POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Security

This book addresses the development of increasingly individualised public social services in the EU. It focuses particularly on activation services that have become crucial in the 'modernisation' of welfare states, comparing their introduction in the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic.

Written for a broad readership, the book takes an authoritative look at Conservative party policy and practice in the modern era. Its time-defined content and broad historical thread make it a valuable resource for academics and students in social policy and politics as well as social history.

This comprehensive study demonstrates the dramatic changes that have taken place in the protection of old and new social risks, exploring the mechanisms behind these changes in the context of corporatist welfare state institutions.

Welfare reform is a central part of the modernisation programme adopted by the Labour Government since 1997. This book examines the role of Parliament in the formulation and scrutiny of welfare policy, focusing in particular on how MPs and Peers view their influence on policy.

A broad, accessible introduction to the benefit system in Britain which can help readers to make sense of the system in practice.

The original analysis in this book presents a new and comprehensive narrative of social welfare in the Middle East through an examination of the role of religious welfare.

Developing the new framework of ‘life-mix’, which considers the mixed patterns of caring and working in different periods of life, this book explores the interplay of productivism, women, care and work in East Asia and Europe.

The use of fiscal welfare has been growing over the past decades in European welfare states. This book sheds light on the use and effects of fiscal welfare in welfare and labour market reforms in both countries and examines the introduction of a 50% tax deduction on domiciliary care and household services.

Focusing on three key areas: prevention, support and investment, this book argues that tackling poverty and financial insecurity through well-designed social security systems could offer a new focus for improving our collective mental health.

Contributing to debates on the unpredictability of middle-class attitudes and their changing relations with the welfare states in Europe, this book identifies key trends in the literature and considers the impact of recent welfare reforms on the middle class.

This book uses qualitative longitudinal data, from repeat interviews with people subject to compulsion and sanction in their everyday lives, to analyse the effectiveness and ethicality of welfare conditionality in promoting and sustaining behaviour change in the UK.

Paul Spicker offers an original take on the British welfare state. He outlines the structure of services, the impact of false narratives, the real problems that need to be addressed and how we can do things better.