Social Policies and Social Control: New Perspectives on the 'Not-So-Big Society' - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1447310748 ISBN 13: 9781447310747

Publisher: Policy Press, 2014

Synopsis

This book offers an innovative account of social-control and behaviorist thinking in social policies and welfare systems and the impact it has had on disadvantaged groups. The contributors review how controls have been applied to individuals and households and how these interventions have narrowed social rights. They illuminate the links between social control developments, welfare systems, and the liberalization of economics, and they highlight the negative impact that behaviorist assumptions—and the subsequent strategies that have grown out of them—have had on the disadvantaged. Overall the volume provides a cutting-edge critical engagement with contemporary policy developments.

About this title

About the Author:

Malcolm Harrison is professor emeritus in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, where Teela Sanders is a reader in sociology.

Review:

“This unique collection asks important normative and evaluative questions about techniques used to ‘responsibilise’ citizens, illustrating vividly the wider implications of the ceaseless pursuit of moral welfare on arguably the most ‘vulnerable’ groups.” (Emma Wincup, University of Leeds)

“This very well edited volume offers a range of new and established voices in the field and presents a penetrating critique of new forms of social control across a range of social policy fields. Opening up new avenues for analysis, the book serves as a wake-up call about contemporary threats to welfare and social solidarity and should be widely read by students, academics, practitioners, and policy makers.” (John Flint, University of Sheffield)

“This book is greatly to be welcomed. Examining developments in UK social policy during a period of deep crisis, the contributions to this volume remind us that ‘welfare’ is always and forever about politics, power, and control.” (Nicholas Ellison, University of York)

“Social Policies and Social Control offers a text which cuts through a range of policy domains to bring new insights on one cross cutting concept in policy analysis: social control. . . . An invaluable resource for students of social policy. But it also encourages the reader to consider how some of the changes to the presentation of social problems and the policy responses in turn shape how citizens perceive themselves, their communities, and the role of the state.” (Lee Gregory, University of Birmingham LSE Review of Books)

"A wake-up call." (Citizen’s Income Newsletter)

About this edition

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1447310748
• ISBN 13: 9781447310747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Harrison Malcolm, Sanders Teela