Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Lists of Tables, Figures and Boxes vii

Introduction 1

1 Founding Ideas and Approaches 12

2 Well-being and Other Challenges to Conventional Understandings of Welfare 36

3 Classic Political Philosophies of Welfare 61

4 The State and Public Welfare 84

5 Securing Material Welfare through the Market and the State 111

6 The Personal and Social Relations of Welfare 134

7 Conclusion 154

Notes 161

References 169

Index 189

About the Author

Mary Daly is Professor of Sociology at Queen's University, Belfast.

Reviews

"This is a must-read book for those for whom welfare and social policy are, or should be, synonymous."
Social Policy & Administration

"Daly provides a philosophical and sociological overview that makes this little book the new touchstone for the study of social policy everywhere."
Labour / Le Travail

"Mary Daly's lucidly written book analyses the core ideological and philosophical debates about welfare and also explores 'welfare in practice' - how welfare policies are actually delivered through the different mediums of the state, the market and the family. This is a truly excellent introduction to a complex and contested concept, and student will benefit enormously from reading it."
Nick Ellison, University of Leeds

"The welfare state is everywhere under attack. Academics respond with new accounts of how welfare is to be understood in a world of migration, recession, escalating inequality, make-work-pay and volatile families. This book provides an energetic review of an exciting and uncertain world."
Peter Taylor-Gooby, University of Kent