as purveyors of welfare progressivity, and one that is also, globally, relatively limited in terms of geographical expanse and depth of intervention, it is not surprising that the provision of welfare is largely undertaken by non-state actors, even in countries with the longest-established formal institutions. The mixed economy of welfare characterizes all provision in all countries; what differs is the balance of activity, responsibility and obligation attributed to informal, state and market actors.
There is a substantial body of literature which explores ‘the family’ within the welfare mix, how families interact with wider informal means of welfare support and, related to this, the gendered operation of these activities in households, communities and the third sector. In the context of advanced economies, these studies necessarily account for the interaction between citizens and states, while in a development context the state is far less present and therefore the role of informal actors in care and welfare support is bound up with a focus on wider ‘household strategies’. Non-governmental welfare actors, agencies and organizations also have far greater involvement in modelling the welfare arrangements in the global South than the North, and the private sector too has a different shape depending on the extent to which states have the capacity to engage in regulatory and enabling policy making. It is well established that the boundaries between the state/market and third-sector actors are often blurred in practice, and in the contemporary global policy context these distinctions are becoming less and less clear. The CEOs of corporate giants such as Microsoft and Amazon, for example, are able to channel billions of dollars to charitable ventures which directly influence the nature of welfare provision and the ‘informal’ formation of policy goals in areas of health and security.
Discussion in this chapter has considered some of the universal themes which bind human commonalities in relation to welfare needs. It is clear that, as Titmuss (1974, p. 22) proposed when social policy study was in its academic infancy, social needs and problems are common, but they are approached differently in different times and places. The remaining chapters in this book seek to explore these commonalities and differences and to offer explanations for differentiation drawing on theoretical insight from a range of disciplines.
The chapters to follow are divided into two parts. The first part sets out three key frameworks of analysis used to understand and explain the shape (that is the design, development and outcomes) of social policy within the global context. These chapters draw on social scientific theories, concepts and themes developed across sociology, political science, political economy and economics that apply to the concerns of social policy and welfare states. Chapter 2 focuses specifically on the key historical problematic of social policy: inequality. This is because it is the existence and impact of inequalities and the political approach to these that shape the variety of policy responses to welfare needs. Chapter 3 considers ways of assessing difference and similarity in welfare arrangements in order to understand better their heritage, principles and survival. The final chapter in this section explores the mechanics of policy making in order to explain how things have been, and can be, done in the world of policy design and development.
The concerns of these chapters are also reflected in Part II. Here, not all chapters follow the same structure and they do not provide a systematic assessment across policy domains. This is because each chapter attempts to highlight key themes and issues that are most salient to the area, and most illustrative of the ways in which particular ideas, problems and processes affect policy development.
Part II focuses on a series of policy domains. These policy domains include what are sometimes referred to as the ‘five giants’ of post-war reconstruction, as identified by William Beveridge when he was tasked with assessing the provisions of the British welfare state in the early 1940s. This includes chapters on income security, work and employment, education, housing, and health. In addition to these domains of policy and service provision, we include two other areas of policy which are crucial to human welfare and social progress, but for various reasons are not always considered ‘core’ to the welfare state. There is a chapter on social care, which although not considered by British policy makers as a key element of societal rebuilding after the Second World War, is viewed through a very different lens in the twenty-first century. The term ‘social care’ is adopted for this chapter to distinguish the discussion of policy and provision from a wider consideration of the myriad dimensions of obligation and reciprocity in human relations that are inherent to the wider concept of ‘care’. Of course, these elements are also central to the operation of social care, but our distinction is one of perspective – the chapter is concerned with the mixed economy of care, that is, the ways in which the state, the market and people interact in the provision of care services. The final chapter in this section concerns environmental policy. Again, this is a policy domain which has been more generally associated with ‘public’ rather than ‘social’ policy, but again, the convergence of environmental concerns and social policy concerns in the modern world is such that the two areas are now inseparable.
The final chapter in this book has two purposes. Within a framework which foregrounds consideration of social change and continuity, the discussion draws together conclusions from the preceding chapters to identify the dominant themes. In addition to this, however, the chapter also reflects on the universal and particularistic dimensions of social policy and how these can shape a global understanding that assists in better exploring the world. It considers the general challenges and opportunities in the contemporary policy-making context and what they imply for the future development of social policy. There is much to be pessimistic about where the survival of state-supported welfare arrangements are concerned: the seeming triumph of markets over political processes; worsening inequalities within and between nations; a lack of welfare commitment on the part of governments; and the deterioration in public services through lack of funding and investment. What is clear from all the chapters is that the contemporary global ‘state of welfare’ is unsustainable for political, economic and moral reasons. However, even in ostensibly negative circumstances there is always possibility, and glimpses of this can also be discerned in many of the policy developments explored in the discussions to follow.
Inequalities and why they matter
This chapter expands on the themes in Chapter 1, exploring the particular importance of concerns about inequality and social justice for ideas of social policy. This represents a key theme for comparative analysis in that the salience of ideas about inequality in political debate influences differences between social policies across countries. The chapter will examine global and regional trends in inequality as well as the ways in which these spatial dimensions intersect with other forms of structural inequalities and social divisions in key areas of need satisfaction and measures of welfare. The chapter will consider the idea of inequality as it informs the range of policies in practice, and in policy discourse at national and supranational level, and will discuss the association of discourse and practice with the politics of welfare.
