Understanding Human Need
By Hartley Dean
Published
Apr 22, 2020Page count
224 pagesEdition
2nd EditionBrowse the series
Understanding Welfare: Social Issues, Policy and PracticeISBN
978-1447341987Dimensions
240 x 172 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Apr 22, 2020Page count
224 pagesEdition
2nd EditionBrowse the series
Understanding Welfare: Social Issues, Policy and PracticeISBN
978-1447342007Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Apr 22, 2020Page count
224 pagesEdition
2nd EditionBrowse the series
Understanding Welfare: Social Issues, Policy and PracticeISBN
978-1447342007Imprint
Policy Press
Understanding Human Need
In the media
On our blog: The dehumanisation of the human species
'Need in the Time of Corona' in LSE Social Policy Blog
(Re)Understanding Humen Need: Writing the Revised Edition
This second edition of a widely respected textbook is one of the few resources available to provide an overview of human need, as a key concept in the social sciences. Taking an approach encompassing both global North and South, this accessible and engaging book models existing practical and theoretical approaches to human need while also proposing a radical alternative.
Incorporating crucial current debates and illustrations, the author explores:
• distinctions between different types and levels of need;
• how different approaches are reflected in different sorts of policy goals;
• debates about the relationship between needs, rights and welfare;
• contested thinking about needs in relation to caring, disadvantage and humanity.
Fully revised and updated, this new edition pays due regard to the shifting nature of welfare ideologies and welfare regimes. Offering essential insights for students of social policy, it will also be of interest to other social science disciplines, policy makers and political activists.
“Venturing beyond a standard revision, this second edition of Dean’s textbook develops a novel radical humanist vision of need and outlines a ‘needs-first’ ethic. Of interest to a wider audience beyond social policy.” Ian Gough, The London School of Economics and Political Science
‘’Dean…[has] established the study of human need as the foundation of social policy and offers a needs-first ethic that serves our humanity understood as consciousness, work, sociality and historical development” Citizen’s Basic Income Trust
“In this new edition, Hartley Dean again demonstrates his mastery of the subject and his ability to analyse complex issues concerning the nature of human need and its relationship with rights and welfare. His book will be the standard reference work on human need for many years to come.” James Midgley, University of California
“A truly comprehensive account of human need and an original value-based argument for a new politics of need – indispensable reading across the social sciences.” David Taylor, University of Brighton
"This book is a welcome addition to the literature and a very useful resource for teaching that fills an important gap." Gillian Brock, University of Auckland
Hartley Dean is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Introduction
Part One: Understandings and concepts
The needs of humanity
The thin and the thick of need and needing
Needs in theory
Needs in practice
Human need and social policy
Part Two: Implications and debates
Unmet needs and social disadvantage
Articulating needs as rights
The politics of human need
