This accessible, broad-ranging textbook provides a critical introduction to British and comparative social policy. Drawing on the comparative analysis of welfare regimes, the book show how the welfare systems of individual countries can only be understood through exploring the wider global context. The chapters highlight the richness, complexity and dynamics of welfare regimes in different countries, while at the same time considering shared features and trends. Comparing Welfare States provides a unique way into analysis of the British welfare state through its wider international focus. In this extensively revised second edition, the British case is related to the experiences of the United States of America, Sweden, Germany and Ireland, and set in the context of policy issues within the European Union. Throughout the authors problematize traditional notions of welfare, emphasizing variations in levels and forms of provision and in the ways in which different social groups experience welfare. Particular attention is paid to the interactions between family policies and issues of race and gender and to the processes by which individuals or groups are given or denied access to full welfare citizenship. This book will be an invaluable text for students of British and comparative social and public policy and to all of those interested in the study of European welfare states.

`Provide[s] a good overview of current family theory and research.... well written and worth having' - British Journal of Medical Psychology `Altogether an excellent collection for students of social policy, social care or social work, covering as it does both subjective and objective features of family life and the logics of inequality within which they are embedded' - Child and Family Social Work This revised and updated introductory text presents an accessible, interdisciplinary account of how 'the family' is constituted in the 'public' and 'private' spheres. Drawing in a wide range of theoretical perspectives from sociology, social policy, psychology and psychoanalysis, this book critically examines assumptions about 'the family' that are embedded in social policy, law and political discourse. The text outlines the tensions that exist between such assumptions and the lived realities and everyday experiences of family life. Understanding the Family shows how dominant understanding of the family have failed to recognize a marked diversity of family forms in contemporary society, and also ignore the complex and myriad ways in which family life comes to be experienced.

This accessible, broad-ranging textbook provides a critical introduction to British and comparative social policy. Drawing on the comparative analysis of welfare regimes, the book show how the welfare systems of individual countries can only be understood through exploring the wider global context. The chapters highlight the richness, complexity and dynamics of welfare regimes in different countries, while at the same time considering shared features and trends. Comparing Welfare States provides a unique way into analysis of the British welfare state through its wider international focus. In this extensively revised second edition, the British case is related to the experiences of the United States of America, Sweden, Germany and Ireland, and set in the context of policy issues within the European Union. Throughout the authors problematize traditional notions of welfare, emphasizing variations in levels and forms of provision and in the ways in which different social groups experience welfare. Particular attention is paid to the interactions between family policies and issues of race and gender and to the processes by which individuals or groups are given or denied access to full welfare citizenship. This book will be an invaluable text for students of British and comparative social and public policy and to all of those interested in the study of European welfare states.

This innovative text offers an assessment of the role of management in the restructuring of social welfare in contemporary Britain.

In the transformation of the welfare state since the 1970s, management has been accorded a central role. New forms and ideas of management have had profound consequences for: the organization and delivery of public services; the political processes of policy formation; systems of accountability; and the experiences both of the recipients of services and of those working within public sector organizations.

Examining the significance of managerialism, this book offers a unique insight into the current shaping of social welfare.

This collection deals with the central questions which have emerged from the break-up of the postwar political consensus around the welfare state. A series of distinguished contributors, including exponents of alternative positions on welfare from the right, left and centre, examine key issues in the disputes over the relationship between the state and welfare. Individual chapters both explore the different political and theoretical issues in the debate, and concentrate on their application in key areas of social policy. Particular attention is given to the role of social work, and public policy and the family. The final section of the book examines the political sources of the current crisis of social policy, and the prospects for a resolution of the crisis of the welfare state. The State or the Market is a set book on the Open University Course D211, Social Problems and Social Welfare.

This collection deals with the central questions which have emerged from the break-up of the postwar political consensus around the welfare state. A series of distinguished contributors, including exponents of alternative positions on welfare from the right, left and centre, examine key issues in the disputes over the relationship between the state and welfare. Individual chapters both explore the different political and theoretical issues in the debate, and concentrate on their application in key areas of social policy. Particular attention is given to the role of social work, and public policy and the family. The final section of the book examines the political sources of the current crisis of social policy, and the prospects for a resolution of the crisis of the welfare state. The State or the Market is a set book on the Open University Course D211, Social Problems and Social Welfare.