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Social Science Women's Studies

Poverty, Social Assistance, and the Empl

Restructuring Welfare States

by (author) Maureen Baker & David Tippin

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Dec 1999
Category
Women's Studies, Social Services & Welfare
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442678668
    Publish Date
    Dec 1999
    List Price
    $97.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802081803
    Publish Date
    Dec 1999
    List Price
    $35.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802043573
    Publish Date
    Dec 1999
    List Price
    $77.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

Why do some welfare states provide income support for mothers to care for their school-aged children at home while others expect them to find employment when their youngest child is six months old? This study, a fundamental contribution to social policy and social welfare theory, compares recent efforts to restructure social programs for low-income mothers in four countries: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. While these countries are sometimes classified as liberal welfare states, this book demonstrates that they vary considerably in terms of benefit development, expectations concerning maternal employment, and restructuring processes.

The authors examine changes to income security programs, discuss the social, political and economic conditions affecting these programs, and analyse the discourse promoting reform. Using a feminist and political economy perspective, they conclude that recent, often expensive, efforts to make beneficiaries more employable have not always enabled them to escape welfare or poverty.

While full-time employment opportunities are becoming scarcer, governments are requiring beneficiaries to enter the workforce, often with little social support or improvement in income. Regardless of the impact of employability initiatives on poverty levels, the study concludes that these policies are important ideological instruments in tempering demands on contemporary welfare systems. The result is a more residual welfare state, in which social provision is increasingly presented as a meagre last resort.

About the authors

Maureen Baker is Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Auckland.

Maureen Baker's profile page

David Tippin is a part-time lecturer at the University of Auckland, and a social policy researcher.

David Tippin's profile page