Sheila Shaver

First published in 1997, this report examines the classic social policy question of whether pensions should be paid only to those with relatively few other resources, so that scarce funds go to the people who need them most, or whether it is more just, and pensions are more willingly funded, when everyone can expect to get one in their turn. Since the 1980s, the scale of social expenditure has come into question in most advanced industrial nations. The large shar of this expenditure devoted to the support of the aged, amidst growing numbers of old and very old people, has put age pensions at the centre of this discussion. Sheila Shaver examines this classic question in a comparative analysis of income support in six countries, drawing on data from the Luxembourg Income Study and the International Social Survey Programme. The statistical studies are embedded in a discussion of social policy and citizenship; need, poverty and social cohesion; and the structure and restructuring of welfare states.

First published in 1997, this report examines the classic social policy question of whether pensions should be paid only to those with relatively few other resources, so that scarce funds go to the people who need them most, or whether it is more just, and pensions are more willingly funded, when everyone can expect to get one in their turn. Since the 1980s, the scale of social expenditure has come into question in most advanced industrial nations. The large shar of this expenditure devoted to the support of the aged, amidst growing numbers of old and very old people, has put age pensions at the centre of this discussion. Sheila Shaver examines this classic question in a comparative analysis of income support in six countries, drawing on data from the Luxembourg Income Study and the International Social Survey Programme. The statistical studies are embedded in a discussion of social policy and citizenship; need, poverty and social cohesion; and the structure and restructuring of welfare states.

Jean Martin was a pioneer of sociology, inventing a version of the discipline that was uniquely suited to Australia in the post-war period. Jean Isobel Martin (1923–79) made herself a sociologist before the discipline was established in Australia. Regarded as the founding mother of Australian sociology, her writing, teaching and policy helped shape Australia in the period of economic growth and social development that followed World War II. The Martin Presence examines her work across the prevailing concerns of the time – the needs of country towns, the factory work floor, families and urban structure, poverty and inequality, education and immigration – and explores her farreaching influence on the study of social sciences in Australia.

The 1990s have seen dramatic restructuring of state social provision in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. This has occurred largely because of the rise of market liberalism, which challenges the role of the state. This important book examines the impact of changes in social policy regimes on gender roles and relations. Structured thematically and systematically comparative, it analyses three key policy areas: labor markets, income maintenance and reproductive rights. Largely driven by issues of equality, it considers the role of the state as a site for gender and sexual politics at a time when primacy is given to the market, developing an argument about social citizenship in the process. Eminent scholars in the field, Julia O’Connor, Ann Orloff and Sheila Shaver make a landmark contribution to debates about social policy and gender relations in this era of economic restructuring and deregulation.

The 1990s have seen dramatic restructuring of state social provision in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. This has occurred largely because of the rise of market liberalism, which challenges the role of the state. This important book examines the impact of changes in social policy regimes on gender roles and relations. Structured thematically and systematically comparative, it analyses three key policy areas: labor markets, income maintenance and reproductive rights. Largely driven by issues of equality, it considers the role of the state as a site for gender and sexual politics at a time when primacy is given to the market, developing an argument about social citizenship in the process. Eminent scholars in the field, Julia O’Connor, Ann Orloff and Sheila Shaver make a landmark contribution to debates about social policy and gender relations in this era of economic restructuring and deregulation.