Anthropologist Linda Layne takes a theoretically informed approach to the topic of miscarriage and stillbirth. About 20% of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in miscarriage or stillbirth, yet pregnancy loss is not a socially accepted topic of discussion. To cope, many middle-class women join pregnancy loss support groups. Layne studies these groups and the rituals they create to help would-be-parents through their loss. The book takes an historical look at pregnancy loss in America and then moves to the present, examining how current reproductive technologies (home pregnancy tests, sonograms, etc.) and the abortion debate have reworked notions of "foetal personhood." Layne rounds out her argument by calling for feminists to put pregnancy loss on their agenda to help increase awareness about this hidden but painful subject and to effect necessary changes and improvements in the current socio-medical management of pregnancy loss.

Housing is an important determinant of health. This book provides a concise overview of the impact of housing policy and the effect of housing on health. It covers the issues of homelessness and health, collaboration between organizations in delivering housing needs, and focusses on the role of primary care teams as part of the Primary Care Trusts. It should be of interest to all members of primary care organisations, especially those concerned with health and social policy, including clinicians, nurses, psychologists, managers, statutory and voluntary housing organizations, policy makers, shapers and influencers.

Explores the concept of 'house' in the context of Levi-Strauss' idea of the house as a link between kinship-based societies and class societies, developing this further into an examination of a conjuncture of architecture, people and symbolism.

Now it its fourth edition, this textbook has been completely revised to examine the current state of housing policy in the UK. Exploring developments in housing policy made since Labour's 1997 electoral victory, the book addresses current issues included: the 'brownfield versus greenfield' debate; the phasing out of renovation grants; the transfer of local authority housing to registered social landlords; boom, slump and boom in the owner-occupied sector.
Other topics addressed range from regional policy and housing across the UK, to social exclusion, community care and homelessness.

Contents:
1. Introduction Part I: The supply of new and renovated housing 2. Housing investment 3. House building 4. Housing rehabilitation policy Part II: Housing markets and housing tenure 5. Housing finance 6. Private rented housing 7. Local authority housing 8. Privatisation and stock transfer 9. Housing associations 10. Owner-occupation Part III: Single issues in housing policy 11. Affordability 12. Regional disparities 13. Regeneration 14. Social exclusion 15. Housing and community support 16 Housing and the elderly 17. Gender and housing 18. Black and Asian minorities and housing 19. Homelessness 20. Conclusions

Radical changes in the design of housing in post-war Japan had numerous effects on the Japanese people. Public policy toward housing provision and the effects of escalating land prices in Tokyo and a few other very large cities in the country from the mid- to late 1970s onward are examined, but it is dwellings themselves and the slow but steady shift from a floor-sitting to a chair-sitting housing culture in urban and suburban parts of the country that figure most prominently in the discussion.
Central to the book is the author's translation of an account written by Kyoko Sasaki, an observant wife and mother, about the housing she and her growing family experienced during the 1960s, and subsequent chapters explore some of the issues that flow from her account. Chief among these are the small size and generally poor quality of the private-sector housing that Japanese of fairly ordinary means could afford to occupy in the early postwar years, the new design initiatives undertaken at about that time by public-sector housing providers and the diffusion of at least some of their initiatives to the housing sector as a whole, and the adjustments that the occupants of housing had to, or chose to, make as the dwellings available to them as renters or as owners changed in character. Attention is also paid to the structural requirements of dwellings and attitudes toward dwellings of diverse types in a country prone to earthquakes.

Disability and Neoliberal State Formations explores the trajectory of neoliberalism in Australia and its impact on the lives of Australians living with disability, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It examines the emergence, intensification and normalisation of neoliberalism across a 20-year period, distilling the radical changes to disability social security and labour-market law, policy and programming, and the enduring effects of the incremental tightening of disability eligibility carried out by Australian governments since the early 2000s. Incorporating qualitative interviews with disabled people, disability advocates, services and the policy elite, alongside extensive documentary material, this book brings to the fore the compounding effects of neoliberal reforms for disabled people's wellbeing and participation. The work is of international significance as it illustrates the importance of looking beyond the UK, EU and the USA to critically understand the historical development and policy mobility of disability neoliberal retraction from smaller economies, such as Australia, to the global economic centre.

Should the public play a greater role within the financial system? Decisions about money are a part of our everyday lives. Supporters promote financial inclusion as a way of helping people navigate decisions about money. However, critics fear these policies promote the financialisation of the welfare state and turn citizens into consumers. Presenting a nuanced, critical analysis of financial inclusion, Rajiv Prabhakar brings together the supportive and critical literatures which have, until now, developed in parallel. Addressing key issues including the poverty premium, financial capability and housing, this essential dialogue advances crucial public, academic and policy debates and proposes alternative paths forward.

The problem of how, where, and on what terms to house the urban masses in an industrial society remains unresolved to this day. In nineteenth-century Victorian England, overcrowding was the most obvious characteristic of urban housing and, despite constant agitation, it remained widespread and persistent in London and other great cities such as Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool well into the twentieth century.

"The Eternal Slum" is the first full-length examination of working-class housing issues in a British town. The city investigated not only provided the context for the development of a national policy but also, in scale and variety of response, stood in the vanguard of housing reform. The failure of traditional methods of social amelioration in mid-century, the mounting storm of public protest, the efforts of individual philanthropists, and then the gradual formulation and application of new remedies, constituted a major theme: the need for municipal enterprise and state intervention. Meanwhile, the concept of overcrowding, never precisely defined in law but based on middle-class notions of decency and privacy, slowly gave way to the positive idea of adequate living space, with comfort, as much as health or morals, the criterion.

Not just dwellings but people were at issue. There is little evidence in this period of the attitude of the worker himself to his housing. Wohl has extensively researched local archives and, in particular, drawn on the vestry reports which have been relatively neglected. Profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs and drawings, this book is the definitive study of the housing reform movement in Victorian and Edwardian London and suggests what it was really like to live under such appalling conditions. This important study will be of interest to social historians, British historians, urban planners, and those interested in how social policies developed in previous eras.

One of the fundamental challenges facing modern welfare states is the question of work-family reconciliation. An increasing share of mothers work, but many European welfare states do not adequately support the dual-earner model, especially in southern Europe. After 2005, German policy-makers transformed the nature of Germany's family policy regime through a number of legislative measures, whilst Italy, a country with many similarities, witnessed little change. Using a multi-methods approach, this book addresses the puzzle of why Germany was able to implement far-reaching reforms in this policy area after a long impasse and Italy was not. As such, it delivers a broad, systematic account of these reforms and sheds light on why similar reforms were not also adopted in other similar welfare states at the same time. More generally, it contributes to understanding the determinants of welfare policy change in modern European welfare states. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and professionals working on topics linked to European politics, welfare and work-family policies, comparative politics, social policy, and more broadly to political science and gender studies.

In recent years, in both the specialist press and the tabloids, the idea of privatization of social security has become a shimmering catch phrase. Politicians base election campaigns on promises of more or less privatization in social security. Many governments introduce private business management methods into their social security systems. Representatives of social security institutions and academics prepare theory papers on the possible outcomes of privatization. And international financial organizations describe doomsday scenarios based on the premise of failure to privatize.

What is the role of privatization today in the development of national social security systems? How does privatization concern the developments in different social security programs such as old age, sickness, unemployment, accident insurance and family allowances? What are the visions and effects of privatization in social security?

This volume provides an overview of the various positions of supporters and opponents of privatization in the main branches of social security, followed by national experience of privatized or part-privatized social security systems. While the perspective of each of the contributors is markedly different, the overall objective cuts across differences: namely, to develop the most efficient and cost-effective system of social security protection.

The authors' views and knowledge are derived from their firsthand experiences with social security in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Representatives of the leading international organizations dealing with social security issues-the International Labour Organization, the OECD, the World Bank and the World Health Organization-further expand the parameters of the viewpoints and experiences expressed.

This multifaceted book allows the reader to learn about the challenge of privatization in the various forms of social security by assembling a set of highly up-to-date, technically complex and legal issues based on practical analysis and actual experience. It will be of interest to those concerned with national social policy in a comparative context. This is the sixth volume in an ongoing series that aims to review social security in a comparative, global context. Xenia Scheil-Adlung is program manager, International Social Security Association, Geneva, Switzerland.

This book is a comprehensive and indepth history of British council housing. For political and institutional reasons it operated as a law unto itself for most of its history, but is now undergoing major change and re-integration into mainstream housing and society. The bulk of research and literature on the subject has been from social policy and politics perpectives, and an overall history has not been attempted, other than as chapters or sections of chapters in more general books. This has resulted in a number of important omissions - notably the relation of design and management to the quality and performance of public housing, and the role and influence of users (tenants and their families) both in provision, quality and performance. This book should remedy these gaps and make clear the importance of council housing to 20th-century life and culture, both at a personal and a societal level. A major thread running through the book is the interaction of council housing with evolving working-class patterns and aspirations.

Presenting a periodic overview of the most significant developments and trends in the field of social security has become, for the International Social Security Association, a tradition and a firm commitment. Benefiting from the vast quantity of information uniquely available to the ISSA, its triennial review takes stock of the current state of social security world wide and focuses, through expert analyses, on some of the most pressing social security issues. Social Security at the Dawn of the 21st Century, the outcome of the most recent review, is intended to significantly extend the access of an international readership to accurate and up-to-date information and analyses on social security, which has without question developed during the twentieth century into one of the most important publicly financed and administered institutions in modern society. The chapters are grouped into two parts. Part one treats subjects related to policy trends and regional developments, with special emphasis on such important issues as redesigning social security programs, new management practices, and the informal care dilemma. It features major aspects of developments in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Part two focuses on specific program areas, with special emphasis on problems and reforms in employment policy, pension systems, and public disability schemes. Information is also provided on new approaches to ensuring adequate access to health care and on policies in response to changes in family structures as well as an recent experience with social assistance programs. Dalmer D. Hoskins has held the post of Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) since 1990. Before his election to this post, he held positions in the United States Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. Donate Dobbernack is currently chief of communications and publications within the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Before assuming responsibilities in this area, she was chief of the technical activities program of the Association, dealing with international enquiries and studies on various aspects of social security and related fields. Christiane Kuptsch is a research officer with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the editor of the quarterly publication Trends in Social Security. She is a regular contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the issue of developments in social protection.

This important research literature review discusses some of the most prominent literature in the field of individual choice and economic welfare. It analyses material exploring how economics as a scientific enterprise may inform political decision-making. The premise is explored paradigmatically through different interpretations including utility-individualism in the context of welfare economics, preference-individualism in social choice theory, and choice-individualism in constitutional economics. The review covers the foundational literature as well as contemporary pieces, which have sparked further discussion in the field. This review will be valuable to researchers and scholars alike as well as to all those gravitating towards this fascinating topic.

Environmental problems - particularly climate change - have become increasingly important to governments and social researchers in recent decades. Debates about their implications for social policies and welfare reforms are now moving towards centre stage. What has been missing from such debates is an account of the history of the welfare state in relation to environmental issues and green ideas. A Green History of the Welfare State fills this gap. How have the environmental and social policy agendas developed? To what extent have welfare systems been informed by the principles of environmental ethics and politics? How effective has the welfare state been at addressing environmental problems? How might the history of social policies be reimagined? With its lively, chronological narrative, this book provides answers to these questions. Through overviews of key periods, politicians and reforms the book weaves together a range of subjects into a new kind of historical tapestry, including: social policy, economics, party politics, government action and legislation, and environmental issues. This book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of environmental policy and history, social and public policy, social history, sociology and politics.

'The book should serve as a useful primer for housing development in the era after the eagerly awaited urban white paper.' Building

'A very good resume for students.' Architectural Review

Evidence-Based Counselling and Psychological Therapies assesses the impact of the international drive towards evidence-based health care on NHS policy and the provision of the psychological services in the NHS.
An outstanding range of contributors provide an overview of evidence-based health care and the research methods that underpin it, demonstrating its effect on policy, provision, practitioners and patients. Their thought-provoking chapters look at a variety of relevant issues including:
* generating and implementing evidence
* cost-effectiveness issues
* practical guidelines
* practitioner research
Evidence-Based Counselling and Psychological Therapies is essential for mental health professionals and trainees concerned with this movement which is having, and will continue to have a huge impact on the purchasing, provision and practice of health care.

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'This book heralds an exciting new chapter in the history of family-centred practice. It takes us a long way down the road toward the destination of strength-based family work.'From the foreword by Associate Professor Dorothy Scott, University of MelbourneLife can be a struggle for some families, and support from skilled family workers can make a real difference. Promoting Family Change is a guide to working with vulnerable and marginalised families outside formal therapy settings.Promoting Family Change introduces several approaches to family work which have proven to be very successful: solution-focused, narrative, cognitive, and community-building. These approaches assume that the starting point for change is the strengths and capacities of family members. The book is illustrated with detailed case studies drawn from actual practice, and it includes examples of innovative programs. It also looks at ways in which workers can incorporate these approaches into their practice to become more effective in their interventions with vulnerable families. Promoting Family Change is a good introduction to family practice for students and a valuable reference for welfare and community workers who wish to review and improve their practice skills. Bronwen Elliott is a social worker with wide experience in working with families and consults with a range of agencies to improve their services. Louise Mulroney has worked for the last twenty years in the field of child and family welfare, particularly in the areas of training and policy development. Di O'Neil is Director of Special Projects and Training for St Luke's Family Care in Bendigo, and co-author of Beyond Child Rescue.

'This book will be a valuable resource for all students, researchers and practitioners interested in the welfare state.' - European Access [February 2002]

'Skilfully packaged papers ... the book represents a rich and comprehensive documentation of the current status.' - Building Research & Information

'Deserves to join the other essential texts on the bookshelves of all those concerned with eradicating fuel poverty'. - Energy Review

The Economics of Welfare occupies a privileged position in economics. It contributed to the professionalization of economics, a goal aggressively and effectively pursued by Pigou's predecessor and teacher Alfred Marshall. The Economics of Welfare also may be credited with establishing welfare economics, by systematically analyzing market departures and their potential remedies. In writing The Economics of Welfare, Pigou built a bridge between the old and the new economics at Cambridge and in Britain. Much of the book remains relevant for contemporary economics. The list of his analyses that continues to play an important role in economics is impressive. Some of the more important include: public goods and externalities, welfare criteria, index number problems, price discrimination, the theory of the firm, the structure of relief programs for the poor, and public finance. Pigou's discussion of the institutional structure governing labor-market operations in his Wealth and Welfare prompted Schumpeter to call the work "the greatest venture in labor economics ever undertaken by a man who was primarily a theorist." The Economics of Welfare established welfare economics as a field of study. The first part analyzes the relationship between the national dividend and economic and total welfare. Parts II and III link the size of the dividend to the allocation of resources in the economy and the institutional structure governing labor-market operations. Part IV explores the relationship between the national dividend and its distribution. In her new introduction, Nahid Aslanbeigui discusses the life of Pigou and the history of The Economics of Welfare. She also discusses Pigou's theories as expressed in this volume and some of the criticisms those theories have met as well as the impact of those criticisms. The Economics of Welfare is a classic that repays careful study.

Social Security forms a major area of government policy and social expenditure. Government activity in this area impacts directly on all citizens, and consequently social security policy is the focus for much debate. People are affected by social security whether by funding it through taxation, or using it when claiming unemployment or other benefits. Introduction to Social Security is an up-to-date text on this important and complex social policy issue. It provides a second introduction for students of social policy and administration and includes contributions from some of the best known and most respected names in the field.

How can we best analyse contemporary welfare state change? And how can we explain and understand the politics of it? This book contributes to these questions both empirically and theoretically by concentrating on one of the least likely cases for welfare state transformation in Europe. It analyzes in detail how and why institutional change has taken Germany's welfare state from a conservative towards a new work-first regime. Christof Schiller introduces a novel analytical framework to make sense of the politics of welfare state transformation by providing the missing link: the capacity of the core executive over time. Examining the policy making process in labour market policy in the period between 1980 and 2010, he identifies three different policy making episodes and analyses their interaction with developments and changes in such policy areas as pension policy, family policy, labour law, tax policy and social assistance. The book advances existing efforts aimed at conceptualizing and measuring welfare state change by proposing a clear-cut conceptualization of social policy regime change and introduces a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the welfare-work nexus between 1980 and 2010 in Germany. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of social policy, comparative welfare state reform, welfare politics, government, governance, public policy, German politics, European politics, political economy, sociology and history.

Presenting up-to-date empirical research on the subject of young people, housing and social policy in contemporary Britain, this book considers the issue of young people's early housing histories in the context of a range of government policy initiatives aimed at the group. It offers a critique of aspects of social policy that specifically address the housing of young people. Topics covered include:
*young people leaving care
*young people in the parental home
*youth homelessness
*housing services for young people
*students in the private rented sector
*young owner occupiers
*housing benefit for the under 25s
*young single parent families
*young people and housing in rural areas
*social housing.

Economists and political scientists deal with three major areas of concern: the effect of moving large numbers of welfare recipients into labor markets, the planned federal reforms in the health-care field that will shift costs to the state and local sectors, and trends in federal aid. Focusing on the impact of US devolution of responsibility and costs to the states, they find that the state economies can accommodate the challenges generally, but that the effect of welfare reform is too long-range to be adequately assessed in the near-term.