The development of European welfare states in the first half of this century has often been seen as a response to the rise of class politics. This study of social policies in Britain and France between 1914 and 1945 contests this interpretation. It argues, by contrast, that early policymakers and social reformers were responding equally to a perceived crisis of family relations and gender roles. The institutions they developed continue to structure the welfare state as it exists today. This book is innovative in the range and scope of its research, its comparative focus, and its argument, which pose a challenge to older class-based interpretations of the development of the welfare state. It will be of interest to scholars of European history and politics, as well as to those interested in social policy and women’s studies.
• Topical analysis of the social developments that led to the setting up of the welfare state • Compares and contrasts social movements and welfare policy in Britain and France • Uses material from a wide range of personal, public, business, and organisational archives
Contents
Acknowledgements; Introduction: On dependence and distribution; Part I. Programs and Precendents: 1. The family in question: state and family in prewar thought and politics; 2. The impact of the Great War; Part II. Reworking the Family Wage in the Twenties: 3. Family policy as women’s emancipation? The failed campaign for endowment of motherhood in Britain; 4. Family policy as ‘Socialism in our Time’? The failed campaign for children's allowances in Britain; 5. Business strategies and the family: the development of family allowances in France, 1920–1936; Part III. The Politics of State Intervention in the Thirties: 6. Engendering the British Welfare State; 7. Distributive justice and the family: toward a parental welfare state; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
Review
‘… excellent study - rich in detail and impeccably researched … her deft style, first-rate scholarship and clarity of judgement make the book indispensable.’ The Times Higher Education Supplement
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