Bread for All: The Origins of the Welfare State (Penguin Orange Spines)

Today, everybody seems to agree that something has gone badly wrong with the British welfare state. In the midst of economic crisis, politicians and commentators talk about benefits as a lifestyle choice, and of 'skivers' living off hard-working 'strivers' as they debate what a welfare state fit for the twenty-first century might look like.

This major new history tells the story of one the greatest transformations in British intellectual, social and political life: the creation of the welfare state, from the Victorian workhouse, where you had to be destitute to receive help, to a moment just after the Second World War, when government embraced responsibilities for people's housing, education, health and family life, a commitment that was unimaginable just a century earlier. Though these changes were driven by developments in different and sometimes unexpected currents in British life, they were linked by one over-arching idea: that through rational and purposeful intervention, government can remake society. It was an idea that, during the early twentieth century, came to inspire people across the political spectrum.

In exploring this extraordinary transformation, Bread for All explores and challenges our assumptions about what the welfare state was originally for, and the kinds of people who were involved in creating it. In doing so, it asks what the idea continues to mean for us today.

Astazi, toata lumea pare sa fie de acord ca ceva nu a mers bine cu statul asistentei britanice. In mijlocul crizei economice, politicienii si comentatorii vorbesc despre beneficii ca o alegere a stilului de viata si despre „intelegatorii” care traiesc din „strivitori” muncitori, in timp ce dezbate cum ar putea arata un stat al bunastarii potrivit pentru secolul al XXI-lea. istoria noua majora spune povestea uneia dintre cele mai mari transformari din viata intelectuala, sociala si politica britanica: crearea statului bunastarii, de la casa de lucru victoriana, unde trebuia sa fii lipsit pentru a primi ajutor, pana la un moment imediat dupa a doua lume Razboiul, cand guvernul si-a asumat responsabilitati pentru locuinta oamenilor, educatia, sanatatea si viata de familie, un angajament care era de neimaginat cu doar un secol mai devreme.