Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Preface
- Notes on contributors
- one The legacy of Peter Townsend
- two The making of a pioneer researcher: reflections from Peter Townsend’s life story
- three Peter Townsend, a man ahead of his time: re-reading The family life of old people and The last refuge
- four The case for universal child benefit
- five Poverty
- six Social justice for children: investigating and eradicating child poverty
- seven For universalism and against the means test
- eight Underclass, overclass, ruling class, supernova class
- nine Addressing health inequalities: building on Peter Townsend’s legacy
- ten Towards a new sociology of ageing: from structured dependency to critical gerontology
- eleven Disability: prospects for social inclusion
- twelve Putting the lawyers in their place: the role of human rights in the struggle against poverty
- thirteen Radicalising social policy in the 21st century: a global approach
- fourteen Conclusion: building on the legacy of Peter Townsend
- Index
fourteen - Conclusion: building on the legacy of Peter Townsend
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Preface
- Notes on contributors
- one The legacy of Peter Townsend
- two The making of a pioneer researcher: reflections from Peter Townsend’s life story
- three Peter Townsend, a man ahead of his time: re-reading The family life of old people and The last refuge
- four The case for universal child benefit
- five Poverty
- six Social justice for children: investigating and eradicating child poverty
- seven For universalism and against the means test
- eight Underclass, overclass, ruling class, supernova class
- nine Addressing health inequalities: building on Peter Townsend’s legacy
- ten Towards a new sociology of ageing: from structured dependency to critical gerontology
- eleven Disability: prospects for social inclusion
- twelve Putting the lawyers in their place: the role of human rights in the struggle against poverty
- thirteen Radicalising social policy in the 21st century: a global approach
- fourteen Conclusion: building on the legacy of Peter Townsend
- Index
Summary
The main objectives of this book, set out in Chapter One, were, first, to encourage and support a concerted campaign against poverty, inequality and social injustice and, second, to provide a reasoned case for a new approach to social policy aimed at achieving the goal of social justice. The inspiration behind the book and its objectives is Peter Townsend and, specifically, his consistent, dogged pursuit of social justice in every aspect of his public life: education, research, writing and campaigning. The book's subtitle, referring to a ‘manifesto’, is intended to capture the idea of a public statement of policy on behalf of those who are, at the very least, offended by the present scale of inequality and social injustice in the UK and globally, and who want to do something about it. The form that such action might take should not be prescribed to allow for a multitude of different contributions aimed at changing society rather than expecting that there could be a single movement. Here we have followed Peter's lead and emphasised teaching, research/scholarship and campaigning. It is also essential to recognise the very special nature of Peter Townsend. There are very few who can aspire to emulate his almost all-consuming passion, commitment and sustained campaigning zeal and, for health reasons, we would not recommend that anyone tries to do so!
The preceding chapters have provided the major contributions to the book's objectives. In this final chapter we summarise the key elements of the manifesto for social justice that the contributors have proposed. We then consider the challenges that this presents to the major constituency that Peter addressed throughout his life, policy makers. Finally, we turn inwards, to our own colleagues and students of social policy, to encourage them to be inspired by Peter's legacy, to take up the torch of social justice and, in doing so, to become more public in their campaign. As we approached this final chapter we were very conscious of what Peter might have said in particular about the Coalition government's programme of public expenditure cuts. We hope that we have represented him fairly.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fighting Poverty, Inequality and InjusticeA Manifesto Inspired by Peter Townsend, pp. 275 - 302Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011