German Angst in a liberalised world of welfare capitalism: the hidden problem with post-conservative welfare policies

This chapter provides an understanding of the emotional states of those experiencing welfare retrenchment. According to a widespread reading, Germany, subsequent to the financial crisis of the late 2000s, has seen a stunning comeback as a social model allowing for both a booming economy and generous welfare provision. However, in the recent past Germany has been facing a social crisis that is poorly understood in both the public debate and major contributions to welfare policy analysis. This crisis refers to the hostile reaction of parts of the population to the massive immigration of refugees starting in 2015, and is indicative of a more deep-seated transformation of Germany's social model — namely its creeping liberalisation. This transformation comes with a hidden problem, that is, emotional states of fear — or a new ‘German Angst’ — engendered by both path-breaking welfare reforms and a ‘de-securitised’ life course.

Maternal imprisonment: a family sentence

This chapter critiques the ways in which penal arrangements remain prisoner-centric and fail to acknowledge a women's maternal status and familial responsibilities. Viewing these women in isolation from their maternal status fails to recognise how they are embedded in social and familial networks, relationships, and responsibilities, and generally perform a primary caregiving role to their dependent children. Not only does this have implications for female prisoners as they attempt to remain connected to motherhood, but it also has a substantial effect on the large number of innocent children and family members left behind during maternal imprisonment. Prisoners' children have been called the ‘hidden victims of imprisonment’ and the ‘orphans of justice’ because they, and their family members, are continually disregarded within the political and policy sphere, academic studies, and society more generally.

Controlling migration: the gender implications of work-related conditions in restricting rights to residence and to social benefits1

This concluding chapter looks at the debate on migration and so-called ‘benefit tourism’ from an explicit gender perspective, an often overlooked aspect in the debate. It examines how the aim of controlling migration led to the introduction of work-related conditions for benefit receipt that have restricted migrants' access to rights of residence and entitlement to social benefits in the UK. The emphasis on a particular relationship of migrants to the labour market privileges the high-income and continuously employed migrant worker, thus reinforcing women's risk of exclusion from access to social rights. Debates on so-called benefit tourism are thus not only misplaced, since access to income-related benefits is highly restricted in relation to work, but that the restrictions on migrants' access to rights and resources have strong gendered effects as regards who is excluded.

The whys and wherefores of Brexit

This introductory chapter examines the ‘whys and wherefores of Brexit’, considering not just the political roots of the referendum result but also its complex social and economic roots. The analysis suggests that although voters were largely influenced by a narrow range of core issues — notably the impact of rising net migration, anxieties about sovereignty and fears about the trajectory of the UK economy — these concerns may in turn have been provoked by two factors. First, labour markets became increasingly ‘flexible’ and less secure as a result of globalisation, and, second, this insecurity was compounded by the significant tilt towards ‘austerity’ in the period after 2010. This latter factor, in particular, had an immediate negative impact on the living standards of the most deprived groups in the UK and on the public services upon which they depend.

Jumping the queue? How a focus on health tourism as benefit fraud misses much of the medical tourism story

This chapter analyses ‘health tourism’ as a specific form of alleged benefit fraud. Medical tourism takes place when individuals opt to travel overseas with the primary intention of receiving medical treatment. As such, it can be thought of as a type of patient or ‘consumer’ mobility in which individuals travel outside their country of residence for the consumption of health care services. More recently, media coverage of medical tourism has adopted the narrative of benefit fraud or exploitation, with tourists either purposely or unwittingly accessing care they are not entitled to or not paying for that which they are required to pay. This issue has proven particularly incendiary, prompting formal responses from the government. In the lead up to and aftermath of the UK's EU referendum, the issue played a central role in wider discussions around migration and the free movement of individuals across Europe.

Rethinking deservingness, choice and gratitude in emergency food provision

This chapter focuses on the discourses around deservingness, choice, and gratitude in emergency food provision. As foodbank use has risen, the idea that more people are using foodbanks due to their availability has become a popular one within some sections of the mass media and the government. People accessing a foodbank are then perceived as the ‘undeserving poor’, seeking out free food so that they can spend their money on ‘luxury’ items such as alcohol, cigarettes, and large televisions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this political rhetoric has had a strong influence on beliefs about foodbank use and deservingness, and can lead to stigma, shame, and embarrassment for the people who need to use them. In reality, people are largely using foodbanks as a last resort, due to factors such as benefit delays, sanctions, debt, and low pay.

Confronting Brexit and Trump: towards a socially progressive globalisation

This chapter analyses the connections between Donald Trump and Brexit, particularly the role and nature of globalisation and related economic changes, asking how a socially progressive form of globalisation might respond to the challenges laid down by these two seismic political victories. The results of the UK's referendum on EU membership and the US presidential election in 2016 have caused many commentators to re-evaluate the assumptions of neoliberal globalisation. Trump's election, in particular, poses a challenge not only to neoliberal economics, but also to liberal democratic politics and the rule of law — both domestically and internationally. The chapter then argues for an alternative vision to that of neoliberal globalisation on the one hand, and a resort to reactionary nationalism on the other: a clear commitment to tackle the gross inequalities that have characterised the period of neoliberal globalisation and to work towards socially just forms of global governance.

Workers on tap but income drying up? The potential implications for incomes and social protection of the ‘gig economy’

This chapter explores the issues on labour market and the tax and benefit system, focusing in particular on the rise of the so-called ‘on-demand economy’ or ‘gig economy’. Encompassing the image of the ‘gig’ — a sought after opportunity to perform and earn an income — the term seeks to capture a whole series of employment practices. From well-publicised activities such as those of Uber, the on-demand taxi app, to online marketplaces such as Etsy and accommodation platforms like Airbnb, there has been an increase in small-scale entrepreneurship. Ultimately, the rise in on-demand employment offers a number of challenges for the design and implementation of both social protection for the relief of poverty and efforts to prevent poverty. The chapter then studies similarities between the language of the ‘on-demand’ economy and the re-emergence of moralistic and pathological accounts of poverty.

Beyond ‘evidence-based policy’ in a ‘post-truth’ world: the role of ideas in public health policy

This chapter discusses the role of ideas in policy making. The existence of conflicts between evidence-based and ideological approaches to politically contentious issues is widely recognised. However, for policy issues — such as public health — in which there seems to be rather more of a consensus about the overarching objectives, it seems less obvious how or why ‘politics’ might obstruct the use of evidence within policy making. Indeed, the majority of civil servants and politicians in a post-1997 UK context have signed up to taking an evidence-based approach to improving population health and reducing health inequalities. The existence of such a cross-sector consensus suggests that public heath might be one area in which evidence-based policy and practice are feasible. Yet, disappointingly, most assessments of public health policies continue to conclude that they are not evidence-based. A popular explanation for this disjuncture is that it results from communicative, institutional, and cultural gaps between researchers and policy makers.

Revolutionary times? The changing landscape of prisoner resettlement

This chapter looks at how the extended period of fiscal readjustment has changed the landscape of the prisons system, with new providers, new governance mechanisms, and promises of radical reform. However, no policy sphere operates in isolation, and reforms and cutbacks to important provision in other areas of social policy — particularly housing and social security — have affected the progress of criminal justice reform agendas. Two features of the changing social security landscape over the past decade are worthy of note to set the scene for an exploration of a social security policy targeted at prisoners. The first is a ‘deepening’ and ‘widening’ of the obligation to work, from which only a minority are excused, and the second is a commitment to conditionality, interweaving support with discipline in the form of financial sanctions.