Welfare Inequality And Social Citizenship

Exploring the lived realities of both poverty and prosperity in the UK, this book examines the material and symbolic significance of welfare austerity and its implications for social citizenship and inequality. The book offers a rare and vivid insight into the everyday lives, attitudes and behaviours of the rich as well as the poor, demonstrating how those marginalised and validated by the existing welfare system make sense of the prevailing socio-political settlement and their own position within it. Through the testimonies of both affluent and deprived citizens, the book problematises dominant policy thinking surrounding the functions and limits of welfare, examining the civic attitudes and engagements of the rich and the poor, to demonstrate how welfare austerity and rising structural inequalities secure and maintain institutional legitimacy. The book offers a timely contribution to academic and policy debates pertaining to citizenship, welfare reform and inequality.

At a time when the gap between rich and poor has been increasing, Poverty, Riches and Social Citizenship provides an accessible introduction to current debates about inequality, exclusion and the nature of citizenship, while also presenting an innovative exploration of popular beliefs and values in Britain. The authors develop a series of conceptual models by which to understand the competing traditions which have informed ideas about citizenship, and the contradictory moral notions that currently inform popular expectations of the welfare state.

Contemporary welfare provision poses serious challenges for social policy. Large and rapid changes are said to be taking place in the way we live, work and relate to each other, characterised by anxiety and insecurity.Risk and Citizenship explores how new and diffrent forms of citizenship are evolving in the context of this 'risk society' and the implications for the development of social policy at both the macro and micro level. This spirited and informed collection of papers by leading analysts addresses key questions related to welfare, citizenship and risk including: the nature of insecurity and social protection; the balance between inequality and egalitarianism; the relationship between governments and citizens; the parameters of citizenship; and the impact of risk assessment and risk management. Risk and Citizenship offers a thought-provoking reading for student, practitioner or policy-maker. It provides: * a review of current debates about risk, citizenship and welfare * in-depth analysis of specific policy initiatives in social security and community care * a new typology of welfare citizenship.

øThe concept of juridification refers to a diverse set of processes involving shifts towards more detailed legal regulation, regulations of new areas, and conflicts and problems increasingly being framed in legal and rights-oriented terms. This timely

This book examines the ways in which the welfare state impacts levels and distributions of political participation and democratic support in Western democracies. Going beyond the traditional contextual accounts of political behaviour, which primarily focus on political institutions or the socio-economic climate, this book looks specifically at the impact of public policy on a variety of political behaviours and attitudes. Drawing on the theoretical insights from the policy feedback approach, the author argues and empirically demonstrates that generous social policy offerings can not only foster democratic citizenship by promoting a more inclusive political culture, but are most beneficial to citizens who are otherwise excluded from political life in many other societies. This book will appeal most to scholars in the fields of political science and sociology who are especially interested in the welfare state, public policy, political sociology, and inequality.

Government is currently committed to radical reform of the welfare system underpinning social citizenship in Britain. Welfare rights and responsibilities is a response to this, focusing on welfare reform and citizenship. Specifically it explores three issues central to citizenship's social element: provision, membership and the link between welfare rights and responsibilities(conditionality). Part 1 discusses competing philosophical, political and academic perspectives on citizenship and welfare. Part 2 then moves discussions about social citizenship away from the purely theoretical level, allowing the practical concerns of citizens (particularly those at the sharp end of public provision) to become an integral part of current debates concerning citizenship and welfare. The author gives voice to the 'ordinary' citizens who actually make use of welfare services. The book offers an accessible overview of contemporary debates about the contested concepts of citizenship and welfare, linking them to recent developments and discussions about the new welfare settlement and values that underpin it. It combines relevant debates within political philosophy, social policy and sociology that relate to social citizenship with recent policy developments. Welfare rights and responsibilities allows the presently marginalised voices of welfare service users to become a valued element in contemporary debates about the extent of social citizenship and the reform of the welfare state. It is therefore important reading for students and teachers of social policy, sociology and politics. It will further appeal to a wider audience of policy makers and professional social workers with an interest in welfare reform/service users accounts.

This updated and revised edition of Understanding social citizenship is still the only citizenship textbook written from a social policy perspective. It provides students with an understanding of the concept of citizenship in relation to UK, EU and global welfare institutions; covers a range of welfare debates and issues; explores inclusion and exclusion; combines analysis and discussion of social policies and uses easy-to-digest text boxes. The revised second edition contains new topical sections on 'Cameron's Conservatism' and the EU and A8/10 migration in the UK. The book is essential reading for undergraduates in social policy, sociology, social work, politics and citizenship, A/AS level students and their teachers, and those on access courses, foundation degrees and teacher training courses.