The Politics of Unemployment Policy in Britain
class struggle, labour market restructuring and welfare reform
$56.15
- Paperback
288 pages
- Release Date
9 February 2026
Summary
Britain’s Unemployed: A Political History (1973-2023)
This book provides an account of the evolution of social security and employment policy and governance in Britain between 1973 and 2023. It explains how this remaking of policy and governance shaped, and was shaped by, the transformation of the labour market and power of claimants and workers.
Advancing a class-centred explanation, the text situates contemporary working age active labour market policy as the contingent ou…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781447366126 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1447366123 |
| Author: | Jay Wiggan |
| Publisher: | Bristol University Press |
| Imprint: | Policy Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 288 |
| Release Date: | 9 February 2026 |
| Weight: | 0g |
| Dimensions: | 234mm x 156mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“An invaluable analysis of the history of state unemployment since the 1970s. Wiggan explains why ruling elites abandoned full employment as a policy objective, and how the move, since 2010, towards a regressive labour regime is shaped by wider austerity politics.” David Etherington, Staffordshire University
“The story of shaping social security policy and employment institutions from the shifting logic of ‘gendered full employment’ to ‘full employability’ is explored through a valuable lens of class struggle. Wiggan eloquently traces how austerity, managerialism and marketisation hastened the journey on the low road to activation in ways that preserved the authority of capital. Essential reading for anyone who wants to know why things are as bad as they are.” Mary Murphy, Maynooth University
About The Author
Jay Wiggan
Jay Wiggan is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh.
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