Richard Titmuss was Professor of Social Administration at the London School of Economics from 1950 until his death in 1973. His publications on welfare and social policy were radical and wide-ranging, spanning fields such as demography, class inequalities in health, social work, and altruism. Titmuss’s work played a critical role in establishing the study of social policy as a scientific discipline; it helped to shape the development of the British Welfare State and influenced thinking about social policy worldwide.
Despite its continuing relevance to current social policy issues both in the UK and internationally, much of Titmuss’s work is now out of print. This book brings together a selection of his most important writings on a range of key social policy issues, together with commentary on these from contemporary experts in the field.
The book should be read by undergraduate and postgraduate students in social policy and sociology, for many of whom Titmuss remains compulsory reading. It will be of interest to academics and other policy analysts as well as students and academics in political science and social work.
This is the first book to examine the views of a number of theorists from ancient times to the 19th century on a range of welfare issues: wealth, poverty and inequality; slavery, gender issues, and the family; child rearing and education; crime and punishment; the role of government in society; the strengths and weaknesses of government provision vis a vis market provision. The book also looks at the values of the various theorists as well as their perception of human nature for these tend to underpin their welfare views. The book will make essential reading for students of social policy, gender issues, community care, social work, and sociology.
Based on an extensive series of interviews with MPs and Peers from across Parliament, the book traces the dynamics of political debate on welfare both between and within parties; assesses the emergence of a new political consensus on welfare; details the welfare policy environment and the reform of Parliament under Labour; examines the extent to which MPs support developments in welfare policy; provides the most detailed assessment to date of MPs’ attitudes to welfare and their views on the future of the welfare state under Blair and beyond and offers the first consideration of the role of the reconstituted House of Lords in the scrutiny of welfare policy.
"Welfare policy under New Labour" provides a timely examination of the role of Parliament in the policy process. It will prove invaluable to scholars and students of social policy and British politics and professionals working in social work and welfare policy. It also provides useful insights for those who wish to lobby Parliament in these fields.
Using welfare as a prism, Religion and Welfare in Europe explores regional conceptions and variations in welfare and religion across Europe.
Methodological approaches to research and practice draw thematic comparisons on these issues using case studies focused on gendered and minority perspectives as they relate to the varied provision of social welfare in selected European countries.
Contributors offer comparative insights on majority-minority relations concerning practices, patterns and mechanisms of social welfare provision, explaining how these lead to conflict, cohesion or – as is so often the case – the grey area in between.
The book will be of interest not only to religion and social policy researchers, but to welfare practitioners and policy advisors with a particular interest in the interaction between religion, social welfare, minorities and gender.
We are often told that mean welfare is what the public wants. Whether or not that's true, this book encourages us all to at least be honest about what that entails.
It explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia’s so-called social security system where benefits are deliberately meagre and come with strings attached. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a region of Sydney known for ethnic diversity and socio-economic disadvantage, Emma Mitchell brings her own experience belonging to a poor family long reliant on welfare to her research.
This book shows the different cultural resources that people bring to welfare encounters with a sensitivity and subtly that are often missing in both sympathetic and cynical accounts of life on welfare.
83 7 Welfare Summary Competing interpretations of welfare may be based on individual decisions, needs, the avoidance of poverty or deprivation, the sum of individual welfares, common ground or ‘collective consequentialism’, and the ‘common good’ or good of society. However, the areas provided for as ‘social welfare’ are conventional and often miss important elements of people’s well-being. Every system of welfare leaves gaps. ‘Welfare’ or well-being is often translated into a specific set of issues, such as health or command over resources, because that is
Visually and pedagogically rich, this wide-ranging introduction to key concepts and debates in welfare uses an innovative, question-based narrative to highlight the importance of theory to understanding welfare. In particular, it:
• Introduces concepts that are core to how policy is formulated and implemented.
• Provides students with a comprehensive vocabulary and toolkit for analysing policy examples and developing social science arguments.
• Includes stimulus material, diagrams, critical thinking activities, further reading lists and a companion website containing further policy examples, podcasts and class activities.
Written by an experienced and inspiring lecturer, this book is suitablefor undergraduate students of social policy, sociology, politics, public policy, social work, health and social care, particularly those taking courses on ‘welfare theory’,‘principles of social policy’, ‘key issues in welfare policy’ and similar. Using some of the hottest current debates about the problems and benefits of state-funded welfare, this book develops students’ social science understanding and analytic skills.
This book explores the role of government in encouraging or deterring the claiming of welfare entitlements. It:
compares the rhetoric of claimants’ rights with the realities of information provision;
uses the example of the increasingly complex social security system to consider the citizenship status of claimants;
focuses on government policies rather than on psychological, attitudinal or deprivational explanations for levels of take-up;
uses historical and contemporary evidence, including interviews with policy makers, to explore information policy.
Promoting welfare? is aimed at all those who are concerned about poverty, social justice and citizenship including students and teachers of social policy, politics and public administration; politicians and policy makers; and service users, practitioners and welfare rights groups.
Exploring the lived realities of both poverty and prosperity in the UK, this book examines the material and symbolic significance of welfare austerity and its implications for social citizenship and inequality. The book offers a rare and vivid insight into the everyday lives, attitudes and behaviours of the rich as well as the poor, demonstrating how those marginalised and validated by the existing welfare system make sense of the prevailing socio-political settlement and their own position within it.
Through the testimonies of both affluent and deprived citizens, the book problematises dominant policy thinking surrounding the functions and limits of welfare, examining the civic attitudes and engagements of the rich and the poor, to demonstrate how welfare austerity and rising structural inequalities secure and maintain institutional legitimacy.
The book offers a timely contribution to academic and policy debates pertaining to citizenship, welfare reform and inequality.
While reforms of welfare policies have been widely analysed, the reform of welfare administration has received far less attention. Using empirical case studies, this book provides significant new insights into the way welfare administration is being internationally transformed. Particular attention is given to the effect on welfare clients, staff and agencies.
“Administering welfare reform” presents a critical analysis of governance practices in welfare administration and examines shifts in the participants, practices and processes of welfare administration. It presents original empirical case studies that highlight the effects of reforming welfare governance on welfare subjects, staff and agencies and provides a much-needed international and comparative perspective of changing welfare governance.
This book is aimed at scholars and advanced students of sociology, social policy, economics, public administration and management, as well as social policy practitioners and service delivery workers.
