Paul Spicker

Paul Spicker's new book takes the three founding principles of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - and examines how they relate to social policy today. The book considers the political and moral dimensions of a wide range of social policies, and offers a different way of thinking about each subject from the way it is usually analysed. The book is in three main parts, one part devoted to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in turn. Each part explores the elements and dimensions of the key concept, its application to policy, its interrelationship with the other two principles, and how policies have developed to promote the principle in society. The conclusion outlines three models of radical politics, based on the main concepts. Liberty, equality, fraternity is an original, thought-provoking book, addressing perennial themes with many topical examples drawn from policy in practice, and offering distinctive insights into socialist and radical thinking.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

David Gordon

Sonia Alvarez Leguizamón

This second edition of this highly-successful glossary provides an exhaustive and authoritative guide to over 200 technical terms used in contemporary scholarly research on poverty. It seeks to make researchers, students and policy makers aware of the multi-dimensional and complex nature of this social condition. This revised edition includes a range of new entries to keep pace with an expanding field of discourse, an extended set of references, and further perspectives from developing countries. A particular effort has been made to incorporate non-Western approaches and concepts.

An International Glossary

Poverty

This book presents new translations of the earliest known studies in Social Policy. Juan-Luis Vives's De Subventione Pauperum (On the Relief of the Poor) is an academic report on the organisation of social welfare, prepared for the senate of Bruges and published in 1526. Forma Subventionis Pauperum (The government of poor relief), published in 1531, is an anonymous evaluation report. It reviews the system of poor relief in the city of Ypres, five years after the policy was introduced. These reports lay out methods and approaches for the delivery of social services within their cities. Unemployed people should be found work or helped to start a business. People with disabilities or mental illness should be treated seriously and recognised for what they can do. Migrants should be helped, even if it is not possible to assist everyone. Special efforts should be made to help people who are reluctant or too proud to claim. Services have to be properly organised, records have to be kept and the use of funds has to be publicly accountable and subject to audit. The sophistication of the arguments developed in these studies will surprise many readers. They deserve to be read by everyone with an interest in social policy or public administration.

Juan Luis Vives, De Subventione Pauperum, and City of Ypres, Forma Subventionis Pauperum

The Origins of Modern Welfare

This book is a concise explanation of what welfare is, and why it is important. With examples from the UK, Europe, North America and Australia the book explores how the principles of welfare are applied across the world.

The Welfare State and Social Policy

Arguments for Welfare

The British welfare state is traditionally understood to be comprised of five main services: health, housing, social security, education and the 'personal social services', such as social care and child protection. In this book, Paul Spicker offers an original take on the role of the state in relation to these services, along with three other areas where institutional services have been developed: employment services, equalities and public services, such as roads, parks, libraries and rescue services. Dismissing false and misleading narratives, this book profiles the real problems that need to be addressed and offers inspiration for a better path forward.

Some Ideas for Better Social Services

How to Fix the Welfare State

This provocative short book is a valuable introduction to social security in Britain and the potential for its reform.

What’s Wrong with Social Security Benefits?

A major orginal work of social theory, this book presents a distinctive and tightly argued theoretical model for understanding the basis of welfare in society. The author develops a theory of welfare based on a series of basic propositions: that people live in society and have obligations to each other; that welfare is obtained and maintained through social action; and that the welfare state is a means of promoting and maintaining welfare in society. Each of these propositions is examined and developed to suggest a clear way of understanding the foundations of social welfare. The book make a lively and informative contribution to debates in social policy, as well as moral philosophy, political theory a

Paul Spicker

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