Paul Spicker
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 253093 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Paul Spicker |
| PRENOMES | Paul |
| SOBRENOME | Spicker |
| ASSINATURA | SPICKER P |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Robert Gordon University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8003-3459 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 49 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 129 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 49 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1987 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
J-L Vives, De Subventione Pauperum (1526) five hundred years on
Five hundred years ago, Juan-Luis Vives completed a report for the city of Bruges, proposing a scheme to support people suffering from poverty. On its 500th anniversary, the resulting report, De Su
Discretion in overpayment recovery
R v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2023] EWHC 233 (Admin) calls into question at least three aspects of the long-established practice of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The case concerns the DWP’s discretionary power to waive the recovery of overpayments. In former times, the rules governing recovery only rendered claimants liable if they had misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact. Tax Credits had required low…
The Poverty of Nations
The Poverty of Nations
Conventionally, poverty is often represented as a lack of resources, but it is much more than that. A considerable amount of work has been done in recent years to establish a view of poverty as a complex, multi-dimensional set of experiences. The poverty of nations goes further still. The nature of poverty is constituted by social relationships - relationships such as low status, social exclusion, insecurity and lack of rights. The relational ele…
The Real Dependent Variable Problem
Comparative public policy relies heavily on processing quantitative data, typically done by looking for the relationship between variables or by grouping empirical data into categories. In methodological terms, comparative data commonly deal with nations as policy units, and observations are liable to be interconnected, rather than independent. In statistical terms, there are problems in the identification of appropriate data, violations of the a…
The devolution of social security benefits in Scotland
The United Kingdom is a unitary state, and social security benefits are some of the most centralised services in it. The powers of the Scottish Parliament in relation to benefits have been heavily restricted, to the point where they have fewer formal powers than an English local authority. Despite that, the Scottish Government has sought to use the limited authority it does have to mitigate the effect of UK welfare reforms. Following the independ…
Social Policy
Social Policy: Theory and practice is a fully revised, updated and extended edition of a bestselling social policy textbook, extensively reworked and adapted to meet the needs of its international readership. The book lays out the architecture of social policy as a field of study, binding the discussion of theory to the understanding of social policy in practice. It aims to provide students and practitioners with a sense of the scope, range and p…
Social policy 3e
Social Policy
Social Policy: Theory and practice is a fully revised, updated and extended edition of a bestselling social policy textbook, extensively reworked and adapted to meet the needs of its international readership. The book lays out the architecture of social policy as a field of study, binding the discussion of theory to the understanding of social policy in practice. It aims to provide students and practitioners with a sense of the scope, range and p…
Cohesion, Exclusion and Social Quality
The concept of social quality has been operationalized in terms of four component dimensions: social inclustion, social cohesion, socio-economic security and social empowerment. This article argues that inclusion and cohesion are aspects of the same underlying social construct. Societies are cohesive to the extent that they are bound by relationships of solidarity; people are included when they are part of solidaristic social networks. Where ther…
Reclaiming individualism
Reclaiming individualism
"'Reclaiming individualism' reviews the scope of individualist approaches to public policy, considering how they shape contemporary policy practices. It argues for a concept of individualism based on rights, human dignity, shared interests, and social protection, providing a thorough analysis and classification of individualism as applied to social and public policy. An important resource for those working or studying in these fields, it is a pow…
Personalisation Falls Short
Personalisation offers individualised treatment in circumstances where markets do not operate. Personalisation is described variously as a process involving an individualised assessment and response, the expression of individual preferences and choices, or a process in which users and professionals negotiate a common understanding of the needs of the individual. The core arguments for individualised approaches are effectiveness, efficiency and re…
Why refer to poverty as a proportion of median income
The most widely used indicator of poverty refers to a threshold set at 60% of median income. This paper reviews the implications of this approach and the conceptual problems it raises. The threshold relates to inequality and ‘economic distance’ rather than need. Though it was initially intended to be simple and comprehensible, the indicator causes considerable confusion, and successive refinements, including adjustments for disposable income, hou…
How social security works
Ethical Covert Research
Covert research is research which is not declared to the research participants or subjects. This is often muddled with deception, and condemned as intrinsically unethical. The basis of that condemnation is a legitimate concern with the rights of research subjects. It is, however, over-generalized. Research subjects do have rights, but they are not the only people with rights. They may have some say about the use of information, but not all inform…
How social security works
Generalisation and Phronesis
Social policy research often depends on the application of generalisations from social science. Questions like 'what works?' assume that general principles can be translated from specific examples into other contexts. Pawson and Tilley argue that effective policy research has to depend on the idea of a 'generative mechanism', or relationships of cause and effect. Explaining issues in terms of causes, however, is problematic. Social phenomena tend…
The Origins of Modern Welfare
The Nature of a Public Service
Public services have been misunderstood. They are not simply services in the public sector, they are not necessarily there because of “market failure”, and they cannot be analysed by the same criteria as market-based provision. They have four defining characteristics. They exist for reasons of policy; they provide services to the public; they are redistributive; and they act as a trust. They consequently operate differently from production for pr…
Government for the people
The most widely used understandings of the concept of democracy – normative, procedural and institutional – focus on its methods and approaches. This article argues that democracy needs also to be understood in terms of its substantive implications. Democratic rights include not only the civil and political rights associated with liberal democracy, but also the economic and social rights promoted in industrially developed countries. Liberal princ…
Poverty an International Glossary
Introducing the glossary - Else Oyen * Poverty: An International Glossary * Definitions of poverty: twelve clusters of meaning - Paul Spicker * Contributors * Index
The idea of poverty
This book examines views about what poverty is and what should be done about it. 'Poverty' means many different things to different people - for example, material deprivation, lack of money, dependency on benefits, social exclusion or inequality. In The idea of poverty, Paul Spicker makes a committed argument for a participative, inclusive understanding of the term. Spicker's previous work in this field has been described as 'entertaining and som…
The ethics of policy research
English Codes of ethics governing research in social science have tended to focus on the rights of participants in research. This focus is too narrow to be an effective guide for ethical policy research. Some typical problems concern the development of organisational research, research in the public domain, and conflicts between the rights of participants and others. Policy research needs to be guided by standards related to professional practice…
Pathways through psychiatric care
The aim of this project was to identify the pathway through psychiatric care beyond the point of first admission. This was carried out from the point of view of users, considering the pathway as a set of subjective experiences. Fifty interviews were conducted with people undergoing psychiatric care in a range of service settings, using a semi-structured interview schedule. Although the research was initially conceptualised in terms of pathways, t…
The Principle of Subsidiarity and the Social Policy of the European Community
The idea of 'subsidiarity' has been gaining influence within the European Community. 'Subsidiarity' is based on a view of society in which responsibilities are conditioned by the closeness of people's relationships. Intervention at higher levels of society has to be seen as subsidiary to the obligations of smaller social units. Applied more narrowly in the context of the Community, subsidiarity has been taken to refer to a functional division of …
Ethical Covert Research
Covert research is research which is not declared to the research participants or subjects. This is often muddled with deception, and condemned as intrinsically unethical. The basis of that condemnation is a legitimate concern with the rights of research subjects. It is, however, over-generalized. Research subjects do have rights, but they are not the only people with rights. They may have some say about the use of information, but not all inform…
Targeting, residual welfare and related concepts
A mode of operation defines a pattern of policy-making or approach to policy. This paper attempts to deconstruct the relationship between certain modes of operation, political ideology and specific techniques, using the main example of targeting. Targeting is commonly related to a number of other concepts, including selectivity, means-testing, conditionality, residual welfare, and rationing. The inter-connectedness of the issues is often taken fo…
The Welfare State
This is most obviously the case with occupational roles; social introductions often begin with the question, 'what do you do?', and the familiar answers -police officer, pharmacist, refuse disposal operative, circus acrobat -conjure a picture, not just of the job, but of the person's patterns of life, education, and social milieu.Equally, there are other kinds of role -parents, patients, even bystanders -which mean that people who find themselves…
Personalisation Falls Short
Personalisation offers individualised treatment in circumstances where markets do not operate. Personalisation is described variously as a process involving an individualised assessment and response, the expression of individual preferences and choices, or a process in which users and professionals negotiate a common understanding of the needs of the individual. The core arguments for individualised approaches are effectiveness, efficiency and re…
Poverty and depressed estates
Alice Coleman's Utopia on Trial explains the incidence of social problems in council housing in terms of the design of the estates. This paper offers an alternative explanation. Many issues which appear to be problems of planning, design, maintenance or administration are directly attributable to the lack of resources of the tenants. Poor people are concentrated in specific locations through the process of urban development, the effect of social …
Understanding particularism
Particularism refers to the idea that different moral standards apply to different people. This view is inherently discriminatory. The universal application of moral principles has been challenged in 'communitarian' critiques, which argue that moral rules have to be placed in a specific social context. People are tied to families, communities and localities; these kinds of relationships define the scope of their moral responsibilities. There are …
The ethics of policy research
English Codes of ethics governing research in social science have tended to focus on the rights of participants in research. This focus is too narrow to be an effective guide for ethical policy research. Some typical problems concern the development of organisational research, research in the public domain, and conflicts between the rights of participants and others. Policy research needs to be guided by standards related to professional practice…
Exclusion
Concepts of Need in Housing Allocation
Policies for the allocation of council housing are subject to considerable local variation. Despite the differences, the schemes which housing departments have developed seem often to reflect a common understanding of the concept of ‘need’. Their emphasis is on an individual, material, absolute idea of ‘need’ which depends strongly on conventional interpretation to determine what is included and what is not. The values expressed in explicit polic…
Cohesion, Exclusion and Social Quality
The concept of social quality has been operationalized in terms of four component dimensions: social inclustion, social cohesion, socio-economic security and social empowerment. This article argues that inclusion and cohesion are aspects of the same underlying social construct. Societies are cohesive to the extent that they are bound by relationships of solidarity; people are included when they are part of solidaristic social networks. Where ther…
Generalisation and Phronesis
Social policy research often depends on the application of generalisations from social science. Questions like 'what works?' assume that general principles can be translated from specific examples into other contexts. Pawson and Tilley argue that effective policy research has to depend on the idea of a 'generative mechanism', or relationships of cause and effect. Explaining issues in terms of causes, however, is problematic. Social phenomena tend…
The Real Dependent Variable Problem
Comparative public policy relies heavily on processing quantitative data, typically done by looking for the relationship between variables or by grouping empirical data into categories. In methodological terms, comparative data commonly deal with nations as policy units, and observations are liable to be interconnected, rather than independent. In statistical terms, there are problems in the identification of appropriate data, violations of the a…
The devolution of social security benefits in Scotland
The United Kingdom is a unitary state, and social security benefits are some of the most centralised services in it. The powers of the Scottish Parliament in relation to benefits have been heavily restricted, to the point where they have fewer formal powers than an English local authority. Despite that, the Scottish Government has sought to use the limited authority it does have to mitigate the effect of UK welfare reforms. Following the independ…
Why refer to poverty as a proportion of median income
The most widely used indicator of poverty refers to a threshold set at 60% of median income. This paper reviews the implications of this approach and the conceptual problems it raises. The threshold relates to inequality and ‘economic distance’ rather than need. Though it was initially intended to be simple and comprehensible, the indicator causes considerable confusion, and successive refinements, including adjustments for disposable income, hou…
Needs as Claims
People “need” things if they will suffer negative effects without them. Needs are based in problems, but they are not only problems; they have to be understood in terms of a relationship between functional problems and resources. Needs are a form of claim made against services. The concept of “need” is not decisive in the allocation of resources, and this paper argues that the concept has to be understood as a form of claim‐language. Once needs a…
Equality versus Solidarity
THE PRINCIPLE OF ‘SOLIDARITY’ IN FRANCE HAS COME TO stand for a justification of social policy in terms of the protection of mutual interests. In the literature of social policy, ‘solidarity’ refers to the establishment of collective action and recognition of mutual responsibility. The principle is often related to egalitarian policies; but the prescriptions of ‘solidarity’ may tend in a very different direction to policies which pursue equality.…
Government for the people
The most widely used understandings of the concept of democracy – normative, procedural and institutional – focus on its methods and approaches. This article argues that democracy needs also to be understood in terms of its substantive implications. Democratic rights include not only the civil and political rights associated with liberal democracy, but also the economic and social rights promoted in industrially developed countries. Liberal princ…
Pathways through psychiatric care
The aim of this project was to identify the pathway through psychiatric care beyond the point of first admission. This was carried out from the point of view of users, considering the pathway as a set of subjective experiences. Fifty interviews were conducted with people undergoing psychiatric care in a range of service settings, using a semi-structured interview schedule. Although the research was initially conceptualised in terms of pathways, t…
Developing indicators
English Indicators are often confused with measures. This article argues that precise measurement is often inappropriate in relation to complex, multidimensional issues such as poverty. A good indicator should be understood as a pointer, not a measure. It should be accessible, robust and reinforced by other pointers. By treating indicators as quantities, summary indices conceal key issues, hide the values and concepts implicit in the exercise, an…
Distinguishing disability and incapacity
This paper discusses the distinctions between disability and incapacity for work, from both a theoretical and an operational perspective. Disability refers mainly to a functional limitation in ordinary activity; incapacity for work concerns people who are unable to work because of a medical condition. Although the terms overlap, they are conceptually distinct. People can be disabled without being unable to work, and unable to work without being d…
Social Policy in a Federal Europe
The European Union has a federal structure, in which each citizen is subject to two governments. The position of social policy within the federation is contested, but the EU has gradually developed powers through the extension of its competence, direct intervention in social welfare issues and the push for “convergence”, or agreement on minimum standards. Consistent with its federal nature, the European model of the welfare state is based on conv…
Charles Booth
Charles Booth's studies of poverty are widely misrepresented in the literature of social policy. His work is commonly bracketed with Rowntree's, but his methods were quite different. His definition of poverty was explicitly relative; he based the description of poverty on class, rather than income. He did not attempt to define need, or to identify subsistence levels of income on the basis of minimum needs; his “poverty line” was used as an indica…
A reply to the review of Stigma and social welfare in CSP, issue 13, summer 1985
Poverty and depressed estates
Alice Coleman's Utopia on Trial explains the incidence of social problems in council housing in terms of the design of the estates. This paper offers an alternative explanation. Many issues which appear to be problems of planning, design, maintenance or administration are directly attributable to the lack of resources of the tenants. Poor people are concentrated in specific locations through the process of urban development, the effect of social …
Concepts of Need in Housing Allocation
Policies for the allocation of council housing are subject to considerable local variation. Despite the differences, the schemes which housing departments have developed seem often to reflect a common understanding of the concept of ‘need’. Their emphasis is on an individual, material, absolute idea of ‘need’ which depends strongly on conventional interpretation to determine what is included and what is not. The values expressed in explicit polic…
Charles Booth
Charles Booth's studies of poverty are widely misrepresented in the literature of social policy. His work is commonly bracketed with Rowntree's, but his methods were quite different. His definition of poverty was explicitly relative; he based the description of poverty on class, rather than income. He did not attempt to define need, or to identify subsistence levels of income on the basis of minimum needs; his “poverty line” was used as an indica…
The Principle of Subsidiarity and the Social Policy of the European Community
The idea of 'subsidiarity' has been gaining influence within the European Community. 'Subsidiarity' is based on a view of society in which responsibilities are conditioned by the closeness of people's relationships. Intervention at higher levels of society has to be seen as subsidiary to the obligations of smaller social units. Applied more narrowly in the context of the Community, subsidiarity has been taken to refer to a functional division of …
Equality versus Solidarity
THE PRINCIPLE OF ‘SOLIDARITY’ IN FRANCE HAS COME TO stand for a justification of social policy in terms of the protection of mutual interests. In the literature of social policy, ‘solidarity’ refers to the establishment of collective action and recognition of mutual responsibility. The principle is often related to egalitarian policies; but the prescriptions of ‘solidarity’ may tend in a very different direction to policies which pursue equality.…
Needs as Claims
People “need” things if they will suffer negative effects without them. Needs are based in problems, but they are not only problems; they have to be understood in terms of a relationship between functional problems and resources. Needs are a form of claim made against services. The concept of “need” is not decisive in the allocation of resources, and this paper argues that the concept has to be understood as a form of claim‐language. Once needs a…
Understanding particularism
Particularism refers to the idea that different moral standards apply to different people. This view is inherently discriminatory. The universal application of moral principles has been challenged in 'communitarian' critiques, which argue that moral rules have to be placed in a specific social context. People are tied to families, communities and localities; these kinds of relationships define the scope of their moral responsibilities. There are …
The Sociology of Social Security
Social Policy in a Federal Europe
The European Union has a federal structure, in which each citizen is subject to two governments. The position of social policy within the federation is contested, but the EU has gradually developed powers through the extension of its competence, direct intervention in social welfare issues and the push for “convergence”, or agreement on minimum standards. Consistent with its federal nature, the European model of the welfare state is based on conv…
Exclusion
The Impact of European Law on the Development of Social Security Policies in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom joined the European Community in 1973, since when there has been a growing awareness of the international context to the making and delivery of social security. Obligations imposed under the Treaty of Rome to allow for the application of equal opportunities and the free movement of workers were bound to require changes to social security entitlements. It may have been hypothezised that membership of the European Community would…
The Welfare State
This is most obviously the case with occupational roles; social introductions often begin with the question, 'what do you do?', and the familiar answers -police officer, pharmacist, refuse disposal operative, circus acrobat -conjure a picture, not just of the job, but of the person's patterns of life, education, and social milieu.Equally, there are other kinds of role -parents, patients, even bystanders -which mean that people who find themselves…
A Third Way
Cross‐national comparisons of poverty
This paper discusses methods by which indicators of poverty can be compared between different countries. Comparisons of this type are important politically; they may affect the ability of developing countries to attract funding from international organisations. Poverty, however, is a complex, disputed concept. No simple comparison, such as a headcount based on a measure of income, can cover the major areas of concern. Composite indices are widely…
New Risks, New Welfare
Distinguishing disability and incapacity
This paper discusses the distinctions between disability and incapacity for work, from both a theoretical and an operational perspective. Disability refers mainly to a functional limitation in ordinary activity; incapacity for work concerns people who are unable to work because of a medical condition. Although the terms overlap, they are conceptually distinct. People can be disabled without being unable to work, and unable to work without being d…
Developing indicators
English Indicators are often confused with measures. This article argues that precise measurement is often inappropriate in relation to complex, multidimensional issues such as poverty. A good indicator should be understood as a pointer, not a measure. It should be accessible, robust and reinforced by other pointers. By treating indicators as quantities, summary indices conceal key issues, hide the values and concepts implicit in the exercise, an…
Social Policy in a Changing Society
Social Policy in a Changing Society is a critical guide to theories about society, exploring the links between social theory and social policy. It considers a range of interpretations of changes in society, politics and the economy, and assesses their practical implications for social welfare. Social Policy in a Changing Society will be essential reading for undergraduates studying social policy and sociology.
Five types of complexity
This article describes five types of complexity in the operation of social security benefits. The first is intrinsic complexity: some benefits are complex in their concept, structure or operation. The second is extrinsic: systems become complicated when several benefits or agencies have to be dealt with. Third, there are complex rules. Some are imposed for administrative reasons, but there may also be some ‘conditionality’, including moral condit…
Targeting, residual welfare and related concepts
A mode of operation defines a pattern of policy-making or approach to policy. This paper attempts to deconstruct the relationship between certain modes of operation, political ideology and specific techniques, using the main example of targeting. Targeting is commonly related to a number of other concepts, including selectivity, means-testing, conditionality, residual welfare, and rationing. The inter-connectedness of the issues is often taken fo…
Liberty, equality, fraternity
"Paul Spicker's new book takes the three founding principles of the French Revolution - liberty, equality, fraternity - and examines how they relate to social policy today. The book considers the political and moral dimensions of a wide range of social policies, and offers a different way of thinking about each subject from the way it is usually analysed."--BOOK JACKET.
Liberty, equality, fraternity
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Paul Spicker's new book takes the three founding principles of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - and examines how they relate to social policy today. The book considers the political and moral dimensions of a wide range of social policies, and offers a different way of thinking about each subject from the way it is usually analysed.
Social Security and Welfare
Poverty an International Glossary
Introducing the glossary - Else Oyen * Poverty: An International Glossary * Definitions of poverty: twelve clusters of meaning - Paul Spicker * Contributors * Index
Political science (41 obras) · Law (33 obras) · Sociology (28 obras) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (24 obras) · Economics (22 obras) · Law (21 obras) · Computer Science (16 obras) · Politics (14 obras) · Economic growth (13 obras) · Poverty (12 obras)