POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Security

The use of fiscal welfare has been growing over the past decades in the welfare states of France and Sweden. This book sheds light on the use and effects of fiscal welfare in processes of 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.

Advancing a class-centred approach, this book provides an account of the evolution of social security and employment policy and governance in Britain between 1973 and 2023.

East Asian societies and welfare systems are rapidly changing. This original volume considers welfare attitudes in East Asia, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macao, Singapore and Taiwan. It proposes new methods and approaches to analysing cross-national variations in welfare attitudes.

Drawing on a wealth of qualitative longitudinal evidence, this book casts light on women’s lived experiences of welfare and work. It uncovers the hidden gendered bias of conditional welfare reforms to challenge dominant political discourses, policy design and practice norms.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The impacts of austerity and welfare reform on work and employment relations are explored in this perceptive assessment. This book highlights the role of trade unions and social movements in challenging the insecurities and inequalities imposed by work-focused welfare policies such as Universal Credit and proposes progressive new paths for welfare.

One of the few resources available to provide an overview of human need as a key concept in the social sciences, this accessible and engaging second edition models existing practical and theoretical approaches to human need while also proposing a radical alternative.