Gender, social policy and the idea of the welfare state

Anna Yeatman

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The topic of gender and social policy makes sense only in relation to the historical project of the welfare state. It is time to re-evaluate this project not least because of how neoliberal policy settings have all but dis-established the welfare state. Even though the neoliberal political class has not successfully persuaded the public to abandon its historically acquired expectations of a welfare state, neoliberal governments at least in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the UK have adopted a tri-pronged attack on the institutions of the welfare state: cut back and reduce the scope of welfare state services; stigmatize so-called welfare dependency, remove a rights-based conception of welfare benefits, and substitute publicly subsidized private decisions concerning the management of the vicissitudes of life for a collective system of social security; and take the core service institutions such as schooling, hospital and primary health care out of a public bureaucratic ethos and turn them over to market principles of business efficiency and consumer choice.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook on Gender and Social Policy
EditorsSheila Shaver
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Pages21-36
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781785367168
ISBN (Print)9781785367120
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • neoliberalism
  • sex
  • social policy
  • welfare state

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gender, social policy and the idea of the welfare state'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this