Welfare and the Welfare State: Present and Future - Softcover

Greve, Bent

9781138793644: Welfare and the Welfare State: Present and Future

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138793647 ISBN 13: 9781138793644

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

The welfare state plays a key role in people’s everyday lives in developed societies. At the same time, the welfare state is contested and there are constant discussions on how and to what degree the state should intervene, influence and have an impact on the development of society. Recent years have seen an accelerated transformation of the welfare state in the light of the global financial crisis, demographic change and changes in the perception of the state’s role in relation to social welfare. This raises fundamentally new issues related to social policy and welfare state analysis. This book provides:

an introduction to the principles of welfare

a conceptual framework necessary for understanding social policy at the macro-level

a comparative approach to welfare states globally

an overview of new ways to organise and steer welfare states

an introduction to welfare state politics and underlying economic framework

an account of equality and inequality in modern societies

new directions for welfare states

The book’s focus on core concepts and the variety of international welfare state regimes and mechanisms for delivering social policy provides a much needed introduction to the rapidly changing concept of welfare for students on social policy, social studies, sociology and politics courses.

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Review:

When people talk about the welfare state, they often discover that the meaning of the term varies across countries. Professor Greve makes an excellent contribution to clarify and simplify our understanding of the vast beast we call the welfare state. This book offers precise definitions and illustrations of the concepts and programs that comprise it. For the student new to the study of the welfare state, this book is invaluable. For the seasoned scholar of social welfare, the book provides sharp summaries of current research and trends. - Robert Henry Cox, Professor and Director of the Walker Institute for International and Area Studies, University of South Carolina

An essential read when it comes to considering the welfare state’s future. This remarkable book is a crucial contribution in considering the issue in a context where, after the global financial crisis, many components of the welfare systems have to be reconsidered. For instance: the respective role of the state, civil society and market, but also the governance of these systems to guarantee the pursuit of well-being in a context of strong inequality challenges. - Claude Martin, Chair on Social Care, CNRS, France

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