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The Freud Report on the future of welfare to work: Some critical reflections

Lancaster University, c.grover@lancaster. ac.uk

In December 2006 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced a review of welfare to work policies in Britain. This was led by the investment banker, David Freud who reported in March 2007. This paper examines the report, particularly focusing upon broad issues — relationships between unemployment, worklessness and capitalism and gender issues — that are central to understanding the report's analysis and recommendations. It is argued that the report's general thrust dovetails neatly with New Labour's fixation with supply-side economics and its approach to exclusion that suggests paid work is the mark of the responsible and included individual, an approach that draws upon and reproduces capitalist and patriarchal patterns and structures of paid work.

Key Words: capitalism • Freud Report • gender • paid work • welfare

References

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Critical Social Policy, Vol. 27, No. 4, 534-545 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0261018307081812


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Grover, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?