Young, the Old and the State

Edited by Anneli Anttonen, Professor of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland, John Baldock, Professor of Social Policy, University of Kent, UK and Jorma Sipilä, Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Tampere, Finland

'This book, edited by three well-known and widely respected academics reflects the diversity of social care while simultaneously striving to identify common patterns, trends and underpinning philosophies. It makes an important new contribution to understanding why patterns of social care differ between and within countries, and the consequences of these variations. In explaining contemporary patterns of social care for children and older people in the countries studied, the contributors turn to historical accounts to explain the current apparent lack of coherence. Underpinning the diverse patterns of social care development are the transformation of social care from a private good to a public commodity; tensions between universality and selectivity; and new tensions between individual rights and family responses. As well as providing detailed and up to the minute accounts of the different care systems in the countries studied, this book makes a major new contribution to our understanding of the complex and conflicting pressures underlying post-industrial welfare states.'

• Contents: 1. The Importance of Social Care Jorma Sipilä, Anneli Anttonen and John Baldock2. Social Care in Finland: Stronger and Weaker Forms of Universalism Teppo Kröger, Anneli Anttonen and Jorma Sipilä3. Social Care Services for Children and Older People in Germany: Distinct and Separate Histories Adalbert Evers and Christoph Sachße4. Care for Children and Older People in Japan: Modernizing the Traditional Mutsuko Takahashi5. Social Care in the United Kingdom: A Pattern of Discretionary Social Administration John Baldock6. Care for Children and Older People in the United States: Laggard or Merely Different? Joseph Heffernan7. Patterns of Social Care in Five Industrial Societies: Explaining Diversity Anneli Anttonen, Jorma Sipilä and John BaldockIndex