and adaptation to conditions currently prevailing in the government's role in social welfare. Recognizing that the national political leadership no longer was willing to support all of the public programs and benefits that it had initiated in the past 50 years, the authors assume that a downsizing of the national government's role in social welfare will occur. This volume explores how downsizing will affect the private sector, nonprofit organizations, families, and individuals, while including specific recommendations and suggestions on how social welfare programs can be reformed or modified.

This book traces the historical development of social policy analysis, emphasizing the factors that promoted its development, the need for social policy analysis, and the fields of application for social policy analysis.

Urban renewal has been the dominant approach to revitalizing industrialized communities that fall into decline. A national, community-based organization, the Skillman Foundation sought to engage in a joint effort with the University of Michigan's School of Social Work to bring six neighborhoods in one such declining urban center, Detroit, back to positions of strength and national leadership. A Twenty-First Century Approach to Community Change introduces readers to the basis for the Foundation's solicitation of social work expertise and the social context within which the work of technical assistance began. Building on research, the authors introduce the theory and practice knowledge of earlier scholars, including the conduct of needs assessments at multiple levels, engagement of community members in identifying problem-solving strategies, assistance in developing community goals, and implementation of social work field instruction opportunities. Lessons learned and challenges are described as they played out in the process of creating partnerships for the Foundation with community leaders, engaging and maintaining youth involvement, managing roles and relationships with multiple partners recruited by the Foundation for their specialized expertise, and ultimately conducting the work of technical assistance within a context of increasing influence of the city's surrounding systems (political, economic, educational, and social). Readers will especially note the role of technical assistance in an evolving theory of change.

This volume examines developmentality and the archeology of its social practices, unfolding systemic failures that muffle progress. Economic, climate, and social justice are the areas of focus for this analysis of human-social development in the fog of ideological-institutional meltdowns.

Kantor's objective in this book is to help Washington, the Veterans Administration (VA) staff, the vets themselves, and the general public understand the shortcomings of VA medicine today beyond what they read in the newspapers, so that all concerned can chip in to help improve the medical care that all the vets, and not just those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, are receiving. He reveals exactly how everyone--Washington, veterans, advocacy groups, the various members of the VA staff (including the doctors), the nonmedical and medical administration, the clerks and the rest of the ancillary staff, and the vets themselves--are all together responsible for the breakdown of the system, as he argues that all contribute a share to creating that endpoint: a severe state of havoc with the vets' medical care.

Kantor goes on to describe some of the signature illnesses from which vets suffer, and in the process pinpoints exactly how the system specifically manages to mismanage these ailments, making already serious medical problems even worse. In addition, the author envisions a more ideal VA of the future, bringing forth specific improvements that will assure its implementation. The book concludes with a description of the more positive aspects of the system, offering a platform upon which meaningful reforms can be built.

The Handbook is an attempt to bridge the gap between the highly technical and the everyday, practical resource tools for those just introduced to the field of aging. Its objective is not to provide a definitive examination of American aging programs, but to look closely at a number of programs that are having a significant impact on the lives of older adults in America today.

Through the ethnography of a Catholic community in Northeast Brazil, Maya Mayblin offers a vivid and provocative rethink of gendered portrayals of Catholic life. For the residents of Santa Lucia, life is conceptualized as a series of moral tradeoffs between the sinful and productive world against an idealized state of innocence, conceived with reference to local Catholic teachings. As marriage marks the beginning of a productive life in the world, it also marks a phase in which moral personhood comes most actively-and poignantly-to the fore. This book offers lucid observations on how men and women as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, negotiate this challenge. As well as making an important contribution to the ethnographic literature on morality, Christianity, and Latin America, the book offers a compelling alternative to received portrayals of gender polarity as symbolically all-encompassing, throughout the Catholic world.

As a result of the impact of neo-liberal economics and the financial crisis on policy development and implementation, economic and social divides are widening and deepening globally. As the causes and consequences of austerity continue to emerge across Europe and internationally, so the key policy impact messages must continue to be told. Under the themes of Justice, Participation and Social Exclusion, contributors to this volume draw on recent examples to explore and discuss the impact of those targeted or excluded by public and social policies in European countries, developed, implemented and evaluated at a time of austerity. Contexts, consequences and controversies current in the global North are uncovered highlighting the ethical implications for policy research and the role of the academic.
To bear witness and tell the 'truth' is a standpoint usually associated with religious philosophies. In these turbulent years in Western democracies perhaps one critical role for the academic, recast for post-modern times, is to bear witness to the lives of the powerless and tell their 'truths'. Citizen involvement in policy development can be potent and not merely tokenistic if knowledge becomes a means by which policies can be challenged by those subject to them.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of how communities can leverage their social capital to improve overall quality of life for citizens. In addition, it offers detailed guidance on the design, implementation, and evaluation of social capital initiatives. It defines critical concepts of social capital, its decline in recent years, and the potential for rebuilding it through progressive social policy initiatives. Chapters present an innovative social policy template, Serve Here, for improving Americans' collective quality of life, starting with young adults. Serve Here sets out a comprehensive, sustainable service learning plan aimed at increasing quality higher education for young adults, reducing college debt, and enhancing long-term civic participation and community building. The book offer guidelines for developing tailored solutions to ensure greater parity of social capital to regional, demographic, and other marginalized populations. Featured topics include: The civic value of social capital. The economics of social capital in communities. Building social capital across communities by leveraging personal relationships. Social capital and returning military veterans. Millennials and social capital. Teaching the social entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Social Capital and Community Well-Being: The Serve Here Initiative is a valuable resource for clinicians and practitioners as well as researchers and graduate students in community psychology, social work, education, and healthcare policy.

Why is the welfare system failing to work for so many people? This book examines the problems with the current welfare system and proposes reforms to create a smarter, smaller system that helps people improve their lives through rewarding work. Unlike other books on welfare, this one draws on the stories of more than 100 welfare recipients who are trapped in a system that keeps them underemployed and unemployed. The authors present case studies that show that being a part of a welfare program can actively result in the recipient having to limit their job efforts for fear of losing government assistance. The book examines all major U.S. welfare systems, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, SNAP, Medicaid, and others. The authors begin by exploring the nation's basic poverty issues and examining the relationship between work and happiness. Next, they zero in on specific welfare programs, reporting both on their dollar costs and on the ways that they fail enrollees. The book then concludes with strategies for addressing the shortcomings of the current U.S. welfare system. This book is appropriate for readers interested in public policy, government programs, welfare, and cultural shifts in America. It adds a new perspective to the existing body of welfare scholarship by systematically assessing the impact of welfare on the receivers themselves. Presents a unique analysis of America's welfare programs and uses real-life examples to show how the current system forces enrollees to stay underemployed or unemployed Offers a well-researched perspective on the relationship between work and happiness and why work is necessary for a happy life Presents a new angle on welfare's shortcomings by focusing on the opinions of more than 100 welfare beneficiaries Provides a variety of recommendations for welfare reform, such as creating wage subsidies for low-income workers, increasing apprenticeships, privatizing welfare, and fixing the Earned Income Tax Credit, among others

A pioneering contribution to the literature, this book studies welfare dependence among families eligible for assistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the most controversial income-maintenance program in the nation. In contrast to most works in this area, which rely solely on household data, Vicky Albert uses aggregate data and time-series forecasting techniques to analyze the movement of low-income families to and from welfare. Through Albert's longitudinal perspective and close analysis of such factors as changing welfare policies, labor-market conditions, and demographics, a broad picture of the dynamics of welfare receipt emerges. Particular attention is given to the effects of recent welfare policy shifts brought about by the Reagan administration. Albert's study performs three major functions: descriptive, modeling, and forecasting. She thoroughly analyzes the welfare system and its policies, examines trends in AFDC need and benefit standards, and compares California's AFDC program with those of other states. Albert then develops an analytic structure for investigating determinants of change in California's welfare caseload. Finally, the model is used to predict consequences for the welfare caseload under alternative assumptions about external developments. Numerous tables and figures amplify points made in the discussion. An excellent supplemental text for courses in social welfare, public policy, and welfare ecomomics, this book adds an important new dimension to the continiuing debate on the relative merits of the AFDC program. It should be read by anyone involved in policy-making for administration of the welfare system.

Generally remembered as a notorious diarist rather than a serious political figure, Richard Crossman's imposing presence in Harold Wilson's Cabinet during the 1964-1970 Labour governments proved, not least to himself, a disappointment. However, in this new reassessment, Stephen Thornton rescues Crossman's political achievements from obscurity. From 1955 to the end of his life in 1974, Crossman was committed to a radical scheme that promised to break Britain free from the existing Beveridge model of welfare provision and transform the social security regime in the UK. Although the scheme as Crossman envisaged it was not directly implemented, his actions did prompt highly significant modifications to both Labour and, more surprisingly, Conservative social security policy. Here Crossman's reputation as a towering figure of the patrician Left is rehabilitated as Thornton argues that in the era of New Labour the lessons Crossman learned from his project of welfare reform are more valuable and relevant than ever. Conclusion: Crossman's legacy.

'Practical, useful counsel emanates throughout. Impressively grounded in real world experiences.' - Michael Quinn Patton, author of Utilisation-Focused Evaluation Effective evaluation can provide valuable insights into the way a program, a course or an organisation is being run, and direction for improvement. This widely-used introduction to evaluation is intended for non-specialists in the human services who need to do evaluation as part of a busy workload. Everyday Evaluation on the Run offers a practical over view of the main approaches to evaluation, strategies for involving stakeholders, and the evaluation industry's toolbox of models and techniques. The author emphasises the core principles and concepts of evaluation, and the idea of building a culture of evaluation. This third edition of Everyday Evaluation on the Run reflects current thinking on values in organisations and the need to use evaluation to guide future practice rather than just as an auditing process. With extensive examples, it is a handy reference for professionals and students in health, welfare, and community work, and in government and non-profit agencies.

The United States' health care system stands out for its strict division of policies dealing with public health and individual medicine. Seeking to explain how this division came to be, what alternative paths might have been taken, and how this shapes the contemporary landscape, Daniel Sledge offers nothing less than a reinterpretation of the making of modern American health policy in Health Divided. The vision of those who built the institutions that became the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was, we see here, far more expansive and innovative than has previously been realized-and it came surprisingly close to succeeding. Exploring the history behind its failure, and tracing the inextricable links between public health and national health policy, this book provides a valuable new perspective on the origins of America's disjointed health care system.

Caring for people with disabilities often becomes an all-encompassing responsibility for one or more family members. To manage the multifaceted demands, caregivers must possess strong multitasking skills, including the ability to assist with daily life tasks; provide emotional support; help with financial affairs; mediate and advocate with health care providers. Maintaining balance within their own lives can become incredibly challenging for caregivers. More often than not, providing care for family members or loved ones occurs at the expense of the caregivers' well-being. And for caregivers who themselves have disabilities, it further complicates matters.

"Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability" addresses concerns that have been long familiar to the caregiver population and examines the current state of family care for individuals with disabilities. With a lifespan perspective, this concise reference reviews the literature on specific problems of caregivers and explores which care strategies are effective, promising, or lacking in available resources and support interventions. Contributors also explore the more fluid and subjective aspects of caregiving, such as feelings, spirituality, and family roles. Suggestions for future policy improvements, particularly within the public health sector, are discussed as well.

Topics covered include:

Family dynamics and caregiving for people with disabilities.
Parent caregiving of children with disabilities.
Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and caregiving.
Educational, training, and support programs for caregivers.
Emerging technologies to aid caregivers.
Developing partnerships between caregivers and health care providers.

"Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability" is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, policy makers, and graduate students across such disciplines as clinical psychology, nursing, social work, public health, medicine, and social and education policy."

Does globalization mean a race to the bottom in social standards and the inevitable decay of the welfare state? Ramesh Mishra - a leading authority on social policy - examines the implications of globalization in respect of social policy and social standards in advanced industrial countries.Globalization is a form of international neo-liberalism supported by the United States, world markets and organizations such as the IMF and OECD, whose policies are becoming increasingly influential and are putting nation states under pressure to reduce social standards. In this book Ramesh Mishra considers the impact of globalization on full employment and the labour market, income distribution, taxation and social protection in developed capitalist countries. He argues that social standards have declined far more in English speaking countries than in continental Europe and Japan, and that globalization is as much a political and ideological phenomenon as it is economic. In conclusion, Professor Mishra argues the case for a transnational approach to social policy to ensure that social standards rise in line with economic growth. Globalization and the Welfare State is highly accessible and will be welcomed by students and scholars of social policy, social work, political science and sociology as well as by policymakers in international organizations and government.

This key text from the best-selling "Understanding Welfare" series provides an unique understanding of the main theoretical perspectives and concepts used in social policy in a student-friendly format. A central theme is that theory helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. Written by a leading author in UK social policy, the book uses diverse examples from contemporary social policy to help theoretical arguments come alive and uses summaries and additional resources to help students and their teachers in their learning. It will be essential reading for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates and postgraduates in social policy, social theory and related subjects, as well as their teachers.