Search results for ""Author Prue Chamberlayne""

This book explores the experiences of informal home carers in the different welfare systems of the former West Germany and East Germany, and Britain. It is innovative in using a biographical case study approach to compare caring situations and caring strategies in the three different societies. The detail and variety of the case studies show how particular social and welfare patterns give rise to recognisable 'cultures of care'. The authors: show how the social relations of caring are structured within and outside the home environment offer a research tool to take into account the significance of informal networks use separate analysis of 'lived' and 'told' life stories to highlight personal processes of continuity and change in meeting the challenge of caring link individual caring strategies to the structural features of welfare societies. European comparative research creates opportunities for fresh thinking about social policy, showing best practice and piecing together the strengths of each system. The findings of this book underline the significance of caring within social policy agendas and the need to extend and change the parameters of comparative social policy beyond a fixation on social insurance. Cultures of care makes an important contribution to debates about the need to 'strengthen the social' and to build a creative sense of moral agency in welfare systems. It provides a valuable new resource for both academic teaching and the training of social professionals.

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This innovative volume describes how an awareness of culture must be applied to the study and provision of welfare in Europe. It shows how the cultures underpinning social welfare systems are starting to be exposed and explored. The assumption that the values and beliefs which constitute welfare systems are universal and absolute has been overturned for two reasons. First, the post-war period has seen huge changes in traditional structures in Europe, such as class, race and gender, which have prompted people and systems to re-assess and assert their identity and role. Second, the move towards European union and the process of globalization have led to a growing awareness of different welfare systems; traditional distinctions, for example between the individual and the community, the public and private spheres, and the state and the market, have had to be re-evaluated.Defining `culture' as the systems through which social orders are transmitted, experienced and explored, Welfare and Culture in Europe argues that welfare must start with the human individuals involved - the users, providers and policy makers themselves. It constitutes a major qualitative study of the ways in which welfare states reflect and reproduce patterns of social values. Several chapters draw on new biographical approaches to social policy research and analysis. It develops new directions for future policy research and presents alternative methodological bases for empirical work. At a time of crisis, change and anxiety in Europe, this book lays the foundation for an essential re-working of social policy.

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This book uses a range of interpretive approaches to reveal the dynamics of service users' and professionals' individual experiences and life-worlds. From their research the contributors show how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the learning and development of professionals, and promote more meaningful and creative practitioner - service user relationships. The book: · reviews applications of biographical methods in both policy and practice in a range of professional contexts, from health and social care to education and employment; · explores the impact of social change in three main arenas - transformation from Eastern to Western types of society in Europe, major shifts in social and welfare principles, experiences of immigration and of new cultural diversities - on professional practice; · critically evaluates subjective and reflexive processes in interactions between researchers, practitioners and users of services; · considers the institutional arrangements and cultural contexts which support effective and sensitive interventions; · draws on actual projects and tracks reflection, progress and outcomes. With contributions from leading international experts, it provides a valuable comparative perspective. Researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, postgraduate students, teachers and trainers will find this book a stimulating read.

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