Risk, Trust and Welfare

by Peter Taylor-Gooby (Editor)

Overview

This book contains new theoretical discussion and new empirical evidence on the way people think about and cope with the risks and uncertainties of modern life. The national surveys cover areas ranging from lone parenthood to medicine, from house purchase to long-term care, from personal finance to the welfare state. People's confidence in their capacity to cope with uncertainty is closely related to social class, gender and access to support networks. Policies that assume that people are self-interested rational actors are likely to produce unsatisfactory results and to damage the essential social capital of trust.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333764930
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	05/23/2000
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Taylor-Gooby is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent, UK. He chairs the British Academy New Paradigms in Public Policy Programme and the HEFCE Social Work and Social Policy Panel. His recent publications include New Paradigms in Public Policy, Reframing Social Citizenship, Risk in Social Science (with Jens Zinn), Ideas and the Welfare State, and New Risks, New Welfare.

Table of Contents

List of Tables Preface Notes on the Contributors Risk and Welfare; P.Taylor-Gooby PART I: MOTIVES, POLICY AND BEHAVIOUR From Knight to Knave: Public Policy and Endogenous Motivation; J.LeGrand Motivation and Human Behaviour; B.S.Frey Managing Risk by Controlling Behaviour: Social Security Administration and the Erosion of Welfare Citizenship; H.Dean PART II: RESPONSES TO RISK The Rationality Mistake: New Labour's Communitarianism and 'Supporting Families'; A.Barlow & S.Duncan with R.Edwards Coping with Risk in a Flexible Labour Market; J.Ford Public Understanding of Financial Risk: The Challenge to Regulation; P.Lunt & J.Blundell Insights into the Uncertain World of the Consumer: Reflections on the Risks of Non-Prescription Medicines; P.R.Ward, P.Bissell & P.R.Noyce Choices in Owner-Occupation; M.Munro Risk and the Need for Long-Term Care; G.Parker References Index

Editorial Reviews

Along with its companion book, (Macmillan, 1998), this volume arose from the UK government's Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Economic Beliefs and Behavior Research Programme, which Taylor-Gooby (social policy, U. of Kent) directed. This sequel's ten papers extend the empirical analysis of how people arrive at decisions in everyday life by arguing that consumers' understanding and response to risk and market choice is motivated by assumptions within a social context (e.g., about the agency responsible for handling a particular risk, community member expectations), rather than the rational self- interest premise driving much policy. Areas considered range from perceptions of non-prescription medicine risks to responses to changing labor and housing markets. Includes supporting tables and figures, and a list of ESRC projects, researchers, and programs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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