Governments are encouraging later-life working and state pension ages are being raised. There is also a growing debate on intergenerational equity and on ageism/age discrimination. John Macnicol, one of Europe's leading academic analysts of old age and ageing, examines the effect of neoliberalism on the recent ageing and social policy agenda in the UK and the USA. He argues that the demographic and economic impulses behind recent policy changes are in fact less important than the effect of...

Age discrimination is a highly topical issue in all industrialised societies, against a background of concerns about shortening working lives and ageing populations in the future. Based upon detailed research, and adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this unique study traces the history of the age discrimination debate in Britain and the USA since the 1930s. It critically analyses the concepts of ageism in social relations and age discrimination in employment. Case-studies on generation...

Social Policy: Themes and approaches is a fully revised, updated and extended edition of a bestselling social policy textbook, extensively reworked and adapted to meet the needs of its international readership. The book lays out the architecture of social policy as a field of study, providing a sense of the scope, range and purpose of the subject while developing critical awareness of problems, issues and common fallacies.

The Third Edition of this widely adopted textbook has been thoroughly revised and offers an authoritative and up-to-date coverage of the key theories, concepts and issues in social policy. The lively and readable text has been designed to provide students with the essential tools to gain a clear understanding of the theoretical debates surrounding the discipline.The book is organized into three parts:• Part One offers a detailed but accessible critique of m...

Ageing populations represent a key global challenge for the twenty-first century. Few areas of life will remain untouched by the accompanying changes to cultural, economic and social life. This book interrogates various understandings of ageing, and provides a critical assessment of attitudes and responses to the development of ageing societies, placing these in the context of a variety of historical and sociological debates.Written in a highly accessible style, this book examines ...

This book provides an account of the international emergence of corporate manslaughter offences to criminalise deaths in the workplace during the last twenty years, identifying the limitations of health and safety regulation that have prompted this development.

Crime and Social Policy provides an invaluable examination of the relationship between social policy and crime. It draws on recent empirical research to offer important insights into the impact of current social policy trends on the lives of offenders.Provides an invaluable examination of the critical relationship between social policy and crime managementIncludes illuminating case studies on the impact of social policies on offendersReviews curre...

Welfare is an important concept in the social sciences. It is also challenged and contested not only by alternative concepts but also as a political goal in itself. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this book takes a fresh look at the continuing relevance of welfare in the context of public policy, recent scholarly developments and changes in popular attitudes and behaviour.The book connects theory and practice. Tracing the concept's background in economics, political science an...

This volume explores new directions of governance and public policy arising both from interpretive political science and those who engage with interpretive ideas. It conceives governance as the various policies and outcomes emerging from the increasing salience of neoclassical and institutional economics or, neoliberalism and new institutionalisms. In doing so, it suggests that that the British state consists of a vast array of meaningful actions that may coalesce into contingent, shifting...

Moving beyond the highly visual forms of poverty characteristic of the city, Rural Poverty explores the nature of poverty in rural spaces in Britain and America. Setting out key features, it highlights the important processes that hide key components of rural poverty. The book seeks to challenge dominant assumptions about the spatialities of poverty and the nature of rural spaces in Britain and America.Drawing on a broad range of new research material, the book challenges ...

The relationship between gender and welfare states is of key importance in understanding welfare states and gender equality and inequality. Western welfare states of the post-war era were built on assumptions about gender difference: they treated men as breadwinners and women as carers. Now governments are committed in principle to gender equality. But how far have they come from male breadwinner assumptions to gender equality assumptions? How much do gender differences continue in UK soci...

The politics of old age in the twenty first century is contentious, encompassing ideological debates about the rights and welfare entitlements of individuals in later life. An important aspect is the manner in which older people and their representative groups are given the opportunity to articulate their interests in the policy-making process. Drawing upon key literature in political science, social gerontology and cultural sociology, The politics of old age explores the relationship betw...