BU Research Blog

It’s with great pleasure that I can announce the publication in paperback of my book Analysing the History of British Social Welfare. This book represents the result of many years of scholarship and learning and teaching in this area. It charts the development of welfare as an integral ingredient within the human condition as evidenced by the prehistorical record, but also as a means of coercion and control that the powerful exert over others. This power operates through the unspoken discourses underlying society, in the daily practices of individuals, organisations and State resulting in the demonisation of people reliant on benefits and the self-justification of those not reliant on welfare assistance. The book negotiates a difficult path through the central need for compassion and care for fellow human beings and the socio-political control stemming from the construction of tropes demarcating people as deserving or undeserving.