Skip to product information
1 of 1

Women, Work and the Everyday Politics of Welfare

Regular price $41.95
Regular price $41.95 Sale price $41.95
Sold out
The restructuring of the welfare state in the UK has marked a significant change in the way contemporary society is ordered and understood. This research monograph explores the implications of this...
Read More
  • 26 August 2025
View Product Details

The restructuring of the welfare state in the UK has marked a significant change in the way contemporary society is ordered and understood. This research monograph explores the implications of this restructuring for women and their attachments to unpaid care, paid work and activism over time.

Drawing on longitudinal research involving ethnographic and narrative inquiry in the south Wales Valleys, the contribution attends to the everyday politics of welfare through its rhetorical imaginings, the practices of street level workers and across the interactions of women themselves.

Immersive and critical, the account provides valuable insights for our understanding of welfare restructuring and the future development of the welfare state.

files/i.png Icon
Price: $41.95
Pages: 176
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Imprint: Policy Press
Series: Civil Society and Social Change
Publication Date: 26 August 2025
ISBN: 9781447353645
Format: Paperback
BISACs: POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civics & Citizenship, Civics and citizenship, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, Sociology: work and labour, Gender studies: women and girls
REVIEWS Icon
“This is an important book, providing a rarely heard perspective on women's lives and deindustrialisation in contemporary South Wales. Through detailed observations and local voices, we gain an understanding of life as it is lived on the edge. Here, where welfare, poverty and insecurity are ever present, we hear laughter and feel a sense of determination.” Huw Beynon, Cardiff University
Helen Blakely is Research Associate at the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff University.

1. Introduction

2. The policy story

3. The Valleys

4. A space for activism

5. The girls

6. The interview

7. The working activists

8. Solidarities

9. Trajectories

10. Conclusion