Welfare Rights and Social Policy provides an introduction to social policy through a discussion of welfare rights, which are explored in historical, comparative and critical context.

At a time when the cause of human rights is high on the global political agendathe authorasks why the status of welfare rights as an element of human rights remains ambiguous. Rights to social security, employment, housing, education, health and social care are critical to human well-being. Yet they are invariably subordinate to the civil and political rights of citizenship, they...

This second edition of a widely-respected textbook is one of the few resources available to provide an overview of human need, as a key concept in the social sciences. Accessible and engaging, it models existing practical and theoretical approaches to human need while also proposing a radical alternative.