Welfare & benefit systems

This book is a challenge to the concept of wellbeing as applied to children, suggesting that it should be understood at the level of the child, rather than a list of things that are needed in order to live well.

This book examines the policy approaches of Conservative governments since 2015 in key social policy areas including education, health, housing, employment, children and young people and more.

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.

Teenage parenthood is recognised as a significant disadvantage in western industrialised nations. It has been found to increase the likelihood of poverty and reinforce inequalities. This book explores the links between welfare state provision and teenage reproductive behaviour across a range of countries with differing welfare regimes.

Using new research, Anne Daguerre examines Obama’s legacy on welfare and antipoverty policies, focusing in particular on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Drawing on first-hand accounts from those living under the systems, this novel study explores the impact of Australia and New Zealand’s income management policies and asks whether they have caused more harm than good.

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Led by the disability movement’s concern with the employment choices faced by disabled people, this controversial book uses sociological and philosophical approaches, as well as international examples, to critically engage with possible alternatives to paid work for disabled people.

There have been major shifts in the framework of social policy and welfare across Europe. Adopting a multi-level, comparative and interdisciplinary approach, this book develops a critical analysis of policy change and welfare reform in Europe.

Through eleven country studies, this book challenges the common view that social protection is exclusively a national concern with EU social policy fragmented and merely symbolic.

This is the classic assessment of the state of child well-being in the UK. This fourth edition has been updated to review the latest evidence, including the impact of the economic crisis and austerity measures since 2008. An essential resource.

In a period of rapid social and economic change, labour markets are undergoing major transformations. This book explores the changing fortunes of young people in Europe's flexible and precarious labour markets and the range of policies that are being developed to help them deal with the problems they face.