Welfare State A Reader

The future of the welfare state is, for many people, the key social, economic and political question for the new millennium. Drawing on the very best and most influential of writing on welfare of the past fifty years, and featuring the work of more than thirty key authors, this reader shows how, why and for whom the politics of welfare has attained this newly central status.The book brings together in a single volume texts from a wide range of sources, some of which are now either out of print or difficult to obtain. It includes work from the earliest years of postwar welfare state growth right through to the very latest debates about ageing, competitiveness and globalization. It encompasses representatives of both the most important theoretical approaches to welfare and the very latest comparative empirical research. The final section marks out the terrain on which the next battles for welfare will be fought.Throughout the emphasis is upon welfare debates. The extraordinary range of contrasting opinions and judgements in the volume demonstrate why welfare is such a crucial and contested topic. Selected and edited by two internationally-respected researchers and teachers in the field, The Welfare State Reader is the essential guide to the debate.This book will be of interest to first year undergraduate students and above in social policy and social administration, politics and political theory, sociology and economics.Pierson, Christopher is the author of 'Welfare State A Reader', published 2000 under ISBN 9780745622521 and ISBN 0745622526.