Perspectives on Welfare : Ideas, Ideologies and Policy Debates

by DEACON

• ISBN13: 9780335203208
• ISBN10: 0335203205
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Open Univ Pr
• More Book Details

Summary

"Of the several discussions of the American poverty theorists I have read, this is easily the best. Anyone interested in that debate should begin here." - Professor Lawrence M. Mead, New York University"...a compelling guide to the ideas that have shaped and seek to re-shape welfare provision. This is a student text that teachers will want to read first." - Professor Robert Walker, University of Nottingham* How do welfare benefits and services shape the attitudes, behaviour and character of claimants? Should entitlement be dependent upon good behaviour?* What are the major intellectual influences upon current welfare reforms in the UK and the US?* Is it possible to reform welfare in ways which tackle both social inequality and welfare dependency?This lucid and engaging book provides an introduction to the current debates about the future direction of welfare reform on both sides of the Atlantic. The first part outlines a range of different perspectives on welfare, and shows how each of these perspectives rests upon a different assumption about the role and purpose of welfare policy and a different understanding of human nature and motivation. Some of these perspectives see the primary role of welfare as to reduce inequalities, while others see the central objective as the reduction of welfare dependency. The second part shows how the current debates in Britain and the United States are informed by these perspectives, and argues that debates about inequality and dependency are not mutually exclusive but address different dimensions of the same problem. In all, this illuminating and forward-looking text is essential reading for courses in social policy, health, and social welfare, as well as those with a political and wider interest in welfare reform.

Author Biography

Alan Deacon is Professor of Social Policy and a member of the ESRC Research Group on Care, Values and the Future of Welfare at the University of Leeds. He has written widely on the debate about welfare reform in Britain and the United States and is a former editor of the Journal of Social Policy. He is Chair of the Social Policy Association 2001-2004.

Table of Contents

Series editor's foreword	x
Acknowledgements	xii
List of abbreviations	xiv
Introduction	1	(3)
What is welfare	4	(2)
The nature of welfare debates	6	(1)
The importance of welfare debates	7	(2)
Further reading	9	(2)
Part 1 The perspectives	11	(78)
Welfare and equality	13	(18)
welfare and altruism	14	(8)
Richard Titmuss
The quasi-Titmuss paradigm: welfare and redistribution	22	(4)
Blaming the victim? Welfare and egalitarianism in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s	26	(3)
Conclusion	29	(1)
Further reading	30	(1)
Welfare and self-interest	31	(18)
Charles Murray	32	(10)
Frank Field	42	(6)
Conclusion: the limits of self-interest?	48	(1)
Further reading	48	(1)
Welfare and paternalism	49	(14)
Lawrence Mead	50	(4)
Mead and his critics	54	(5)
The new paternalism	59	(2)
Conclusion: the limits of paternalism?	61	(1)
Further reading	62	(1)
Welfare and obligation	63	(15)
`Responsive' communitarianism	64	(5)
Amitai Etzioni	69	(3)
Jonathan Sacks: welfare and commitment	72	(1)
Phillip Selznick: welfare and inclusion	73	(2)
Communitarianism and welfare reform	75	(1)
Conclusion: the limits of persuasion?	76	(1)
Further reading	77	(1)
Welfare as temporary support	78	(11)
David Ellwood	79	(9)
Conclusion	88	(1)
Further reading	88	(1)
Part 2 Policy debates	89	(30)
Ending dependency? Welfare reform in the United States	91	(11)
Welfare reform and the Clinton administration	92	(2)
The waivers	94	(1)
The 1996 Act and its critics	95	(1)
The impact of reform	96	(3)
Conclusion	99	(2)
Further reading	101	(1)
A new deal for welfare? New Labour and the reform of welfare in Britain	102	(17)
A third way for welfare?	103	(2)
The enforcement of obligations	105	(1)
The centrality of paid work	106	(4)
Rebuilding popular support for welfare	110	(1)
Ending child poverty as we know it	111	(2)
Retaining the means test	113	(2)
Conclusion	115	(2)
Further reading	117	(2)
Conclusion	119	(16)
A typology of the perspectives	120	(2)
From human nature to welfare reform: the `flow chart'	122	(10)
Finding the balance: a personal conclusion	132	(2)
Further reading	134	(1)
Glossary	135	(5)
Bibliography	140	(10)
Index	150