In recent years, major social forces such as: ageing populations, social trends, migration patterns, and the globalization of economies, have reshaped social welfare policies and practices across the globe. Multinational corporations, NGOs, and other international organizations have begun to influence social policy at a national and local level. Among the many ramifications of these changes is that globalizing influences may hinder the ability of individual nation-states to effect policies that are beneficial to them on a local level. With contributions from thirteen countries worldwide, this collected work represents the first major comparative analysis on the effect of globalization on the international welfare state.

The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society is divided into two major sections: the first draws from a number of leading social welfare researchers from diverse countries who point to the nation-state as case studies; highlighting how it goes about establishing and revising social welfare provisions. The second portion of the volume then moves to a more global perspective in its analysis and questioning of the impact of globalization on citizenship, ageing and marketization.

The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society seeks to encourage debate about the implications of the most pressing social welfare issues in nation-states, and integrate analyses of policy and practice in particular countries struggling to provide social welfare support for their needy populations.

China, which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world, has four unique characteristics that distinguish it from other countries in Asia: (1) The proportion of aging population is growing faster than that of Japan (the country previously recognized as having the fastest rate) and much faster than nations in western Europe. (2) An early arrival of an aging population before modernization has fully taken place, with social policy implications. It is certain that China will face a severely aged population before it has sufficient time and resources to establish an adequate social security and service system for older people. (3) There will be fluctuations in the total dependency ratio. The Chinese government estimates are that the country will reach a higher dependent burden earlier in the twenty-first century than was previously forecast. (4) The government's fertility policy (single child per family) and its implementation has a strong influence on the aging process. Fewer children are being born, but with more elderly people a conflict arises between the objectives to limit population increase and yet maintain a balanced age structure (Peng and Guo 2001). The intersection of these fourfold factors means that the increased aging population is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese social policy makers. There is a chronic lack of good resource materials that attempt to make sense of social policy in its relationship to examining the problems and possibilities of human aging grounded in an analysis of economic of social policy in China and impact on rural and urban spaces. Such analysis of China will be covered by conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches. The book will also discuss substantive topics of housing, community care, family care, pensions, and mental health. The book brings together a truly world class array of researchers to provide discussions of critical implications of aging social policy and the economic impact in China.

In recent years, major social forces such as: ageing populations, social trends, migration patterns, and the globalization of economies, have reshaped social welfare policies and practices across the globe. Multinational corporations, NGOs, and other international organizations have begun to influence social policy at a national and local level. Among the many ramifications of these changes is that globalizing influences may hinder the ability of individual nation-states to effect policies that are beneficial to them on a local level. With contributions from thirteen countries worldwide, this collected work represents the first major comparative analysis on the effect of globalization on the international welfare state. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society is divided into two major sections: the first draws from a number of leading social welfare researchers from diverse countries who point to the nation-state as case studies; highlighting how it goes about establishing and revising social welfare provisions. The second portion of the volume then moves to a more global perspective in its analysis and questioning of the impact of globalization on citizenship, ageing and marketization. The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society seeks to encourage debate about the implications of the most pressing social welfare issues in nation-states, and integrate analyses of policy and practice in particular countries struggling to provide social welfare support for their needy populations.

China, which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world, has four unique characteristics that distinguish it from other countries in Asia: (1) The proportion of aging population is growing faster than that of Japan (the country previously recognized as having the fastest rate) and much faster than nations in western Europe. (2) An early arrival of an aging population before modernization has fully taken place, with social policy implications. It is certain that China will face a severely aged population before it has sufficient time and resources to establish an adequate social security and service system for older people. (3) There will be fluctuations in the total dependency ratio. The Chinese government estimates are that the country will reach a higher dependent burden earlier in the twenty-first century than was previously forecast. (4) The government s fertility policy (single child per family) and its implementation has a strong influence on the aging process. Fewer children are being born, but with more elderly people a conflict arises between the objectives to limit population increase and yet maintain a balanced age structure (Peng and Guo 2001). The intersection of these fourfold factors means that the increased aging population is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese social policy makers. There is a chronic lack of good resource materials that attempt to make sense of social policy in its relationship to examining the problems and possibilities of human aging grounded in an analysis of economic of social policy in China and impact on rural and urban spaces. Such analysis of China will be covered by conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches. The book will also discuss substantive topics of housing, community care, family care, pensions, and mental health. The book brings together a truly world class array of researchers to provide discussions of critical implications of aging social policy and the economic impact in China."

This book explores both conceptual and theoretical issues that impinge on understanding aging in (post) modern society. It analyses how knowledge formation of aging, with particular reference to 'old age' in contemporary western society, is socially constituted and positioned by powerful 'taken for granted assumptions'. These assumptions have provided a power/knowledge base for bio-medical disciplines, legitimacy of political-economic discourses and practices of professional experts. The book is in two parts: the first part introduces 'modernist' scientific models and theories of gerontology and questions their importance in mapping out the assumptions of aging and how they impinge on identity performance in society through disciplinary matrix of biology, psychology and social conceptualizations of gerontology; the second part focus upon 'postmodern' constructions aging through the articulation and development of novel epistemologies: postmodernism and aging body; discourse and power/knowledge; and 'aging' in the 'risk society'. The book addresses a key question: can 'meta-theories' provide an effective analysis of aging which is radically different from modernist 'grand narratives' as epitomized by not only bio-medical models of aging but also of mainstream social theories of gerontology.

This books explore the relevance and application of the conceptual and theoretical works of Michel Foucault to an understanding of modern society. The book begins by providing a biographical excursion of Foucault's life and works that gives the reader hints of how this thinking of social theory was shaped. The book moves its attention to how conceptual tools he developed are relevant to modern social theory and the interpretation of people, professions and populations in western culture in particular. The book explores the impact of his work on power and the example of social work and how it reshaped such a helping profession. In doing so, Foucault raised both a challenge and impact for social theorists to take up on subjectivity in how individuals make their own histories. Despite this, the book concludes with a re-appraisal of Foucault's work on surveillance and aging prisoners that highlights the sheer analytical diversity of his social philosophy.

Health, care and welfare have emerged as key vehicles used to legitimise and position the identities that older people adopt in contemporary modernity. Both contain continually changing technologies that function to mediate relations between older people and the state. Medico-technical, victimisation policies and care management discourses, have been presented as adding choice and reducing limitations associated with adult ageing. However, they also represent an increase in professional control that can be exerted on lifestyles in older age and thus, the wider social meanings associated with that part of the life-course. This book presents a theoretical analysis based on a critical reading of the work of Michel Foucault. It identifies the inter-relationship between managers and older people in terms of power, surveillance and normalisation. The book highlights how and why older people are the subjects of legitimising professional gazes through the dark side of modernity: being managed, being victimised and asking the existential questions of death.

This book explores the issues of crime, aging and criminal justice and their relationship to pensions, prisons, offenders, and victimisation. The book is original in that it explores such key issues from the social domain of "aging". This book begins by exploring the relationship of crime, criminal justice and trust an essential context that is situated that can provide key conceptual insights into the key issues in crime and criminal justice. The book then moves to assess the main issues of crime. These are associated with understanding pensions, on the one hand, and imprisonment for older people, on the other hand. The book focuses its gaze upon older people as offenders and victims.

This book, which draws from fieldwork research and evidence, is provided to suggest a sense of emotional anxiety among social workers and case managers working on the front-line' within local authority social service departments in England. This is taking place within British Prime Minister David Cameron's government agenda of "personalization of care". This new emphasis places the onus on the client rather than the gaze of the social worker. Yet, there are contradictions that lie at the heart of social work, social care and personal care. Theories have attempted to detangle these contradictions. There have been a number of theoretical approaches that have attempted to ground the concept of power' to understand organisational practice though significant Foucauldian insights that have been most captivating in illuminating power relations and subject positioning. This book is the first of its kind to explore the impact on 'performativity' of social workers and governance (governmentality) of workers and clients in the personalisation policy process.

This book attempts to unravel the fundamental assumptions of social philosophy and how its different concepts and theories make sense of human aging. The book explores how biomedical ageing dominated thoughts on ageing until social understandings from different disciplines came about that highlighted that ageing could be understood in terms of social class, gender and ethnicity. A key debate in recent years has been the critical approach versus positive approach. The final two chapters of the book explore Foucauldian philosophy applied to instances of the ageing process; whilst the final chapter advocates a focus on personhood and self-actualisation.

This book explores the relevance of key thinkers in social science from historical traditions to contemporary philosophers and the nature of modern society and how theories and concepts can be used to shed light on trends and inequalities around the world in which these thinkers lived. History is fast moving. The book attempts to explore the works of Weber, Durkheim, and Marx in the first three chapters to illustrate how their varieties of social science gave intimation about the social world in terms of social disorder and the remedies and actions needed to bring about social justice. The latter three chapters explore arguably the three most influential thinkers in social science of the 20th Century: Parsons, Foucault and Habermas. These thinkers in different ways gave a number of diagnoses of modern society. Some arguing for more balance between individuals and society as best regulated by institutions such as the family (Parsons), others argued for a more sophisticated understanding of power and how it plays out for social groups in modern society (Foucault) whilst for others critical social scientists should be focusing on defending the enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality as we go further into the 21st century. The book raises questions and provides many examples to stimulate thoughtful reflection about all our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows.

This book explores the main issues in new social science approaches to understanding the human body and ageing. In particular, the development of postmodernism and its relationship to culture and the body is delineated. The book also addresses some of the power issues that manifest in social relationships focused on the body. Here, the work of Michel Foucault is useful in using conceptual tools to disrupt dominant bio-medical narratives relating to the ageing body.

This book analyses the key issues inherent for the voluntary sector as it relates to the experiences of older people. The book reviews the major issues for older people's needs and rights. The book attempts to develop and foster interdisciplinary arguments for linking business principles to capacity building of the voluntary sector.

This book explores the relationship between globalisation and global changes in populational structures across the world. The book begins by surveying the issue of inequality across the world and some of the key hot spots for social exclusion which is very uneven in different continents across the globe. The book moves its attention to a case study in a country that is fast becoming the world's strongest economy: China. The chapter explores aging in China and the issues inherent of how older people's needs are being met or not. This raises significant questions relating to theory, policy and practice.

This innovative book locates the historical emergence of post-modernism and what it is a reaction against. One of the key theorists of post-modernism, is Jean Baudrillard. He has had an enormous impact on contemporary social theory and social philosophy. This text locates his key concepts, locates empirical examples and importantly maps out the key influences of Baudrillard's work. There is critical engagement with Baudrillard's post-modernism in an assessment of its strengths and weaknesses.

This edited book pays homage to the conceptual gifts left by Michel Foucault and it assesses different aspects of social sciences such as sociology, economics, arts, volunteering, crime, sexuality. The book is comprised of seven compelling chapters that together illustrate the impact of Foucault's influence on diverse traditions. This is followed by a number of outstanding papers; each shining light on Foucault's impact on particular inter-disciplinary forms of knowledge.

This book explores the issue of crime and its relationship to gender and ageing. This is a forgotten area of analysis in disciplines of criminology, gerontology and even in Feminist theorising. This book begins by exploring the relationships between crime, ageing and victimisation. The book then moves to assess the main issues associated with understanding imprisonment for older people. The book focuses its attention on gender and its relationship to mental health and institutional psychiatric care. The final part of the book explores the issue of theorising ageing and relationship to crime.

This book provides a theoretical critique and analysis of the development and consolidation of power in China as it applies to ageing. In seeking to deal with this increased proportion of elderly people, Chinese state policy seeks to introduce ways of reducing the fiscal burden of ageing upon the state, and indeed upon those many families who have been markedly affected by the modernisation process. This book, however, fundamentally questions the assumption that populational policies in the Chinese state are unbiased in their social practices with older people. The book explores new topics of ageing in China grounded in and drawing from developments in social theory, (ie), Foucauldian theory and postmodernism.

This brief textbook provides a broad critical introduction to social theory in terms of its engagement with modernity and to a lesser extent, with post-modernity. It focuses on the major trends in social thinking, more than on the 'key figures' approach. The text covers the emergence of modern society and the diagnoses of social change and social order through Marx, Durkheim and Weber. It moves its analysis to the emergence of feminist theory. The book is also sensitised to the extent to which Euro-centric views were embedded in earlier social theories. The book explores structural functionalism, critical theory, symbolic interactionism as theories which have developed in more modern times. The book ends by exploring the impact of post-structuralism and postmodernism on social theory. The book triggers questions, suggestions for follow up and at the end of every chapter there is a list of assessments for students to evaluate the merits and shortcomings of social theory.

The book provides students with an overview of the main developments in the foundations in sociological research. It will focus upon the methodological and philosophical underpinnings of sociological inquiry. The book will specifically focus on debates pertaining to induction and deduction debate, the problems associated with 'objectivity', the quest to understand how we - as social scientists - can understand the social world and discussions of morality and ethics.

This short textbook seeks to provide an conceptual, historical, contemporary and social understanding of the 'police', one of the key social and legal institutions of the modern state. Police are an integral part of the criminal justice system. On completion of the book, students will have knowledge of the relationship between police, crime and society; the workings, power and discretion of the police; the relationship between policing, social policy and political ideologies. The book is a brief but critical introduction to the main issues facing police officers in the 21st Century.

This book is a demographical overview of the key issues associated with globalisation and global aging in the 21st century. The book explores how populational aging has increased the implications for socio-economic issues for individuals and populations. The book also explores China which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world. The book explores some of the major issues populational aging impacts, including pensions, the labour market, care, social security and family life. The power of global aging in the 21st century is one of the greatest challenges, along with climate change, for the sustainability of nation states across the world.

This book explores the concept of key concepts, theories and practices related to life course issues associated with social work, power and trust in contemporary society. The book begins by narrating how aging studies has been colonized by biomedical conceptualizations, which have masked a social understanding of how aging and life course are socially constituted. The book explores the power of an aging society with populational increases and impacts on different parts of the world. As a healthy corrective to most texts on aging and life course, the book explores the work of Foucault and applicability of power relationships to understand and investigate social aspects of aging. The book then moves to the concept of a narrative and its relationship to life course and the social construction of identity.

As we enter 2014, an accelerating interest in abuse has arisen due to the implementation of community care policies relying upon informal care and a relentless political campaign to legitimise an enforced obligation to care. The use of care management technologies that focus on assessment and inspection, can, in this policy climate, become a means of surveillance and enforcement of informal caring. It is argued that Michel Foucault offers a set of strategies (Foucault 1977: 205) for understanding how the discourses on community care construct older people's experiences and their identities, as constructed subjects and objects of managerial knowledge. This book examines this and the dystopian implications for older people. The book attempts to move beyond such fatalism by introducing governmentality and the possibilities through social policy for older people. Finally, the book examines the emergence of personal care and the implications for personalization and tailored care services for older people.

This text assesses the historical and modern significance and emergence of global forces and its impact on nation states. In particular, the power of globalisation comprises two inter-locking factors: economic power and the hegemony of neo-liberalism. Drawing on a range of examples, the book assesses the legacy of globalisation and its impact on the disciplinary development of social science and its enduring impact on the contemporary social world.