This paper explores New Labour's desire to refurbish the physical and social fabric of excluded neighbourhoods through its New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme. It begins by examining three key concepts that embody and underpin this policy intervention – community, agency and exclusion and proceeds by contrasting these conceptual dimensions with a set of discordant, intra-neighbourhood processes of conflict, contestation and division, identified by recently conducted fieldwork in an NDC area. I argue that such processes produce a complex social terrain that is inhabited by social agents with a diverse range of needs, values and experiences, before discussing how this challenges and de-stabilises NDC's aspiration to ‘promote’ community, change individual behaviour and tackle exclusion effectively. The paper concludes by questioning whether New Labour's desire to implement a ‘community’ project, shaped by theoretical precepts, constrains NDC's ability to deliver lasting change to excluded areas.

Only 37 per cent of young people voted at the 2005 British General Election, seemingly confirming the oft-cited view that this generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the political process. Results from a nationwide survey, however, indicate that their withdrawal from formal politics is more a result of their scepticism of the way the political system operates, than apathy. Furthermore, they are diverse in their political (dis)engagement. Results from an examination of the relative effects of socio-economic location and social capital are inconclusive, although the data indicate that government social policy aimed at mobilising social capital and addressing socio-economic issues may increase civic engagement.

This paper considers activation policies in relation to older workers in a number of OECD countries. It explores four interpretations of ‘activation’ in respect of pension planning and retirement policies. However, activation policies need to be carefully evaluated. Labour market demands and a political language that stresses the ‘pension crisis’ and the ‘dependency ratio’ have to be considered in relation to established rights. Thus whilst governments may seek to promote a model of welfare based on the ‘consumer citizen’, in which retirement choices are made by reflexive individuals, the constraints on choice need to be highlighted. These constraints are likely to be unevenly distributed with some social groups experiencing longer working lives, less choice, with more compulsion and with conditions attached to any pension rights they may claim.

Social Policy & Society 6(1) January 2007

We apologise for the following mistake in the authorship of the article by Paddy Hillyard, Demi Patsios & Fiona Scullion, 2007, ‘A Daughter to ELSI – NILSI: A Northern Ireland Standard of Living Index or Problematising Wealth in the Analysis of Inequality and Material Well-being’.

The correct spelling is ‘Scullion’ and not ‘Sevllion’ (as printed).

In most democratic countries people with intellectual impairments are denied the right to vote in national elections. One important reason for this is that they are perceived as incapable of making independent political judgements and may thus fail to vote on the basis of their own preferences. Their exclusion is consequently defended by appeal to the need to protect the ‘integrity’ of democratic elections. In this article, this assertion is critically examined. The conclusion is that this argument does not hold sway once the connections between political equality and democratic elections have been clarified. Whilst political equality requires that elections are fair in the sense that everyone's preferences are given equal weight, fundamentally political equality also requires that everyone's opportunity to vote securely and without undue interference from others is recognised. Hence, as long as such opportunities have not been granted to people with intellectual impairments, they cannot consistently be excluded by appeal to the values of political equality.

This article discusses the grounds on which those who provide informal social care for dependent adults and children can be held to warrant public support, and what obligations they should accept in return. It outlines two interpretations of the rights and responsibilities of such care workers: Stuart White's notion of care as civic labour and Eva Feder Kittay's principle of doulia. It shows that these interpretations reflect different understandings of the self and of reciprocity. The conclusion is that Kittay's writings better reflect the relationality of care, but that it is still possible to justify some forms of welfare conditionality.

This paper examines the experiences of immigrants in Toronto as they pass through, and leave, Ontario Works (OW), a ‘Work First’ approach to social assistance that prioritizes rapid labour force attachment. We examine the Ontario Works activities of immigrants, compared to native born Canadians, and their respective post-OW job characteristics. We find that immigrants experience a significant relative wage disadvantage after participation, and substantially less wage growth when moving to the second post-welfare job. We conclude that Ontario Works, like most ‘work first’ employment programs, is ill-suited to addressing earnings disadvantage among immigrants. We suggest that programs ‘beyond work first’, though not targeted specifically towards immigrants, might nevertheless offer more assistance. The recurring wage disadvantage, however, would remain unaddressed and might require more direct intervention.

The current emphasis in European welfare states on ‘activation’ increases the relevance of insight into social assistance dynamics and work–welfare/welfare–work transitions. This article reports on a study that explored the employment, unemployment and social assistance careers of a large group of people who managed to become independent from social assistance by finding a job. Using the databases of social security agencies in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, it investigates the sustainability of social assistance independence and labour market inclusion, and identifies groups that are more or less likely to be confronted with spells of renewed social assistance dependency or unemployment.

This article addresses the issue of low targeting efficiency of the Russian child allowance programme. We look at non-take-up of eligible households and inclusion of the non-eligible, and show that household characteristics are significant determinants of the programme take-up, as they affect households' earning potential and expected level of benefit. We believe that the results of the research give useful suggestions on how targeting of child allowances can be improved in Russia.

This paper considers what we might expect to be the effect on social policy of Turkish accession to the EU by reviewing the impact of EU membership on social policy in other new member and candidate countries. This effect begins long before membership is finalised, and continues long after membership has been achieved. The patterns of impact can be divided along a number of dimensions: between ‘accession’ and ‘enlargement’; state and civil society; centre and periphery; formal and substantive; and different welfare institutions. In the course of reviewing these variations, the paper reflects upon the nature of social policy itself, and in particular the nature of the European Social Model.

This paper explores bias in the use of evidence in policy. It argues that existing models of the evidence–policy relationship neglect the tendency for attention to be paid only to that evidence helpful to the interests of powerful social groups. An evolutionary analogy is used to explain how this bias arises, without the need for irrationality or conspiracy on the part of policy makers. Examples are given in the fields of drug, asylum and other policies, and the possible responses by researchers to the biased use of research evidence are discussed.

This article examines work-related stress and rehabilitation in the light of the introduction of Stress Management Standards in the UK in 2004. The Management Standards are outlined and the relevant literature on good practice in stress and rehabilitation is reviewed to provide a context for empirical research conducted with human resource practitioners in organisations. This view from the workplace provides insights on the issues faced, especially in the public services, when managing stress and rehabilitation. These include the role played by stress in people's personal life, the limitations of line management and the role of General Practitioners.

The present study was based on data from 100 face-to-face interviews, supplemented by findings from 316 respondents in a national postal survey, and shows that UK Chinese respondents were family-orientated and self-reliant, having low expectations of public welfare. These features challenge the myth of welfare dependency of ethnic minorities. Also, compared with Chinese welfare practices based on strong moral values and duties towards other people, New Labour's welfare culture lacks a solid social and ethical base for nurturing the concepts of duty and self-reliance.

The last decade has witnessed a growing interest in the promotion and use of innovation as a means of improving public services. Rafts of central government initiatives exist to promote, support and learn from innovative activity. This paper examines the adoption of a new, innovative service in a social work setting in the UK, namely family group conferencing. It explores the rate and pattern of the adoption of this service innovation by Councils with Social Service Responsibilities (CSSRs). It examines the implementation process and identifies: resources, professional resistance, risk, the role of central government and champions amongst the factors that facilitated and inhibited its use in three case study sites.

This paper reports on pilot study research for an ESF funded project. It examines the experiences and perceptions of 12 women in relation to the concept of ageism in paid employment. The women were all aged 50 or over at the time. The results show that whilst most of the women had faced (to differing degrees) or observed gender and age based discrimination, the experiences and interpretations revealed were not static, nor isolated from the wider historical, cultural and social contexts in which these women had grown up and grown older. It is therefore argued that policy attempts to combat age discrimination will need to take account of the gender dimension of ageism as well as the different ways in which it impacts on older women. For this to occur, more research and debate are needed on the issues raised in this paper.

This article considers the impact, in terms of life and death choices, of the economic exclusion of young people in Australia, where suicide is the leading cause of death by injury. In the two decades from 1980 there was a dramatic increase in suicide rates for young males. Research demonstrates a correlation between youth suicide and unemployment but the complex relationship between the two has not been fully investigated. This article explores the perceptions of young people, parents and service providers of the cultural context of suicide and how it comes to be constructed as an option for young people experiencing economic marginalisation.

This paper examines the neglected area of health support work in the United Kingdom in the context of recent social policy and studies of professionalisation. A variety of socio-economic trends have led policy makers to give greater consideration to this section of the healthcare workforce. Professional regulatory issues and recent reviews in the health field have provided the leverage to alter existing healthcare boundaries, as well as to enhance public protection. Drawing on commissioned research, it is argued that health support workers are not only an important area of study in their own right, but also raise interesting questions about the broader process of health policy making and professionalisation.

This article explores the educational experiences of 93 young women who experienced pregnancy at school in England, in order to examine the relationship between dislike of school, teenage pregnancy and educational disengagement. The article argues that a strong dislike of school, pre-pregnancy, is often at the root of disengagement before pregnancy, a situation often exacerbated when the news of pregnancy is met with prevailing negative attitudes within school. However, once pregnant, educational alternatives to school frequently provide a route back into, and a changed perception of education. Tackling pre-pregnancy dislike of school may have important implications for both the support and prevention aspects of the Government's teenage pregnancy strategy.

This paper addresses the incentives and impediments to alliance formation in the UK health consumer group sector. Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council shows that links between groups are extensive and highly valued. However, they take place in the context of competition for resources and influence within New Labour's reform agenda. Drawing on theories from sociology and political science this paper shows how in recent years the working environment of groups has shaped cooperation. However, alliance working carries opportunity costs and doubts remain about their ability to survive once these external stimuli disappear.

Equality law is in a state of ferment in the UK with a Westminster bill having laid the ground for a single Equality and Human Rights Commission, new European Directives on Equality, a debate in Northern Ireland over the adoption of a Single Equality Act (OFMDFM, 2004) and a stalled debate in Northern Ireland over a Bill of Rights. (O'Connell, 2006: 3).