The subject of begging and the activities of those who get their living (or a part of it) on the street have been neglected by social policy. They have been observed by historians, human geographers, sociologists and criminologists; they have been expounded upon by politicians and journalists; yet first and foremost begging is – or rather ought to be – a primary concern of social policy. This is for two reasons. First, social policy as a substantive phenomenon in the industrial capitalist era had its very origins as a response to begging. The institutions and techniques that emerged and developed to constitute the modern welfare state entailed the organisation of alms-giving and the regulation of provision for human need. Second, social policy as a critical academic discipline ought to be more alive than any other to the issues raised by what the European Foundation on Social Quality (1997) has called “the growing number of beggars, tramps and homeless in the cities of Europe”. Though the evidence has been largely anecdotal, recent changes in British social security, housing and mental health provision would appear to have exacerbated the extent of begging. Certainly, the persistence of begging may be construed as an indictment of the failures of social policy in the Western world. Though begging tends to be intimately linked to streethomelessness, it is necessary to address the phenomenon more generally – together, for example, with busking, Big Issue selling and unlicensed street trading – as a distinctive form of informal economic activity that reflects fundamental changes in the economic environment and in the role of the welfare state.

If one so much as scratches the surface of begging as a distinctive phenomenon, it reveals a seam of symbolic meanings and moral conundrums that is as perplexing as it is rich (the pun, were it intended, would be deeply ironic). This is demonstrated in the pages that follow. Before outlining the structure within which the diverse chapters which make up this book have been arranged, it is therefore important to draw out certain key themes which tend to criss-cross the different approaches which have been adopted by the contributors.