Postmodern Welfare: Reconstructing an Emancipatory Project

This volume explains the significance of postmodernism for understanding social welfare. The author provides readers with a relevant and authoritative guide to postmodern welfare since the last two decades have witnessed a sustained assault on the Keynesian "welfare state". Throughout the West governments have sought to replace the post-war welfare compact with neo-conservative individualism which has championed reduced taxation, increased profitability, market competitiveness and minimal residual public services. The alternatives for the Left - for feminists, socialists, those struggling against racism and for minority cultural rights - look bleak. Postmodernism appears to have compounded the problem by questioning the validity of a mass politics of emancipation based upon universal values of justice, reason and progress. Leonard develops a particular reading of the impact of postmodernism in a number of areas of social theory and political practice. His aim is to consider how positive and creative thinking about welfare can be reconstructed.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Argument Subject Culture Organization Economy Politics

About the Author :
Peter Leonard, Professor at the School of Social Work at McGill University, Canada, and was previously Professor of Applied Social Sciences, University of Warwick, UK. He has written extensively on social theory and social welfare, and is the author of five books, including Social Work Practice Under Capitalism (with Paul Corrig, Macmillan, 1978); and Personality and Ideology (Macmillan, 1984).

Review :
`Postmodern Welfare is a richly textured and multi-layered book which is going to make a significant contribution to the history of ideas′ - International Social Work `This is an original and challenging book about the prospects for welfare in the context of a postmodern global economy. In a searching analysis, Peter Leonard raises key questions about the ways in which the Left might respond to this context through a reflexive politics of resistance. In so doing, he charts a careful course towards reconstructing an emancipatory project for welfare, a course which rejects both the sceptical pessimism of much postmodernist thought and the utopian optimism which characterised much traditional Left politics. The book deserves to be read widely and to be actively debated by all those committed to the development of human welfare in progressive directions′ - John Harris, University of Warwick `Postmodern Welfare will be indispensable in re-situating the stalled politics of the welfare state′ - Geoffrey Pearson, Goldsmith College, University of London ′Peter Leonard′s book is a major achievement, providing a long overdue assessment of the debate on modernity and welfare. The study combines social theory with a keen sense of history, producing a unique and innovative text relevant to a wide range of disciplines′ - Chris Phillipson, Social Policy Association affil to check in pick `Leonard′s book is useful for its discussion on the implications of postmodernism for human well-being....his attempt to harness the potential of popular social movements to engage in effective activism is an interesting one. It is one of the few coherent explications not only of how postmodernism can provide a normative basis for social welfare but how activism can be kept alive in a world which is increasing indifferent to human suffering, social causes and collective action. It remains to be seen whether his ideas and prognostications will be translated into a viable emancipatory project′ - Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare