Private pensions provision in the UK is in crisis, yet it is not the crisis often depicted in political and popular discourses. While population ageing has affected traditional pensions practice, the imperilment of UK pensions is due in fact to the peculiar way policy-makers have responded to wider social and economic change. Pensions are a mechanism for managing failed futures, yet this function is being impeded by the individualization of provision. This book offers a political economy perspective on the development of private pensions, focusing specifically on how policy elites have sought to respond to perceived crises of demographic change, under-saving, and fund deficits, and in doing so have absorbed imperatives to subject individuals to a market-led regime under the influence of neoliberal ideology. This terrain is explored through chapters on the historical and comparative context of UK pensions provision, the demise of collectivist provision, the rise of pensions individualization and the state's role as facilitator and regulator in this regard, and the financial and economic context in which pensions provision operates. By placing the UK system in a comparative context of pensions reform agendas across the world, this book offers an original understanding of the unique temporality and materiality of pensions provision as a set of mechanisms for coping with generational change and forecast failures in capitalist economies. It also presents a nuanced account of the extent to which the state acts to anchor the process of pensions rematerialization and, crucially, concludes by outlining a coherent and radical programme of progressive pensions reform.

Transportation and Children's Well-Being applies an ecological approach, examining the social, psychological and physical impacts transport has on children at the individual and community level. Drawing on the latest multidisciplinary research in transport, behavior, policy, the built environment and sustainability, the book explains the pathways and mechanisms by which transport affects the different domains of children's travel. Further, the book identifies the influences of transportation with respect to several domains of well-being, highlighting the influences of residential location on travel by different modes and its impact on the long-term choices families make. The book concludes with proposed evidence-based solutions using real-world examples that support positive influences on well-being and eliminate or reduce negative solutions.

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This is the first book to challenge the concept of paid work for disabled people as a means to 'independence' and 'self determination'. Recent attempts in many countries to increase the employment rates of disabled people have actually led to an erosion of financial support for many workless disabled people and their increasing stigmatisation as 'scroungers'. Led by the disability movement's concern with the employment choices faced by disabled people, this controversial book uses sociological and philosophical approaches, as well as international examples, to critically engage with possible alternatives to paid work. Essential reading for students, practitioners, activists and anyone interested in relationships between work, welfare and disability.

Funding Philanthropy investigates Dr Barnardo's work and philanthropic 'empire' as early manifestations of promotional and branding mechanisms in the mid- to late-Victorian period, processes that would seem commonplace by the mid- to late-twentieth century. Barnardo possessed a strategic sense of what would excite people's interest and pity, as well as a seemingly unfailing capacity to package and promote evangelical philanthropy on behalf of children, the nation and the Empire. Thus, the book explores Barnardo as creative promoter and 'showman,' a savvy entrepreneur in an evangelical context that overtly mandated against privileging business principles generally, and the practice of direct appeal specifically. To manage the business of philanthropy, Barnardo operated as narrator, orchestrator, and showman, depending upon artfully constructed bodies, images and stories as imperatives for emotional engagement and collective participation. Funding Philanthropy offers new knowledge to anyone interested in Victorian history, conceptualising children, literary modes, and marketing practices. The book also considers how Barnardo's conception of charity is closely aligned with principles of unconditional hospitality, precisely at a moment in time when the English were intent on centralising philanthropy and on meting out support according to measures Barnardo regarded as punitive and unchristian. Part One explicates how institutional branding evolved according to the properties associated with the metaphor of the 'open door'; Part Two elucidates how narrative devices associated with fiction raise both affect and funds; Part Three concentrates on how Barnardo exploited strategies associated with dramatic performance in public spectacles, despite his adamant strictures against the theatre itself. Discussion burrows down to elucidate such events as highly ritualised Annual General Meetings, child picnics, as well as ubiquitous 'bazaars' and self-denial drives. Extensive research in Barnardo's vast archive of periodical publication for children, youth and adults and the wider public press underpin the discursive analysis.

Military Veteran Reintegration: Approach, Management, and Assessment of Military Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life offers a toolkit for researchers and practitioners on best practices for easing the reintegration of military veterans returning to civilian society. It lays out how transition occurs, identifies factors that promote or impede transition, and operationalizes outcomes associated with transition success. Bringing together experts from around the world to address the most important aspects of military transition, the book looks at what has been shown to work and what has not, while also offering a roadmap for best-results moving forward.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is an important actor in the American gun debate. While popular explanations for the group's influence often focus on the NRA's lobbying and campaign donations, it receives lesser attention for the mass mobilization efforts that make these political endeavours possible. On Target explores why the NRA is so influential and how we can understand the group's impact on firearms policy in the United States. The book looks at how the NRA both draws upon and shapes historical meta-narratives regarding the role of firearms in America's national identity and how this is part of a larger effort to expand the community of gun owners. Noah S. Schwartz demonstrates how the NRA portrays a vision of the past through events such as its annual meeting; communications such as American Rifleman magazine and NRA TV; and points of contact including the National Firearms Museum. Based on fieldwork in Indiana and Virginia, including participant observation at NRA events and firearm safety classes, thematic analysis of audio-visual material, and interviews with NRA executives and members, On Target sheds light on the ways in which the NRA tells stories to build and mobilize a politically motivated network of gun owners.

Both growth and unevenness in the distribution of housing wealth have become characteristic of advanced societies in recent decades. This book examines, in various contexts, how central housing property ownership has become to household well-being as well as in reshaping social, economic and political relations. Expert contributors analyze the critical interactions between housing and wealth that lie at the heart of contemporary forms of capitalism, especially its global, neoliberal incarnation. Comparing and contrasting case studies from across the European continent, this book illustrates how these interactions are reshaping the function of housing as a welfare object, including how the financialisation and commodification of housing in the twenty-first-century has transformed its role and amplified distributional outcomes. Practical and engaging, Housing Wealth and Welfare is a must-read for researchers and students of housing studies, social policy, sociology, social geography and political science. It will also appeal to policy makers within national and supra-national organisations and institutions such as the European Union, Housing Europe and the International Monetary Fund. Contributors include: B. Bengtsson, S. Buchholz, C. Dewilde, J. Doling, T.P. Gerber, K. Kolb, S. Koeppe, C. Lennartz, S. Mandic, M. Mrzel, M. Norris, R. Ronald, H. Ruonavaara, B.A. Searle, A.M. Soaita, J. Sorvoll, A. Wallace, J.R. Zavisca

Migration is one of the most vexing policy issues of our time. In this Handbook the editors have assembled an all-star cast of scholars to look at the many dimensions of migration policy. The book breaks new ground and it will be required reading for anyone seriously interested in how and why states seek to control the movement of people across borders.' - James F. Hollifield, Southern Methodist University, USIn this comprehensive Handbook, an interdisciplinary team of distinguished scholars from the social sciences explores the connections between migration and social policy. They test conflicting claims as to the positive and negative effects of different types of migration against the experience of countries in Europe, North America, Australasia, the Middle East and South Asia, assessing arguments as to migration s impact on the financial, social and political stability and sustainability of social programs. The volume reflects the authors' curiosity about the controversy over the connection between social and cultural diversity and popular support for the welfare state. Providing timely and original chapters which both critique the existing literature as well as build on and advance theoretical understanding, the authors focus on the formal settlement and integration polices created for migrants as well as corollary state policies affecting migrants and migration. A clutch of chapters investigates the linkage between migration and trade theory, foreign direct investment, globalization, public opinion, public education and welfare programs. Chapters then deal with leading receiving states as well as India and the authors examine the regulation of migration at the subnational, national, regional and global levels. The topic of migration and security is also covered. This compelling and exhaustive review of existing scholarship and state-of-the-art original empirical analysis is essential reading for graduates and academics researching the field. Contributors include: C. Boswell, M.L. Crepaz, T. Eule, G. Facchini, G.P. Freeman, A. Geddes, K.M. Greenhill, L. Hadj-Abdou, A. Harell, M. Helbling, P. Ireland, S. Iyengar, T. Janoski, C. Joppke, G. Lahav, D. Leblang, S. Lockhart, L. Lucassen, A.M. Mayda, M. Medina, A.M. Messina, N. Mirilovic, J. Money, E. Murard, F. Ortega, A. Perliger, F. Peters, M.E. Peters, S.I. Rajan, M. Ruhs, D. Sainsbury, I. Shpaizman, S. Soroka, R. Tanaka, M. Vink, S. Western, C.F. Wright

Listen to the podcast about Cory Blad's chapter in this book 'Searching for Saviors: Economic Adversities and the Challenge of Political Legitimacy in the Neoliberal Era'. This book seeks to explore welfare responses by questioning and going beyond the assumptions found in Esping-Andersen's (1990) broad typologies of welfare capitalism. Specifically, the project seeks to reflect how the state engages, and creates general institutionalized responses to, market mechanisms and how such responses have created path dependencies in how states approach problems of inequality. Moreover, if the neoliberal era is defined as the dissemination and extension of market values to all forms of state institutions and social action, the need arises to critically investigate not only the embeddedness of such values and modes of thought in different contexts and institutional forms, but responses and modes of resistance arising from practice that might point to new forms of resilience.

Social work plays an important role in reintegrating individuals into society, educating, raising awareness, implementing social policy, and realizing legal regulations. The emergence of digital innovations and the effects of health problems including the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals and society have led to the development of innovations, virtual/digital practices, and applications in this field. The contributions of the recent pandemic and digital transformation to social work and practices should be revealed in the context of international standards. Policies, Protocols, and Practices for Social Work in the Digital World presents the current best practices, policies, and protocols within international social work. It focuses on the impact of digital applications, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and digital transformation on social work. Covering topics including burnout, management, social engineering, anti-discrimination strategies, and women's studies, this book is essential for social workers, policymakers, government officials, scientists, clinical professionals, technologists, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students.

This review considers the most significant and contemporary literary contributions to the field of the economics of housing. It discusses articles that cover the housing markets demand and supply whilst considering these factors interactions on real estate valuations, home ownership and wealth decisions. Literature focusing on the interfaces that occur from the dynamics of neighbourhoods and housing prices is analysed and the review delves into how housing markets and their modelling have attracted particular policy interest, such as rent control. Recent analyses of housing markets through a lens that emphasizes the importance of frictions, namely the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides (DMP) model is also extended upon. This review promises to be an informative read to scholars and academics who are immersed in this fascinating topic.