Conclusion

Summary

This chapter discusses the contributions and limits of the approach described in this book and summarizes the book’s main themes. These themes include the necessity and value for multiple constituencies of a more coordinated, rights-based approach to the design of care and support policy and the challenges of pursuing rights-based reform in Australia, England and the other liberal welfare states, especially in light of the ongoing processes of neoliberal marketization, individualization of responsibility, prioritization of ‘active’ citizenship and, in much of the world, the now entrenched resource constraints associated with austerity. Ultimately, I argue that the principles can make a practical contribution to efforts to build solidarity between care and support constituencies, challenge prevailing norms of citizenship that prioritize independence and paid work participation and establish care and support as accepted and valued activities of citizenship.