Rethinking Welfare: A Critical Perspective

by Iain Ferguson, Michael Lavalette, Gerry Mooney

`I would encourage undergraduates students to read it, for it does summarise well a classical Marxist analysis of social policy and welfare′ - Social Policy The anti-capitalist movement is increasingly challenging the global hegemony of neo-liberalism. The arguments against the neo-liberal agenda are clearly articulated in Rethinking Welfare . The authors highlight the growing inequalities and decimation of state welfare, and use Marxist approaches to contemporary social policy to provide a defence of the welfare state. Divided into three main sections, the first part of this volume looks at the growth of inequality, and social and environmental degradation. Part Two centres on the authors′ argument for the relevance of core Marxists concepts in aiding our understanding of social policy. This section includes Marxist approaches to a range of welfare issues, and their implications for studying welfare regimes and practices. Issues covered · Class and class struggle · Opression · Alienation and the family The last part of the book explores the question of globalization and the consequences of international neo-liberalism on indebted countries as well as the neo-liberal agenda of the Conservative and New Labour governments in Britain. The authors conclude with the prospect of an alternative welfare future which may form part of the challenge against global neo-liberalism.

212 pages, Hardcover

First published April 18, 2002

About the author

Iain Ferguson is Honorary Professor of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of the West of Scotland. His main areas of interest are neoliberalism and social work, critical and radical perspectives in social work and also social perspectives in mental health. He is the Advisory Editor of Critical and Radical Social Work.