Originally published in 1980, this book presents a detailed empirical analysis of the key dimensions of inequality and poverty in Wales, discussing such aspects as the distribution of income and wealth, the housing situation, the functioning of the NHS and urban deprivation. Wales emerges as a country severely disadvantaged in relation to much of the rest of Britain. Moreover, the extent of inequalities within Wales is also striking. In the second part of the book each contributor applies a particular theoretical perspective to an aspect of the situation discussed in the first part. The perspectives adopted are diverse, ranging from Keynesianism, through dual labour markets to dependency theory and Marxist analysis. Each essay emphasises the importance of locating our understanding of poverty and social inequality in the context of the patterns of economic development in Wales and in the functioning of the State apparatus.

In the early 1980s, against the background of chronic unemployment in Britain, the particular plight of young people had come to be identified as a subject for special concern. Anxieties were expressed, as they were in the 1930s, as a twin concern for a waste of the nation's resources and for the demoralization of youth, leading potentially to anti-social behaviour. Originally published in 1982, this volume of essays identifies a number of key issues in the pattern of state response to youth unemployment which had evolved in the inter-war and post-war periods. The contributors discuss a number of related themes, such as how the problem has been defined and created as a kind of 'moral panic', and how contemporary measures recapitulate the rhetoric and policies of pre-war interventions. They examine the relationship between youth unemployment measures and the education sector, the responses of the trade unions, and also consider how young people themselves respond to special programmes. A critical assessment is made of the further education elements in the special measures: in particular, the question is asked: do these young people need 'social and life skills' training? The book charts the changing nature of the state response to youth unemployment since 1974, and stresses throughout the inappropriate nature of 'temporary' amelioration of a long-term, even permanent, problem.