A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy

by Kennett, Patricia

• ISBN13: 9781845427658
• ISBN10: 1845427653
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-21
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub

Summary

Kennett has made a major contribution to the comparative study of social policy. The book will undoubtedly serve as a major resource for social policy scholars, and the editor is to be commended for taking on what must have been a Herculean task. . . It is to be hoped that the book will be available in many university libraries. It deserves to be widely consulted not only by those interested in international issues but by anyone concerned with the challenges facing the academic field of social policy today. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare This volume makes a heroic effort to transform the abstractions floating around in the literature on comparative social policy research into a more grounded discussion of what the policy controversies are all about. The contributions in the book climb down the ladder of abstraction which asserts that context, institutions and globalization all count, and that the public private discourse has changed. The book attempts to specifically show how these abstractions matter in recent social policy practice and research. Martin Rein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US The current context of social policy is one in which many of the old certainties of the past have been eroded. The predominantly inward-looking, domestic preoccupation of social policy has made way for a more integrated, international and outward approach to analysis which looks beyond the boundaries of the state. It is in this context that this Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research. Organized around five themes, this impressive volume explores the contextual, conceptual, analytical and processual aspects of undertaking comparative social research. In the first part, the authors are concerned with de-centring the state and extending the epistemological framework through which cross-national analysis is explored. In Parts II and III, the focus is on the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for analysing social policy cross-nationally, while Part IV examines the day-to-day reality of preparing for and carrying out cross-national analysis. In the final section, the authors highlight continuing and emerging themes and issues which are of particular relevance to understanding the contemporary social world. International in scope, this authoritative Handbook presents original cutting-edge research from leading specialists and will become an indispensable source of reference for anyone interested in comparative social research. It will also prove a valuable study aid for undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines including social policy, sociology, politics, urban studies and public policy.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
List of tables	viii
List of contributors	ix
Acknowledgements	xvi
Introduction: the changing context of comparative social policy	1	(10)
Patricia Kennett
PART I THE STATE AND SOCIAL POLICY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
Hollowing out the `nation-state' and multi-level governance	11	(15)
Bob Jessop
Globalization, the state and welfare: gendering the debate	26	(24)
Jill Steans
Globalization, human security and social policy: North and South	50	(18)
Andres Perez-Baltodano
Social protection by other means: can it survive globalization?	68	(23)
Ramesh Mishra
PART II CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
Defining comparative social policy	91	(12)
Jochen Clasen
Conceptualizing state and society	103	(13)
Graham Crow
The ethnocentric construction of the welfare state	116	(15)
Alan Walker
Chack-kie Wong
The paradox of care: a Chinese Confucian perspective on long-term care	131	(22)
Julia Tao
PART III COMPARING AND CATEGORIZING SOCIAL POLICY, PROVISION AND REDISTRIBUTION
Robin Hood, St Matthew, or simple egalitarianism? Strategies of equality in welfare states	153	(27)
Walter Korpi
Joakim Palme
Gender, citizenship and welfare state regimes	180	(21)
Julia S. O'Connor
Structured diversity: a framework for critically comparing welfare states?	201	(16)
Norman Ginsburg
Social development and social welfare: implications for social policy	217	(22)
James Midgley
Social policy regimes in the developing world	239	(22)
Ian Gough
PART IV THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Crossing cultural boundaries	261	(15)
Linda Hantrais
Living with imperfect comparisons	276	(16)
Else Øyen
Constructing categories and data collection	292	(15)
Patricia Kennett
`Fit for purpose?' Qualitative methods in comparative social policy	307	(17)
Steen Mangen
The quantitative method in comparative research	324	(17)
Mattei Dogan
PART V Themes and Issues
The international and comparative analysis of social exclusion: European perspectives	341	(14)
Graham Room
Shelter, housing and inequality	355	(18)
Ray Forrest
Globalization and crime	373	(15)
David Nelken
Informational society, e-governance and the policy process	388	(17)
Ian Holliday
Index	405