Welfare & benefit systems

This book challenges the underlying presupposition that regular employment is the royal road to inclusion. Drawing on original empirical research, it investigates the inclusionary and exclusionary potentials of different types of work, including activation programmes.

Children, family and the state examines different theories of childhood, children's rights and the relationship between children, parents and the state.

This book presents a psychosocial examination of changing relationships between service users, professionals and managers in the post-war welfare state. It challenges current emphasis on consumer rights by linking social responsibility to its psychosocial roots and theorises the links between experiences of care and development of social policy.

Throughout Europe, standardised approaches to social policy and practice are being radically questioned and modified. Beginning from the narrative detail of individual lives, this book re-thinks welfare predicaments, emphasising gender, generation, ethnic and class implications of economic and social deregulation.

It is often argued that the regulated labour markets, relatively generous social protection and relative wage equality of European welfare states has become counter-productive in a globalised and knowledge-intensive economy. Using in-depth analysis of employment, welfare and citizenship in a range of European states, this book challenges this view.

This book offers a provocative account of contemporary policies on child welfare and the ideological thrust behind them and provides an informed historical perspective on the evolution of child welfare during the last century.

This book provides a rich background to the development of post-war social policy in Britain and Japan. Ageing, domestic violence, housing, homelessness, and health are chosen for analysis, each exploring its development process of policy and practices, current issues, and future directions.

This report charts the changing role and nature of geographical mobility in organisational strategies and career development. It explores the work and family life experiences of employees and partners who have faced job-related geographical mobility.

The welfare we want? presents a detailed and unique comparison of welfare policies in the Britain and America. A team of international experts outlines, compares and contrasts the reform strategies pursued in each country and summarises the results to date. 

This timely report considers how childcare services are meeting the needs of parents working atypical hours.

Despite the increasing policy interest in work-life balance issues, relatively little research has been carried out into the links between self-employment and family life. This report considers, for the first time, the extent to which new family-friendly initiatives and legislation provide adequate support for self-employed parents.

The principle of service user involvement in decisions that affect them directly is now generally supported, but many voluntary organisations remain under scrutiny because of slow implementation. This report explores the processes of change in eleven voluntary organisations to draw out lessons relevant to the wider sector.