In a forward looking appraisal of the welfare state, Poverty, Welfare and the Disciplinary State examines such issues as:

the current dynamics of poverty in Britain, drawing on similar developments in Europe and the US

the major areas of social policy within which this abandonment and demonisation of the poor is taking place

the historical antecendents to this relationship between the state and the poor

the creation and expansion of a ''welfare'' state that characterised the era of social democracy until the mid-1970s and from the point of view of the poor, was limited and conditional

the ideology and organisation of the New Right

the new terrain on which the struggle over the future of welfare and social policy must take place.