Social and Public Policy - Research

This book offers an account of how groups of economically marginal people have adapt and negotiate the offerings of a 'post industrial' labour market and a welfare system geared towards reintegrating them into formal employment. Through close ethnographic study it highlights collective strategies and responses to labour and welfare changes.

The enduring and multi-faceted significance of families in society, and their value as a focus for the exploration of social change have ensured that families remain a prominent focus of academic enquiry. This book proposes a new conceptual framework that both challenges and attempts to reconcile traditional and contemporary approaches.

There have been major shifts in the framework of social policy and welfare across Europe. Adopting a multi-level, comparative and interdisciplinary approach, this book develops a critical analysis of policy change and welfare reform in Europe.

Pro-'workfare' governments justify their policies by claiming 'workfare' helps enhance self-esteem and promote the dignity of the unemployed. On the other hand, welfare activists argue that 'workfare' suppresses the dignity of unemployed persons. This book examines the concept of human dignity in this context and attempts to clarify its meaning.

This book is the most authoritative study of poverty and social exclusion in Britain at the start of the 21st century. It reports on the most comprehensive survey of poverty and social exclusion, ever to be undertaken in Britain: The Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey.

While reforms of welfare policies have been widely analysed, the reform of welfare administration has received little attention. Using empirical case studies, this book provides new insights into the way welfare administration is being internationally transformed. Particular attention is given to the effect on welfare clients, staff and agencies.

"Social Policy Review" provides students, academics and all those interested in welfare issues with detailed analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year.

This book presents the outcome of a project coordinated by the European Trade Union Institute in which experts from different countries and social scientific disciplines (sociology, political science and economics) were invited to reflect on both the meaning and political status of the concept of the European Social Model (ESM).

This book is the first comprehensive exploration of an issue of growing importance to policy makers, academics, practitioners and students. It brings together contributions from prominent scholars to provide a range of theoretical perspectives, analysis and research about the role of housing and urban governance in addressing anti-social behaviour.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the EU Social Inclusion Process and explores the challenges ahead at local, regional, national and EU levels.

Welfare reform is a central part of the modernisation programme adopted by the Labour Government since 1997. This book examines the role of Parliament in the formulation and scrutiny of welfare policy, focusing in particular on how MPs and Peers view their influence on policy.

This book addresses the development of increasingly individualised public social services in the EU. It focuses particularly on activation services that have become crucial in the 'modernisation' of welfare states, comparing their introduction in the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic.