Time, Welfare and Society
Challenging the Rise of Neo-liberal Welfare Provision
Lee Gregory(Author)
Edward Elgar Publishing
Will be published approx. on 16. July 2026
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-1-80037-080-7 (ISBN)
Description
Time, Welfare and Society presents a bold reimagining of social policy by placing time, rather than money, markets or behaviour, at the centre of welfare analysis. Challenging the dominance of clock-time, productivity and short-termism, Lee Gregory reveals how welfare systems shape, and are shaped by, the multiple temporalities through which people live.
Gregory demonstrates how neoliberalism and the current polycrisis intensify temporal inequalities and narrow the horizons of welfare, obscuring diverse lived experiences necessary for flourishing. Using time theory, concepts of alterity, equality and citizenship and policy design, he proposes new conceptual tools, such as time sovereignty and temporal impact assessment, to rethink welfare for a world of uncertainty and urgent social need. The book argues that modern welfare systems ignore the lived rhythms of care, waiting, ageing, uncertainty and generational futures, and instead are built around speed and short-term politics. It outlines, and argues, for imaginative, rigorous and future-oriented welfare systems that create time for dignity, autonomy, care and collective wellbeing in uncertain times.
Time, Welfare and Society is an essential resource for scholars and students of sociology, social work and social policy. Social workers and policymakers will likewise benefit from its radical lens.
Gregory demonstrates how neoliberalism and the current polycrisis intensify temporal inequalities and narrow the horizons of welfare, obscuring diverse lived experiences necessary for flourishing. Using time theory, concepts of alterity, equality and citizenship and policy design, he proposes new conceptual tools, such as time sovereignty and temporal impact assessment, to rethink welfare for a world of uncertainty and urgent social need. The book argues that modern welfare systems ignore the lived rhythms of care, waiting, ageing, uncertainty and generational futures, and instead are built around speed and short-term politics. It outlines, and argues, for imaginative, rigorous and future-oriented welfare systems that create time for dignity, autonomy, care and collective wellbeing in uncertain times.
Time, Welfare and Society is an essential resource for scholars and students of sociology, social work and social policy. Social workers and policymakers will likewise benefit from its radical lens.
Reviews / Votes
'Lee Gregory invites readers to join him on an exploration of taken-for-granted terrains in Social Policy. With the focus on time and the unfamiliar temporal world of processes, the author opens up new vistas and meticulously lays the foundations for a more humane policy world of care and flourishing across life courses.' -- Barbara Adam, Cardiff University, UK 'Taking time seriously is relatively new for social policy scholarship. Lee Gregory provides a convincing account of how time shapes social life and explores key concepts - need, equality, citizenship - through a temporal lens. This is both an excellent introduction and a robust call for an alternative, time-centred, focus to theory and practice.' -- Jane Millar, University of Bath, UKMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80037-080-7 (9781800370807)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lee Gregory, Associate Professor in Social Policy, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, UK