Are living wages an unaffordable and unwieldy aspiration or a key progressive reform? Demands for fair minimum incomes have dominated national debates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This topical book addresses the rapidly shifting politics of minimum wages in US, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Australia, where workfare has compelled many to find low-income work and where neoliberal thinking about minimum wages has prevailed. Analysing minimum wage policies within a political-economy narrative, this innovative book offers an alternative to the Basic Income narrative and identifies the success of Living Wage campaigns as central to welfare state change.

The future of work in advanced industrial democracies is the subject of intense debate and public concern. Despite predictions that working hours would fall and leisure time would rise as society progressed, the opposite has in fact occurred. This new book contains a twofold investigation into 'the end of work' with theoretical and policy angles contributing to the growing research field on the boundaries of economics and sociology.

Series Information:
Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy

Are living wages an unaffordable and unwieldy aspiration or a key progressive reform? Demands for fair minimum incomes have dominated national debates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This topical book addresses the rapidly shifting politics of minimum wages in US, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Australia, where workfare has compelled many to find low-income work and where neoliberal thinking about minimum wages has prevailed. Analysing minimum wage policies within a political-economy narrative, this innovative book offers an alternative to the Basic Income narrative and identifies the success of Living Wage campaigns as central to welfare state change.

Around the world, democracies have seen a decline in social and political trust. Australian Social Attitudes IV: The Age of Insecurity is an in-depth look at the economic and geopolitical uncertainty that pervades Australian public discourse. In the decade following the Howard administration, Australian politics has been defined by growing uncertainty, instability, and the emergence of popular disaffection with the political class, similar to what has been seen in the United States and Britain. Featuring contributions from Australia's leading social scientists, this book explores the connection between insecurities and disaffection, and the ways in which they have manifested ­- in populist voting patterns, suspicions about climate science and hostilities to immigration. A fascinating insight into what Australians think about contemporary political and social issues, this book is designed to present the public, media, and policymakers with up-to-date analysis of public opinion about important topics confronting Australian politics and society.

Across 13 chapters, the book develops an in-depth and accessible understanding of how Australia is responding to new realities in work, globalisation, industrial relations reform, retirement, citizenship, political trust and family and community life. ASA2 draws on the latest research and analysis of some of Australia's leading social scientists to challenge conventional wisdoms about Australia, and assesses the impact of John Howard's decade in office. It also shows how contemporary Australian social behaviour and attitudes vary from those held in previous years and decades and how they compare with other citizens from other countries with respect to citizenship, trust and political involvement.

Australian Social Attitudes presents a fascinating insight into what Australians think about contemporary political and social issues. It draws on a veritable mine of data collected from the inaugural Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, conducted for the first time in mid 2003, and reflects the expressed opinions of a broad sample of some 4300 Australian adults. While selected at random, the respondents reflect the state by state distribution of the Australian population and are representative in terms of gender and age. In its analysis of the data ""Australian Social Attitudes"" draws on the latest social research from many of Australia's leading social scientists, including Michael Pusey, Mark Lyons and Jocelyn Pixley, to challenge conventional wisdoms about Australia, and assesses the impact of the Howard government on the attitudes and behaviour of Australians of all ages and social backgrounds.