Empowerment and control in the Australian welfare state: a critical analysis of Australian social policy since 1972

This book explores the tensions between the competing social rights and social control functions of the modern Australian welfare state. By critically examining the history and rhetoric of the Australian welfare state from 1972 to the present day, and using the author's long-standing research o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mendes, Philip 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: London ; New York Routledge 2019
Series:Social welfare around the world
Subjects:
Online Access:DE-863
DE-862
Volltext
Summary:This book explores the tensions between the competing social rights and social control functions of the modern Australian welfare state. By critically examining the history and rhetoric of the Australian welfare state from 1972 to the present day, and using the author's long-standing research on the Australian Council of Social Service and other welfare advocacy groups, it analyses the transformation from rights-based to conditional welfare. The Labor Party Government from 1972-75 is identified as the only clear cut example of Australia positively using welfare payments and services as an instrument to promote greater social equity, inclusion and participation. Since the mid-1970s, the Australian welfare state has gradually retreated from the social rights agenda conceived by the Whitlam Government. Australia has followed other Anglo-Saxon countries in adopting increasingly conditional and paternalistic measures that undermine the protection of social citizenship outside the labour market. In contrast, this text makes the case for an alternative participatory and decentralized welfare state model that would prioritize social care by empowering and supporting welfare service users at a local community level. This book will be of interest to academics, students and policy-makers working within social policy, social work and political sociology
Physical Description:1 Online Ressource (ix, 244 Seiten)
ISBN:9781315207810
1315207818
9781351801768
1351801767
9781351801775
1351801775
9781351801782
1351801783
DOI:10.4324/9781315207810