Globalization and Social Policy

'This book exhibits the characteristics of all good social policy texts. It is fired by a commitment to welfare. It is informed by extensive multidisciplinary scholarship. It debunks fashionable myths. Nicola Yeates argues convincingly that while globalization in its many manifestations and dimensions (economic, cultural and political) has to be built into the analytical framework used by social policy scholars, globalizing pressures are not immutable nor guaranteed success in overriding local and national social and political forces... . Essential reading on all social policy courses'- Bob Deacon, Professor of Social Policy, University of Sheffield/STAKES, Finland 'Many social scientists have not yet woken up to the fact that globalization has transformed the nature of social policy. The severity and the causes of many problems are harder to pin down; research and teaching programmes have to be re-cast. This book offers a penetrating assessment of the changes that have to be made'- Peter Townsend, Professor of International Social Policy, LSE This timely textbook critically evaluates the relevance and implications of globalisation in relation to both the academic study of social policy and social welfare provision. Globalisation and Social Policy: * Examines the implications of globalization for social policy analysis and provision * Analyses how social policies and politics contribute to and shape globalizing strategies * Argues that the degree to which globalization gives rise to systematic changes in the funding, regulation and provision of welfare has been overestimated and * Demonstrates that national and local forces remain decisive in understanding the development of social policy Globalization and Social Policy provides an invaluable guide to the expanding field. It provides a refreshing antidote to 'victorious' and `defeatist' accounts of globalization and its implications for social welfare, and argues that politics matter now as much as they ever did. It will be welcomed by all students of social policy, and will also be of interest to other social science students engaged in issues of globalization.