4 Deconstructing Welfare Crises

Abstract

This chapter connects the crisis of state welfare in Britain to the capitalist crisis. Changes to the character of British state welfare are considered, with particular attention to the growth of outsourcing and the presentation of austerity as an economic necessity. This is followed by an examination of policy, discourse and practice relating to three key fields of welfare that have been presented as sites of crisis in recent years: the National Health Service (NHS) and social care, housing, and the benefits system. The last section of the chapter explores the rearticulation of welfare crises as an attack on the working class, through a discussion of social movements and campaigns organising around demands for decent housing and against cuts to local state services. Competing discourses within these campaigns are discussed, for the insights they provide about alternative understandings of the nature and causes of welfare crises and their relation to migration and borders.