Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:07:45.186Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - Social Policy, the Welfare State, and Social Exclusion

from Section 1 - Social Exclusion, Poverty, and Inequality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2022

Jed Boardman ,
Helen Killaspy  and
Gillian Mezey
Jed Boardman
Affiliation:
King's College London
Helen Killaspy
Affiliation:
University College London
Gillian Mezey
Affiliation:
St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London
Get access

Summary

This chapter covers the development of social policies and the modern Welfare State. Welfare states represent recognition that the key welfare needs of the country will be met by the state through the provision of income transfers and key public services. Their development has been closely associated with the expansion of citizenship and human rights. In the UK the Poor Law was a long-lasting historical core on which the nation’s welfare state was built, and was associated with the important infrastructure of local authorities, health systems, and education along with the provision of payments in times of need. A well-functioning welfare state is important for the wellbeing of the population and has valuable redistributive roles. They provide social investment in children’s early lives and guard against social risks such as unemployment and poverty. They have the potential to assist economic growth and to provide the infrastructure and support for human capital, such as through the creation of a ‘healthy workforce’. Generally, the more egalitarian states perform better on a range of well-being measures. They remain a central pillar of the maintenance and improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities associated with mental health conditions.

Keywords

Welfare StateSocial PolicyPoor LawsPublic HealthVoluntary SectorBeveridge ReportRedistributionSocial investment
Type
Chapter
Information
Social Inclusion and Mental Health
Understanding Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion
 , pp. 141 - 160
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abel-Smith, B. and Townsend, P. (1965) The Poor and the Poorest: A New Analysis of the Ministry of Labour’s Family Expenditure Surveys of 1953–54 and 1960. Bell & Sons.Google Scholar
Alston, P. (2019) Visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (A/HRC/41/39/Add.1). United Nations.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. (2000) A working social model? Disability, work and disability politics in the 21st century. Critical Social Policy, 20, 441–57.Google Scholar
Blair, T. (1998) The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century. Fabian Society.Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (2020) Dismantling the social safety net: Social security reforms, disability and mental health conditions. BJPsych Bulletin 44, 208–12. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.79.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office (2010) Coalition Agreement: Our Programme for Government. Cabinet Office.Google Scholar
Cooper, K. and Hills, J. (2021) The Conservative Governments’ Record on Social Security May 2015 to pre COVID 2020. SPDO Research Summary. London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Curtice, M. (2008) Article 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998: Implications for clinical practice. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 14, 389–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtice, M. (2009) Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998: Implications for clinical practice. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 15, 23–31.Google Scholar
Dean, H. (2019) Social Policy. 3rd ed. Polity.Google Scholar
Deeming, C and Hayes, D (2012). Worlds of welfare capitalism and wellbeing: A multilevel analysis. Journal of Social Policy, 41, 811–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279412000499.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. and Korpi, W. (1987) From poor relief to institutional welfare states: The development of Scandinavian social policy. In The Scandinavian Model: Welfare States and Welfare Research (ed. Eriksson, R., Ringen, E. and Uusitalo, H.). M. E. Sharpe, pp. 39–74.Google Scholar
Fredman, S. (2005) Disability equality and the existing paradigm. In In Disability Rights in Europe (ed. Lawson, A. & Gooding, C). Hart, pp. 203–8.Google Scholar
Gamble, A. (1988) The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism. Macmillan Education.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1998) The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy. Polity.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (2000) The Third Way and Its Critics. Polity.Google Scholar
Glennerster, H (2007) British Social Policy: 1945 to the Present. 3rd ed. John Wiley.Google Scholar
Government Equalities Office (2009) A Fairer Future: The Equality Bill and Other Action to Make Equality a Reality. Government Equalities Office.Google Scholar
Hall, S. and Jacques, M. (eds.) (1983) The Politics of Thatcherism. Lawrence Wishart in association with Marxism Today.Google Scholar
Hills, J. (2015) Good Times, Bad Times: The Welfare Myth of Them and Us. Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hills, J., Sefton, T. & Stewart, K. (2009) Towards a More Equal Society? Poverty, Inequality and Policy since 1997. Policy Press.Google Scholar
HM Government (2008) Framework for a Fairer Future: The Equality Bill. TSO (The Stationery Office).Google Scholar
ITV (2017) UK cuts ‘have created a human catastrophe for disabled people’. ITV News Report. 24 Aug. 2017 (www.itv.com/news/2017-08-24/uk-cuts-have-created-a-human-catastrophe-for-disabled-people).Google Scholar
Jones, K. (2000) The Making of Social Policy in Britain. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Lupton, R., Burchardt, T., Fitzgerald, T., et al. (2015) The Coalition’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010–2015. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Research Report 4. London: London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Lupton, R., Hills, J., Stewart, K., & Vizard, P. (2013) Labour’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997–2010. Social Policy in Cold Climate Research Report 1. London: LSE.Google Scholar
Marmot, M, Allen, J, Boyce, t., Goldblatt, P., & Morrison, J. (2020) Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On. London: Institute of Health Equity.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1963) Sociology at the Crossroads. Heinemann.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1965) Social Policy. Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Ministry of Justice (2007) The Governance of Britain: Constitutional Renewal. Ministry of Justice.Google Scholar
Obolenskaya, P. and Burchardt, T. (2016) Public and Private Welfare Activity in England. CASE Report 193 Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
OECD (2021) Social spending (indicator): https://data.oecd.org/socialexp/social-spending.htm (Accessed on 06 July 2021). https://doi.org/10.1787/7497563b-en.Google Scholar
OECD SOCX Database (no date) 1980–2017–2019 Social Expenditure – Aggregated data. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGGGoogle Scholar
Pierson, C. (2006) Beyond the Welfare State (3rd ed.). Polity Press.Google Scholar
Pierson, P. (1994) Dismantling the Welfare State? Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Renwick, C. (2017) Bread for All: The Origins of the Welfare State. Penguin.Google Scholar
Sayce, L. (2000) From Psychiatric Patient to Citizen: Overcoming Discrimination and Social Exclusion. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sayce, L. & Boardman, J. (2003) The Disability Discrimination Act 1995: Implications for psychiatrists. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 9, 397–404.Google Scholar
Sayce, L. & Boardman, J. (2008) Disability rights and mental health in the UK: Recent developments of the Disability Discrimination Act. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 14, 265–75.Google Scholar
Smith, K. (2013) Beyond Evidence-Based Policy in Public Health. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (2019) What is social policy? www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/what-is-social-policy/.Google Scholar
Titmuss, R. M. (1955) The social division of welfare. Lecture at University of Birmingham in honour of Eleanor Rathbone. Reproduced in Welfare and Wellbeing. Richard Titmuss’s Contribution to Social Policy (2001) (ed. Alcock, P., Glennerster, H., Oakley, A., and Sinfield, A.). Policy Press, pp. 59–70.Google Scholar
Vizard, P. (2009) The Equality and Human Rights Commission: A new point of departure in the battle against discrimination and disadvantage. In Towards a More Equal Society? Poverty, Inequality and Policy since 1997 (ed. Hills, J, Sefton, T, & Stewart, K). Policy Press, pp. 293–318.Google Scholar
Vizard, P., and Hills, J. (2021) The Conservative Governments’ Record on Social Policy from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020: Policies, Spending and Outcomes. An assessment of social policies and social inequalities on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic (report). London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Wheat, K. (2007) Mental health in the workplace. 2: Mental health and discrimination in employment. Journal of Mental Health Law, November, 194–208.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. & Pickett, K. (2009) The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. Penguin.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×