Unemployment and Government: Genealogies of the Social

by William Walters

Overview

This book follows the invention and transformation of unemployment, understood as a historically specific site of regulation. Taking key aspects of the history of unemployment in Britain as its focus, it argues that the ways in which authorities have defined and sought to manage the jobless have been remarkably varied. The book examines such institutionalized practices as the labor bureau, unemployment insurance, and the present "New Deal" as "technologies" of power. The result is a challenge to our thinking about welfare states.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521643337
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/26/2000
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.42(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

1. The discovery of unemployment; 2. Inventing unemployment: the birth of the labour exchange; 3. Governing unemployment as a 'risk'; 4. Governing through the long-term unemployed: unemployment between the wars; 5. Unemployment and its spaces; 6. Governing divided societies: the new deal.

Editorial Reviews

"Walters has written a sophisticated account not only of the history of unemployment but of the way social problems are defined and handled through pratices of governmentality. His book should be widely consulted." Jrnl of Sociology & Social Welfare

"The book is well worth reading...it might, hopefully, stimulate serious thinking about unemployment policy in a Canadian context." Canadian Journal of Sociology Online Jan-Feb 2002

From the Publisher