Throughout the world, governments are restructuring social and welfare provision to give a stronger role to opportunity, aspiration and individual responsibility, and to competition, markets and consumer choice. This approach centres on a logic of individual rational action: people are the best judges of what serves their own interests and government should give them as much freedom of choice as possible. The UK has gone further than any other major European country in reform and provides a useful object lesson. This book analyses the pressures on social citizenship from changes in work and the family, political actors, population ageing, and the processes within government in the relentless international process of globalization that have shaped the response. It examines the various social science approaches to agency and argues that the logic of rational action is able to explain how reciprocity arises and is sustained but offers a weak foundation for social inclusion and social trust. It will only sustain part of the welfare state. A detailed assessment of empirical evidence shows how the outcomes of the new policy framework correspond to its theoretical strengths and limitations. Reforms have achieved considerable success in delivering mass services efficiently. They are much less successful in redistributing to more vulnerable low income groups and in maintaining public trust in the structure of provision. The risk is that mistrustful and disquieted voters may be unwilling to support high spending on health care, pensions and other benefits at a time when they are most needed. In short, the reform programme was undertaken for excellent reasons in a difficult international context, but risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Reframing the Curriculum is a practical, hands-on guide to weaving the concepts of healthy communities, democratic societies, and social justice into academic disciplines. Developed for future and practicing teachers, this volume is perfect for teacher education courses in instructional design, social foundations, and general education, as well as for study in professional learning communities. The author outlines the philosophies, movements, and narratives shaping the future, both in and out of classrooms, and then challenges readers to consider the larger story and respond with curriculum makeovers that engage students in solving problems in their schools, communities, and the larger world. The book’s proven method for designing units gives educators across grades and disciplines the tools to bring sustainability and social justice into experiential, project-based instructional approaches. Pedagogical features include: Specific examples and templates that offer readers a framework for reworking their units and courses while meeting required standards and incorporating innovative classroom practices. Activities and discussion questions that bring the content to life and establish ties with the curriculum. eResources, including a Facilitator’s Guide, offering examples of fully developed units created with this model and an editable template for redesigning existing units.

This book presents a socio-legal examination of national and devolved-level developments in social protection in the UK, through the eyes of politicians and officials at the heart of this process. Since its inception in 1998, devolution has altered the character of the UK welfare state, with dramatic change in the 10 years since 2010. A decade of austerity at national level has exposed diverging view in how governments in London, Edinburgh and Belfast view the social rights of citizenship. This political divide has implications for both social security law, as the devolved countries begin to flex their muscles in this key area for citizens' economic welfare, and the constitutional settlement. The book reflects on the impact of austerity, the referendum on Scottish independence and subsequent changes to the devolution settlement, Northern Ireland's hesitant moves away from parity with Westminster in social protection, withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit), and the possible retreat from austerity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The social union may or may not be weakening; its character is unquestionably changing, and the book lays bare the ideological and pragmatic considerations driving legal developments. TH Marshall's theory of citizenship provides the lens through which these processes are viewed, while itself being reinterpreted in light of the national government's increasing delegation of responsibility for social rights – whether to individuals, the voluntary sector or lower tiers of government.

Exploring the lived realities of both poverty and prosperity in the UK, this book examines the material and symbolic significance of welfare austerity and its implications for social citizenship and inequality. The book offers a rare and vivid insight into the everyday lives, attitudes and behaviours of the rich as well as the poor, demonstrating how those marginalised and validated by the existing welfare system make sense of the prevailing socio-political settlement and their own position within it. Through the testimonies of both affluent and deprived citizens, the book problematises dominant policy thinking surrounding the functions and limits of welfare, examining the civic attitudes and engagements of the rich and the poor, to demonstrate how welfare austerity and rising structural inequalities secure and maintain institutional legitimacy. The book offers a timely contribution to academic and policy debates pertaining to citizenship, welfare reform and inequality.

States have historically led in rights expansion for marginalized populations and remain leaders today on the rights of undocumented immigrants.

Neoliberal reforms have seen a radical shift in government thinking about social citizenship rights around the world. But have they had a similarly significant impact on public support for these rights? This unique book traces public views on social citizenship across three decades through attitudinal data from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. It argues that support for some aspects of social citizenship diminished more significantly under some political regimes than others, and that limited public resistance following the financial crisis of 2008-2009 further suggests the public ‘rolled over’ and accepted these neoliberal values. Yet attitudinal variances across different policy areas challenge the idea of an omnipotent neoliberalism, providing food for thought for academics, students and advocates wishing to galvanise support for social citizenship in the 21st century.