The Development Of The British Welfare State

The Development of the British Welfare State is divided into three parts, allowing for use on both chronological and service-based courses: Part I provides a chronological overview of the development of the welfare state from its origins in the nineteenth century to the present day; Part II concentrates on the history of the five main welfare service sectors: health, education, personal social services, housing and social security.

This book has become the standard text on the course of social policy and social ideas in Britain since the Industrial Revolution. To the first edition Professor Fraser has added a new foreword which sets out the variety of approaches which now exist to the history of social policy. Each chapter has been up-dated and revised in the light of recent research and five further documents have been added to the appendix. In a new postscript Professor Fraser discusses the welfare state in the period since 1973 and suggests what its future may be in the 1980s. The bibliography has been completely revised and contains a full survey of articles, so providing a fully up-to-date second edition which offers new insights and material in the light of current research. A third edition, which will bring this classic text up to the 1990s will be published in 1996.

This 'Very Short Introduction' discusses the necessity of welfare states in modern capitalist societies. Situating social policy in an historical, sociological, and comparative perspective, David Garland brings a new understanding to familiar debates, policies, and institutions.

This textbook is aimed at undergraduate and diploma students across a wide range of the social sciences, with particular reference to those preparing for or involved in careers in social and public administration. It provides, in compact form, the story of social provision from medieval times to the present day, systematically examining major themes of: the relief of poverty and social care; healthcare and housing; crime and policing; and education. With the rise of the Welfare State, and its current questioning as the chief focus, the book sets out to analyze how the state has responded to the social problems that have beset it. Consideration is given to comparative elements in Europe, North America and elsewhere, together with specific reference to issues of race, ethnicity and gender. A specially prepared glossary completes what is a review and description of the growth and present disposition of the full range of social and public services in Britain.

In this book, Chris Pierson argues that we will need to think quite differently about the British welfare state after COVID-19. He looks back to the welfare state’s origins and development as well as forwards, unearthing some surprising solutions in unexpected places.

This is a unique and timely survey of the evolving priorities of the British welfare state since its inception in the late 1940s, with an emphasis on how current and future aims and features of welfare provision compare with the ambitions of its original architects. In this book, 15 commentators, including prominent academic experts in the field, and also members of think tanks, charities and campaigning organisations – with a foreword by the BBC’s Huw Edwards, explore themes such as health, education, housing, gender, disability and ethnic diversity. The result of this study is a rich, critical and thought-provoking exploration of the legacy and prospects of the welfare state – worth reading by anyone with an interest in debates on how a modern society should meet the needs of its citizens.

How did Britain transform itself from a nation of workhouses to one that became a model for the modern welfare state? The Winding Road to the Welfare State investigates the evolution of living standards and welfare policies in Britain from the 1830s to 1950 and provides insights into how British working-class households coped with economic insecurity. George Boyer examines the retrenchment in Victorian poor relief, the Liberal Welfare Reforms, and the beginnings of the postwar welfare state, and he describes how workers altered spending and saving methods based on changing government policies. From the cutting back of the Poor Law after 1834 to Parliament’s abrupt about-face in 1906 with the adoption of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, Boyer offers new explanations for oscillations in Britain’s social policies and how these shaped worker well-being. The Poor Law’s increasing stinginess led skilled manual workers to adopt self-help strategies, but this was not a feasible option for low-skilled workers, many of whom continued to rely on the Poor Law into old age. In contrast, the Liberal Welfare Reforms were a major watershed, marking the end of seven decades of declining support for the needy. Concluding with the Beveridge Report and Labour’s social policies in the late 1940s, Boyer shows how the Liberal Welfare Reforms laid the foundations for a national social safety net. A sweeping look at economic pressures after the Industrial Revolution, The Winding Road to the Welfare State illustrates how British welfare policy waxed and waned over the course of a century.

What was the impact of the Second World War on the development of the welfare state? Did Attlee’s pioneering post-war Labour governments create the welfare state and a socialist society? Was there a welfare consensus between Labour and the Conservatives in the period from 1951 to 1979? Was there a welfare revolution during the Thatcher and Major years? What lies at the heart of New Labour’s welfare policy? In Revisiting the Welfare State, Robert Page provides a persuasive, fresh and challenging account of the British welfare state since 1940. His text re-examines some of the most commonly held assumptions about the post-war welfare state and reignites the debate about its role and purpose. Robert Page starts from the premise that the student of social policy can gain a deeper understanding of the welfare state by studying political and historical accounts of the welfare state, party manifestos, policy documents and political memoirs. Drawing from these sources, he provides a clear guide to the changing role of the state in the provision of welfare since 1940. Each of the five chapters is devoted to a particular theme associated with the post-war welfare state, the last of which focuses on the strategy of the New Labour governments of Tony Blair. Written by one of the leading authorities on contemporary social policy, Revisiting the Welfare State is a stimulating guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state in Britain. It is essential reading for students of social policy, social work, politics and contemporary history. It will also appeal to the general reader who is seeking an accessible guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state.