Social Welfare and Social Insurance

This topical book examines and debates a range of themes facing Gypsies and Travellers in British Society, including health, social policy, employment and education.

This is the first published research from the UK to address the neglected topic of the increasing settlement of Gypsies and Travellers in conventional housing. It highlights the complex and emergent tensions and dynamics inherent when policy and popular discourse combine to frame ethnic populations within a narrative of movement.

ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Building on research in public health, social epidemiology and the social determinants of health, this book presents complexity theory as an alternative basis for an outcome-oriented public management praxis.

Welfare states are a major feature of many societies. This book draws on qualitative interviews with people receiving various working age welfare payments in Ireland to analyse welfare conditionality and explore stigma, social reciprocity and the notions of the deserving and undeserving poor.

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

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.

Pro-'workfare' governments justify their policies by claiming 'workfare' helps enhance self-esteem and promote the dignity of the unemployed. On the other hand, welfare activists argue that 'workfare' suppresses the dignity of unemployed persons. This book examines the concept of human dignity in this context and attempts to clarify its meaning.

Exploring why food aid exists and the deeper causes of food poverty, this book addresses neglected dimensions of traditional debates. It challenges neoliberal governmentality and shows how food charity maintains inequalities of class, race, religion and gender.

This book analyses the current context and use of ICT in the public and voluntary sectors, building on this to provide practical guidance for managers and staff. Assuming no technical knowledge, the book provides ideas, tools and resources to think critically and creatively about current ICT practice and to implement positive change at all levels.

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.

Brings the regional and local to the forefront of social investment debates by showcasing original, evaluative evidence from ten European countries, and provides practical, accessible illustrations of good practice, routes to success, and lessons learned.

The strengths, weaknesses and enforcement of concepts of international human rights receive a new social policy perspective in this insightful review of a pressing debate. Drawing on examples from around the world, it sets out the evolving role of universal rights in domestic and international policy and human welfare.