British Social Policy : 1945 to the Present

by Glennerster, Howard

• ISBN13: 9781405152440
• ISBN10: 1405152443
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-05
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This is a new edition of one of the most widely used texts on the history of social policy in Britain. Covering the period from the end of the Second World War to the present day, Howard Glennerster focuses on the Welfare State to explore the myths that have shaped popular conceptions of social policy, and which continue to dominate current debates. From the earliest days of the Welfare State, to New Labour's reform commitments for the new century, Glennerster concludes that social policy can only ever be understood in the context of the political and economic concerns of the time. For this third edition the author provides a new final chapter covering New Labour's policy in the twenty-first century and updates the book's earlier chapters, tables, charts, and select bibliography.

Author Biography

Howard Glennerster has been an active participant in the social policy process and a commentator on it since the early 1960s, when he joined the Labour Party Research Department. He taught social policy at the London School of Economics for over thirty years and is now Professor Emeritus of Social Policy and Co-Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion there. He is the author of many books and journal articles on social policy including Understanding the Finance of Welfare (2003). He became a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
The British Welfare State: Origins and Myths	p. 1
Origins	p. 1
The Basic Principles of the 1940s Welfare State	p. 5
The Myths	p. 8
A Re-evaluation	p. 18
Beveridge: Founding Father?	p. 20
Beveridge: the Man	p. 21
The Ambition: a New Britain	p. 23
The Report: Radical, but did it add up?	p. 28
The Report's Main Proposals	p. 36
The Rejection of Beveridge?	p. 39
Family Allowances	p. 41
An Unsound Foundation	p. 42
The Right to Health, Knowledge, Food, Shelter and Work, 1945-51	p. 44
Citizenship Rights?	p. 44
A National Health Service Created	p. 46
The New National Health Service	p. 53
Education For All	p. 55
The 1944 Education Act	p. 60
Labour's Policy	p. 60
Children	p. 63
Food Rationing	p. 64
Shelter	p. 65
Jobs for All	p. 58
Services for Citizens?	p. 68
The New Conservatism and Social Policy, 1951-64	p. 71
Back to the Drawing Board	p. 72
Trying to Contain the Welfare State	p. 76
Inflation and Full Employment - an Early Warning	p. 81
Social Services: Wasted Years?	p. 82
Conservative Achievements	p. 95
Completing the Post-war Agenda 1964-76, Part One: the Poor and the Poorest	p. 97
An Old Agenda	p. 97
What is New?	p. 98
Social Policy Moves Centre Stage	p. 99
Reforming Beveridge	p. 104
Labour Comes to Power	p. 107
Conservatives Reverse Engines, 1970	p. 112
Labour Tries Again	p. 114
Child Poverty Again	p. 115
Balance Sheet So Far	p. 120
Completing the Post-war Agenda 1964-76, Part Two: from Equal Access to Equality?	p. 123
Health Care	p. 123
Social Work	p. 127
NHS Reform Again	p. 131
Education and the Pursuit of Equality	p. 134
Housing	p. 142
Race Relations	p. 146
Equal Pay	p. 149
Morality, Family and the State: the Legacy of the Sixties	p. 152
Homosexual Law Reform	p. 154
Abortion	p. 157
Divorce	p. 159
Lone Parents	p. 162
Domestic Violence	p. 164
Sex Education	p. 166
The Party Over, 1976-88	p. 168
Labour 1976-9: Cuts and Fag Ends	p. 176
Containment, Continuity and Tentative Change, 1979-88	p. 178
Social Security Reform	p. 180
SERPS	p. 184
Housing Reform	p. 187
Continuities	p. 189
New Directions, 1988-97	p. 191
A Radical Manifesto	p. 192
Housing Choice	p. 195
Standards in Education	p. 198
Student Loans	p. 201
A Poll Tax	p. 202
Health Service Reform	p. 203
Community Care	p. 207
Another 'Fundamental' Review	p. 209
Taxation	p. 210
Majorism	p. 212
The State and the Family	p. 213
Lone Mothers	p. 214
Children	p. 219
The End of an Era	p. 221
Sixty Years On	p. 222
A New Start?	p. 222
Institutional Change and its Sources	p. 224
A Dual Premiership?	p. 224
Changed Economic Circumstances	p. 225
Devolution	p. 227
Changing Families	p. 228
Welfare Reform	p. 230
Teenage Pregnancy	p. 240
Children at Risk	p. 240
Institutional Reform: From Monopoly to Diversity and Choice	p. 242
Ageing and Pensions	p. 256
Housing and Urban Policy	p. 263
Inequality: Turning the Tide?	p. 265
Sixty Years On	p. 272
Social Policy Ministries and Ministers 1940-2006	p. 275
Bibliography	p. 281
Index	p. 305
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