Welfare Rights and Social Policy provides an introduction to social policy through a discussion of welfare rights, which are explored in historical, comparative and critical context. At a time when the cause of human rights is high on the global political agendathe authorasks why the status of welfare rights as an element of human rights remains ambiguous. Rights to social security, employment, housing, education, health and social care are critical to human well-being. Yet they are invariably subordinate to the civil and political rights of citizenship, they are often fragile and difficult to enforce, and because of their conditional nature they may be implicated in the social control of individual behaviour.

An essential introduction to rights-based approaches in social policy, this text critically explores how social rights underpin human wellbeing. It discusses social rights as rights of citizenship in developed welfare states and as an essential component within the international human rights and human development agenda. It provides a valuable introduction for students and researchers in social policy and related applied social science, public policy, sociology, socio-legal studies and social development fields. Taking an international perspective, the first part of the book considers how social rights can be understood and critiqued in theory – discussing ideas around citizenship, human needs and human rights, collective responsibility and ethical imperatives. The second part of the book looks at social rights in practice, providing a comparative examination of their development globally, before looking more specifically at rights to livelihood, human services and housing as well as ways in which these rights can be implemented and enforced. The final section re-evaluates prevailing debates about rights-based approaches to poverty alleviation and outlines possible future directions. The book provides a comprehensive overview of social rights in theory and practice. It questions recent developments in social policy. It challenges certain dominant ideas concerning the basis of human rights. It seeks to re-frame our understanding of social rights as the articulation of human needs and presents a radical new 'post-Marshallian' theory of human rights.

The Battle for Welfare Rights chronicles an American war on poverty fought first and foremost by poor people themselves. It tells the fascinating story of the National Welfare Rights Organization, the largest membership organization of low-income people in U.S. history. It sets that story in the context of its turbulent times, the 1960s and early 1970s, and shows how closely tied that story was to changes in mainstream politics, both nationally and locally in New York City.Welfare was one of the most hotly contested issues in postwar America. Bolstered by the accomplishments of the civil rights movement, NWRO members succeeded in focusing national attention on the needs of welfare recipients, especially single mothers. At its height, the NWRO had over 20,000 members, most of whom were African American women and Latinas, organized into more than 500 local chapters. These women transformed the agenda of the civil rights movement and forged new coalitions with middleclass and white allies. To press their case for reform, they used tactics that ranged from demonstrations, sit-ins, and other forms of civil disobedience to legislative lobbying and lawsuits against government officials.Historian Felicia Kornbluh illuminates the ideas of poor women and men as well as their actions. One of the primary goals of the NWRO was a guaranteed income for every adult American. In part because of their advocacy, this idea had a surprising range of supporters, from conservative economist Milton Friedman to liberal presidential candidate George McGovern. However, by the middle 1970s, as Kornbluh shows, Republicans and conservative Democrats had turned the proposal and its proponents into laughingstocks.The Battle for Welfare Rights offers new insight into women's activism, poverty policy, civil rights, urban politics, law, consumerism, social work, and the rise of modern conservatism. It tells, for the first time, the complete story of a movement that profoundly affected the meaning of citizenship and the social contract in the United States.

At a time when the future of the welfare state is the object of heated debate in many European countries, this edited collection explores the relationship between this institution and social rights. Structured around the themes of the politics of social rights, questions of equality and social exclusion/inclusion, and the increasing impact of market imperatives on social policy, the book explores the effect of transformations in the welfare state upon social rights and their underlying rationalities and logics. Written by a group of international scholars, many of the essays discuss a number of urgent and topical issues within social policy, including: the social rights of asylum seekers; the increasing marketization and consumerization of public welfare services; the care of the elderly; and the obligation to work as a condition of access to welfare benefits. International in its scope, and interdisciplinary in its approach, this collection of essays will appeal to scholars and students working in the fields of law and socio-legal studies, sociology, social policy, and politics. It will also be of interest to policy makers and all those engaged in the debate over the future of the welfare state and social rights.

This book is designed specifically for the new A, AS Levels and AVCE in Social Policy, Sociology, and Health and Social Care. It is widely used by students progressing to further study. It covers all the main areas of Social Welfare, including classic themes and debates, and the New Labour approach to social policy and social welfare provision. It is supported throughout by topic revision features and self-test opportunities to aid learning.

The welfare rights movement was an interracial protest movement of poor women on AFDC who demanded reform of welfare policy, greater respect and dignity, and financial support to properly raise and care for their children. In short, they pushed for a right to welfare. Lasting from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s, the welfare rights movement crossed political boundaries, fighting simultaneously for women's rights, economic justice, and black women's empowerment through welfare assistance. Its members challenged stereotypes, engaged in Congressional debates, and developed a sophisticated political analysis that combined race, class, gender, and culture, and crafted a distinctive, feminist, anti-racist politics rooted in their experiences as poor women of color. The Welfare Rights Movement provides a short, accessible overview of this important social and political movement, highlighting key events and key figures, the movement's strengths and weaknesses, and how it intersected with other social and political movements of the itme, as well as its lasting effect on the country. It is perfect for anyone wanting to obtain an introduction to the welfare rights movement of the twentieth century.

This book examines the conceptual, historical and practical implications that various social policies in the United States have had on ethnic minorities.