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Using the idea of the social division of welfare as a template, this book assesses different approaches to retirement pensions policy, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses. An invaluable resource for social science students at all levels, and for those who teach them. Economists and pension practitioners will also find food for thought here

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.

This brief article argues that New Labour has relied on means testing to raise current pensioner incomes, but their main goal has been to change the balance of pension responsibilities in the future. Neither objective has succeeded. Despite New Labour's incessant use of a language of choice there is a real possibility that some of the poorest individuals will be compelled to save in private (defined contribution) schemes, or that their retirement age will be raised, or both. The needs of carers have been inadequately addressed while successive governments have presided over the decline of good employer (defined benefit) pension schemes. There is a need for a fundamental rethink of pension policy that recognises the limits to personal pension saving for the poorest 20%-40% of the population. This in turn will demand a more robust attitude to employers and private providers, along with a commitment to meeting the needs of current pensioners.

This article considers aspects of the recent debate over the relationship of social policy to accounts of postmodernity. It will be argued that the treatment of welfare and social policy by some observers of postmoder nity/post-traditional society has been inadequate, neglecting scepticism and critique from within social policy. Despite some serious reservations regarding the treatment of welfare in their accounts, it will be suggested that there are features of a postmodern analysis that are significant for a critical social policy. The article concludes by suggesting that dialogue needs to be promoted, but it is not simply a case of social policy listening to social theorists. They would do well to be a little more reflexive and a little more attentive to debates from within social policy.

This paper explores 'the underclass debate' in three countries; the USA, Britain and Australia. It is suggested that a comparative approach clarifies some of the key issues in the construction of the underclass debate. The author takes a critical perspective on the underclass debate in both Britain and the USA. The absence, to date, of an academic debate over the underclass in Australia is considered interesting and some speculative reasons for this are proposed. The focus an the observers of the underclass, rather than the disparate groups assigned to it, suggests that if poverty and dependency are to be valid items on the academic agenda in future a more sensitive and reflective approach, which makes explicit the perspective of the ohserver, will be vital.1

At a time when the future of the British state pension is being debated events in Australia provide an interesting example of an alternative approach. This article examines the introduction in Australia of the 1992 Superannuation Guarantee Charge Bills (SGC). The article considers the key debates which accompanied the SGC along with the role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the poverty lobby and employer organisations in the reform process. The Australian model can not simply be transposed to the UK but the politics of reform in this case illustrate the issues of equity, exclusion and social division that are likely to arise.

This paper criticises the emerging marxist school within social administra tion for leaning too heavily upon structuralism and ignoring the activity of the working class in the development of the welfare state. It is argued that we need to focus upon the actual making of welfare in a socio-historical context and the considerabte impact that a divided working class has had on thisprocm. As an example the nineteenth century development of the Poor Law and friendly societies are examined in relation to the labour aristocracy and the undeserving poor. The paper argues that the neglect of agency and of intra-class divisions may blaker marxism to important contemporary developmentsin the social division for welfare.