Social Policy

Fiona Williams is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Leeds.

Joint Winner of the 2023 Peter Townsend Prize of the British Academy‘Fiona Williams has been a vital force in developing critical approaches to social policy. This book brilliantly consolidates and advances our thinking about welfare and welfare states – and does so in a typically subtle and stimulating way. A must-read!’John Clarke, Emeritus Professor, The Open University‘Breathtaking in its scope, Social Policy sets a challenging analytical and ethical agenda for social policy as a discipline and a praxis. And it contains important messages for all who seek to “build back better” from COVID-19.’Ruth Lister, Member of the House of Lords and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University‘Social Policy successfully marries critical and intersectional approaches to reveal the multiplicity of socio-economic inequalities and the ways in which they interlock... The book is strongly committed to humanity, social justice and welfare and is driven by a call for a radical paradigm change in welfare principles, praxis and governance, leading to transformational improvements in people’s lives.’Judging Panel of the British Academy’s 2023 Peter Townsend Prize

• 1. IntroductionPART I ORIENTATION2. A Critical and Intersectional Approach to Social Policy3. Intersecting Global Crises and Dynamics of Family, Nation, Work, and Nature: a framework for analysisPART II ANALYSIS4. Un/Settling Family-Nation-Work-Nature: from austerity to pandemic 5. The Social Relations of Welfare: subjects, agents, activists6. Intersections in the Transnational, Social and Political Economy of CarePART III PRAXIS7. Towards an Eco-Welfare Commons: intersections of political ethics and prefigurative practices 8. Conclusion: multi-dimensional thinking for social policyAppendix I Elaborating Family-Nation-Work-Nature and Welfare Appendix II Situating the Author within Social Policy