Social welfare and social insurance

'For whose benefit?' explores how those at the sharp end of welfare reform experience changes to the benefit system. It looks at how the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are experienced on the ground, and whether the welfare state still offers meaningful protection and security to those who rely upon it.

This unique perspective on the academia-society nexus is the first cross-national comparative study on academic engagement in social policy formulation.

Few aspects of austerity politics have been as divisive as the ‘Bedroom Tax’. This book provides a vivid and authoritative assessment of the impact of social housing reform on tenants and society, using personal stories from one estate to explore its connections to issues including housing precarity, poverty and damage to social networks.

Comparing data from 18 local case studies across 6 European countries, and deploying an innovative mixed-method approach, this book presents comparative evidence on everyday challenges in the context of the European Social Fund (ESF) and discusses how these findings are applicable to other funding schemes.

Based on more than 30 case studies in eight different countries, this book explores the governance dynamics of local social innovations in the field of poverty reduction, illustrating how different governance dynamics and welfare mixes enable or hinder poverty reduction strategies.

Three leading sociologists examine Italy’s regime of poverty and the frequently misunderstood context of familialism in this in-depth study. With analysis of poverty’s roots and development and modern trends including the migrant ‘new poor’, it adds European perspectives for a better understanding of a persistent crisis.

This book brings together leading international authors from a number of fields to provide an up to date understanding of part-time work at national, sector, industry and workplace levels.

How is social work shaped by global issues and international problems and how should it address them? Taking a radical perspective, this book reveals what we can learn from different approaches from across the globe.

Social Policy First Hand is the first comprehensive international social policy text from a participatory perspective and presents a new service user-led social policy that addresses the current challenges in welfare provision.

This classic text provides the first comprehensive examination of the social policy of New Labour. It compares and contrasts current policy areas with both the Old Left and the New Right and applies the concept of the 'third way' to both individual policy areas and broader cross-cutting themes.

Britain's New Labour government claims to support the cause of human rights. At the same time, it claims that we can have no rights without responsibility and that dependency on the state is irresponsible. The ethics of welfare offers a critique of this paradox and discusses the ethical conundrum it implies for the future of social welfare.

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.