Jane Lewis – författare

Published in 1998. Social provision in all European countries has faced increasing scrutiny during the 1990s. Focusing on gendered aspects of welfare state restructuring, each contributor examines the way in which the welfare state of his or her country has been restructed over the past decade, concentrating on services for elderly people and for children. Each chapter outlines the shifts in the mixed economy of welfare and describes the degree to which there has been greater decentralization moves towards a different style of public management or the introduction of market principles. The changes in the provision of services for elderly people and children is described for the same period. Finally, women''s position as paid providers of services, as unpaid carers and as recipients of services is analyzed. This book investigates the idea that the move towards "marketization" in many countries is having a disproportionately detrimental effect on women whose leverage on the market tends to be weak.

Published in 1998. Social provision in all European countries has faced increasing scrutiny during the 1990s. Focusing on gendered aspects of welfare state restructuring, each contributor examines the way in which the welfare state of his or her country has been restructed over the past decade, concentrating on services for elderly people and for children. Each chapter outlines the shifts in the mixed economy of welfare and describes the degree to which there has been greater decentralization moves towards a different style of public management or the introduction of market principles. The changes in the provision of services for elderly people and children is described for the same period. Finally, women''s position as paid providers of services, as unpaid carers and as recipients of services is analyzed. This book investigates the idea that the move towards "marketization" in many countries is having a disproportionately detrimental effect on women whose leverage on the market tends to be weak.

First published in 1989, The Goals of Social Policy is an invaluable text that will give students an admirable introduction to the central concerns of the study of social policy. It asks what have been the traditional concerns of social policy as a subject of academic study, and what its context should be in the changed political environment of twenty-first century. Three issues receive close attention for their future implications: social policy and the family (focusing on gender), social policy and community (including race and public order issues) and social policy and the economy. Retrospective chapters examine the relationship between social policy and social research, social theory and social work.

The book will appeal particularly to students of social policy, social work, sociology and political science, as well as to those in applied fields such as criminology, health studies, education and women’s studies with interests in social policy. It will also appeal to the general reader interested in keeping abreast of the latest thinking about social policy.

First published in 1989, The Goals of Social Policy is an invaluable text that will give students an admirable introduction to the central concerns of the study of social policy. It asks what have been the traditional concerns of social policy as a subject of academic study, and what its context should be in the changed political environment of twenty-first century. Three issues receive close attention for their future implications: social policy and the family (focusing on gender), social policy and community (including race and public order issues) and social policy and the economy. Retrospective chapters examine the relationship between social policy and social research, social theory and social work.

The book will appeal particularly to students of social policy, social work, sociology and political science, as well as to those in applied fields such as criminology, health studies, education and women’s studies with interests in social policy. It will also appeal to the general reader interested in keeping abreast of the latest thinking about social policy.

In the 1980s, as the proportion of elderly people in the population grew steadily larger, the task of looking after them would fall increasingly on one group – daughters. The government, in promoting its move in social policy towards community care, had stated that ‘the family’ – which in practice meant women – must expect to provide the bulk of care in the future. But how do women feel about this? What impact does caring for others have on their own lives? How might professional helpers better support them?

Originally published in 1988, from in-depth interviews with daughters who have looked after their mothers for varying numbers of years, Jane Lewis and Barbara Meredith look at why it is that women come to care, and consider the legacy of their caring experiences. Because caring is usually a labour of love, the feelings that surround it are complicated and fraught with ambivalence. In analysing these Daughters Who Care explores the meaning of caring from the carer’s point of view, as well as examining the implications for professionals seeking to ‘support the supporters’.

Carers themselves and those working with them professionally or as volunteers, as well as students of community care, social policies for the elderly, and social psychology will all find this a stimulating approach to what is still an increasingly urgent issue.

In the 1980s, as the proportion of elderly people in the population grew steadily larger, the task of looking after them would fall increasingly on one group – daughters. The government, in promoting its move in social policy towards community care, had stated that ‘the family’ – which in practice meant women – must expect to provide the bulk of care in the future. But how do women feel about this? What impact does caring for others have on their own lives? How might professional helpers better support them?

Originally published in 1988, from in-depth interviews with daughters who have looked after their mothers for varying numbers of years, Jane Lewis and Barbara Meredith look at why it is that women come to care, and consider the legacy of their caring experiences. Because caring is usually a labour of love, the feelings that surround it are complicated and fraught with ambivalence. In analysing these Daughters Who Care explores the meaning of caring from the carer’s point of view, as well as examining the implications for professionals seeking to ‘support the supporters’.

Carers themselves and those working with them professionally or as volunteers, as well as students of community care, social policies for the elderly, and social psychology will all find this a stimulating approach to what is still an increasingly urgent issue.

There are a number of ways of approaching the study of social policy, the most common is perhaps the division by ‘service’. A different approach is by ‘group’. Another is first to isolate a concept – for example, social justice or equality – and then to relate it both to policies in a particular area and to particular groups. Originally published in 1983, Women''s Welfare, Women''s Rights opted explicitly for an amalgam of these strategies. The primary focus of this title is women as a group and most of the contributors, who work from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, take a particular policy area and try to see what is happening to women within it, concentrating chiefly on women’s experience in the family and in paid employment.

At the time opportunities for reading about women and social policy were limited so this book was intended to be helpful in redressing the balance. Today it can be read in its historical context.