Information for students
This website provides you with a variety of short activities to help your learning. Ideally, you’d try them after completing each chapter of the book and without using the book or your notes to see what you can remember.
You don’t need to get everything right in your first attempt, obviously! This said, the resources are here for you to use in the way that suits your needs best – the important thing is that they consolidate your understanding based on your reading.
Have you thought about setting up a ‘study circle’?
Learning can feel a complex and messy process with some bumps along the way. Some students find it is helpful to meet on a regular basis with their peers to discuss what you’re learning on the course and explore individual areas of interest. These self-organised groups ideally comprise 3-4 members, but can be larger. Through reading and discussion, you can really deepen your learning - and it can be done with tea and cake!
Please use the menu on the left to navigate your way through the resources. You’ll find resources for each chapter:
1. Learning outcomes: These don’t appear in the book. They’re your tool for checking that you’re confident that you understand the material and can apply the ideas yourself.
2. Crosswords: These capture some of the key terminology used in the book and are intended to offer a quick revision tool for you to check you know your terms and definitions. There is a crossword for each of Chapters 2-9. If you get stuck, you can find the solutions on the lecturers’ pages on this site.
3. Listen to the author: Lee Gregory speaks about the key themes in each chapter.
Chapter 1: Learning Outcomes
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain the importance of concepts for studying Social Policy and understanding welfare debates.
• Grasp the structure of the book and how this will help you study concepts.
Listen to the author
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe key debates surrounding the concepts of welfare and wellbeing.
• Compare and contrast the differences between the two terms.
• Explain how the rise of state-funded welfare can be justified.
• Explain how welfare is related to the concept of social rights.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Summarise the key ideas associated with entitlement to welfare support.
• Compare and contrast the different theories that can be used to debate need, equality and citizenship.
• Explain the relevance of need, equality and citizenship to welfare provision.
• Explain how need, equality and citizenship relate to each other.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the relationship between nation building and citizen status.
• Explain what is meant by the mixed economy of welfare.
• Compare and contrast arguments for and against universalism.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe how so-called deserving and undeserving welfare recipients have been characterised.
• Compare and contrast the different theories relating to universalism and selectivism.
• Explain the relevance of selectivism and conditionality to welfare provision.
• Explain how and why population diversity challenges universal welfare provision.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the key characteristics associated with the concepts of stigma and the family.
• Compare and contrast the concepts of stigma and shame.
• Explain the relevance of the family, and familisation, to welfare provision.
• Account for the influence of welfare narratives in shaping social policies.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the key ideas that are associated with the concept of crisis.
• Compare and contrast the different crisis narratives found in welfare debates.
• Explain the relevance of neo-liberalism to welfare debates.
• Explain how globalisation is relevant to contemporary Social Policy.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Summarise the key elements of the risk thesis.
• Compare and contrast the different designs of welfare systems before and after the emergence of the risk society thesis.
• Explain the relevance of risk to new concepts of resilience, social exclusion and social investment welfare.
• Explain how risk reshapes welfare provision.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the key characteristics associated with social control, participation and empowerment.
• Compare and contrast the different theories that inform tensions between social control and empowerment.
• Explain the relevance of participation for welfare debates.
• Explain how welfare provision can be designed to incorporate social control and empowerment.
Crossword
The crossword incorporating key terminology introduced in this chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file here.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe how concepts are drawn together to explore welfare debates.
• Compare and contrast the different concepts which inform welfare provision.
• Explain the relevance of concepts to Social Policy and the influence of neoliberalism.
• Explain how alternative narratives are possible.
Listen to the author