Welfare Policy from Below: Struggles Against Social Exclusion in Europe

Newly available in paperback, this is a revised edition of Heinz Steinert and Arno Pilgram's important contribution to the debate on the future of European social security and welfare. Invigorating and informative, the book puts forward a new form of 'social exclusion knowledge', comprising an innovative conceptual and theoretical framework and a comparative empirical study of eight European cities, from Bologna to Stockholm.The authors argue that social security and welfare must provide the infrastructure for the coping strategies of those in danger of being excluded. The case studies featured in this volume focus on a range of problems associated with exclusion, including discussions of poverty, housing, work, neighbourhoods, migration, gender equality and the family. These are considered in the context of different European welfare regimes.This edition features a substantive new foreword bringing the book up to date in terms of recent developments in welfare policy and in social exclusion theory.

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