Welfare Conditionality (Key Ideas)

Welfare conditionality has become an idea of global significance in recent years. A ‘hot topic’ in North America, Australia, and across Europe, it has been linked to austerity politics, and the rise of foodbanks and destitution. In the Global South, where publicly funded welfare protection systems are often absent, conditional approaches have become a key tool employed by organisations pursuing human development goals.

The essence of welfare conditionality lies in requirements for people to behave in prescribed ways in order to access cash benefits or other welfare support. These conditions are typically enforced through benefit ‘sanctions’ of various kinds, reflecting a new vision of ‘welfare’, focused more on promoting ‘pro-social’ behaviour than on protecting people against classic ‘social risks’ like unemployment.

This new book in Routledge’s Key Ideas series charts the rise of behavioural conditionality in welfare systems across the globe, its appeal to politicians of Right and Left, and its application to a growing range of social problems. Crucially it explores why, in the context of widespread use of conditional approaches as well as apparently strong public support, both the efficacy and the ethics of welfare conditionality remain so controversial. As such, Welfare Conditionality is essential reading for students, researchers, and commentators in social and public policy, as well as those designing and implementing welfare policies.

Beth Watts is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE), Heriot-Watt University. She has a background in political and moral philosophy, and is interested in the application of philosophical tools in social and housing policy analysis. Beth completed her PhD comparing homelessness policy in Scotland and Ireland in 2013 at the University of York, and has previously worked at the Young Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Shelter.

Suzanne Fitzpatrick is Professor of Housing and Social Policy and Director of I-SPHERE, Heriot-Watt University. She completed her PhD on youth homelessness at the University of Glasgow in 1998. Suzanne held various posts in the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow until 2003, when she was appointed the Joseph Rowntree Professor of Housing Policy and Director of the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. Suzanne has a background in law, and specialises in research on homelessness and housing exclusion.