Social Policy in Times of Austerity: Global Economic Crisis and the New Politics of Welfare

Description

The 2008 global economic crisis has led to a new age of austerity, based more on politics than economics, which threatens to undermine the very foundations of the welfare state. However, as resistance to the logic of austerity grows, this important book, the second of a three-book series, argues that there is still room for optimism.

Kevin Farnsworth and Zoe Irving are both senior lecturers in international social policy at the University of York, UK. Kevin has published widely on issues relating to the political economy of social policies and welfare states. Zoe has previously published on social policy development in small island states. Together they are co-editors of Social Policy in Challenging Times (Policy Press, 2011) and the Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy.

"[The editors] are tackling an important agenda when they bring together a range of contributions on different aspects of the idea and practice of austerity." Citizen's Income Newsletter "This is sure to be an influential book on the contemporary literature on the politics of austerity. Featuring insightful contributions by some of the foremost theorists in social policy, the book offers a remarkably powerful analysis of governments' recent overhauls of social policies." Dr Lavinia Mitton, University of Kent "A timely, thought-provoking collection of critical scholarship which helps to better understand the ideology, politics and economics of austerity in contemporary welfare states and presents the reader with alternatives to the standard policy prescriptions of today." Professor Peter Starke, University of Southern Denmark