I3 Welfare and Poverty

摘要

ISHKANIAN, ARMINE AND SZRETER, SlMON, eds. The Big Society Debate: A New Agenda for Social Welfare? Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, Mass.: Elgar, 2012. Pp. x, 227. $29.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-78100-207-0, cloth; 978-1-78100-222-3, pbk. Fourteen papers explore the Big Society agenda from the perspectives of history, policy, and practice, and consider its role in social welfare. Papers discuss "Big Society" and "Great Society"-a problem in the history of ideas; Britain's social welfare provision in the long run-the importance of accountable, well-financed local government; Big Society, legal structures, Poor Law, and the myth of a voluntary society; mutual aid and the Big Society; Big Society and the National Citizen Service-young people, volunteering, and engagement with charities circa 1900-1960; charities, voluntary organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in Britain since 1945; charity and Big Society; "Big Society" as a rhetorical intervention; funding and the Big Society; government, foundations, and Big Society; whether we can "nudge" citizens toward more civic action; the Big Society and volunteering-ambitions and expectations; European perspectives on the Big Society agenda; and the move from "shock therapy" to Big Society-lessons from the post-socialist transitions. Ishkanian is Lecturer in NGOs and Development at the London School of Economics. Szreter is Professor of History and Public Policy and University of Cambridge Fellow at St. John's College, University of Cambridge. Bibliography; index.