The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State (Oxford Handbooks) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199579393 ISBN 13: 9780199579396

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State is a definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state. In a volume consisting of nearly fifty newly-written chapters, a broad range of the world's leading scholars offer a comprehensive account of everything one needs to know about the modern welfare state. The book is divided into eight sections. It begins with an evaluation of the philosophical case for (and against) a welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state's history and of the approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended sections, running to some thirty-five chapters in all, which offer a comprehensive and in-depth survey of our current state of knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors (including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of globalisation. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly, unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and retrenchment). The seventh section consists of seven chapters which survey welfare state experience around the globe (and not just within the OECD). Two final chapters consider questions about the global future of the welfare state.

The individual chapters of the Handbook are written in an informed but accessible way by leading researchers in their respective fields giving the reader an excellent and truly up-to-date knowledge of the area under discussion. Taken together, they constitute a comprehensive compendium of all that is best in contemporary welfare state research and a unique guide to what is happening now in this most crucial and contested area of social and political development.

About this title

About the Author:

Francis G. Castles is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University and at the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) in Bremen.

Stephan Leibfried is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Bremen, Director of the Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State" (TranState) and member of the Unit History and Institutions of the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) there.

Jane Lewis is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Herbert Obinger is Professor of Comparative Public and Social Policy at the University of Bremen, directs the Unit History and Institutions of the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) and directs two projects in the Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State" (TranState).

Christopher Pierson is Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham and Director of Teaching and Lead Editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

Review:

"This is a landmark book for international scholarship in social policy. It has been compiled by some of the leading international scholars in the field and published, in some style...all academics in the field should ensure that university libraries acquire copies of the book. It will prove to be an essential reference for all those studying social policy, as well as many in politics, public administration, sociology and other cognate subjects...More generally, it is attention to detail, co-existing with breadth of vision and reach, which make this such an attractive book. The editors and their contributors are addressing most of the big questions that underpin the history of the welfare state and its future prospects, and they are doing this on an international scale...If you are not passionate about social policy before encountering this Handbook, then surely you will be once you have begun to delve into it."--Journal of Social Policy

"This landmark book achieves its aspiration to provide the 'most authoritative survey and critique of the welfare state yet published'...should be part of the foundation collection in any college library. Summing Up: Essential."--CHOICE

"The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, written by an impressive array of scholars, is the book to read to understand the welfare state in all its complexity, from philosophical foundations to methodological and substantive theories, from policies and processes to actors and institutions, and from established welfare states to emerging ones."--Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University

"This new Handbook of the Welfare State represents state-of-the-art scholarship on one of the most important institutions of our times. The book brings together the world's leading authorities from many disciplines and provides an exhaustive and yet easily accessible treatment of the complete range of issues relevant for understanding welfare states. The volume has simply no rival, be it in terms of intellectual breath or scholarly quality--a truly impressive addition to OUP's fantastic Handbook series."--Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Professor of Sociology, Pompeu Fabra University

"This is not a book for the faint-hearted, nor for those looking for welfare-state lite. Instead, this large coherent volume offers a rich array of talented authors applying diverse approaches--historical, philosophical, political, sociological, and economic--to analysing and comparing welfare states around the world and to offering a powerful reassertion of their resilience and their importance in a modern economy."--Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science

"It is far-ranging and comprehensive and provides helpful summaries of many of the topics and issues that characterize welfare state scholarship today." -- James Midgley, School of Social Welfare, University of California Berkeley, Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

"Students new to transnational comparative social policy focusing on the rich societies of the West will find it invaluable. The Handbook will also, of course, be useful for teachers and researchers, in mapping out contemporary themes and issues."--Critical Social Policy

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0199579393
• ISBN 13: 9780199579396
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 912
• Editor: Castles Francis G., Leibfried Stephan, Lewis Jane, Obinger Herbert, Pierson Christopher