Transformational Moments in Social Welfare: What Role for Voluntary Action? by Georgina Brewis, Angela Ellis Paine, Irene Hardill, Rose Lindsey and Rob Macmillan (2021)

Book review.

Transformational Moments in Social Welfare: What Role for Voluntary Action brings together historical research, social science studies and narrative voices to explore the ongoing changing boundaries between the voluntary sector and state welfare. By focusing on two key transformative decades in England, the 1940s and the 2010s, the authors present insightful comparisons demonstrating ‘multiple, fluid and permeable frontiers between the state, voluntary action and forms of welfare’ (p 145). Despite the different economic and social contexts of the two decades, by exploring three narrative voices (public, state and voluntary) the authors demonstrate how within these ‘transformational moments’ (p 1) different actors understood the boundaries in multiple ways. Their analysis explores how within three areas of welfare (children, young people and older people), the boundaries continuously shifted across both decades depending on the welfare and actors involved.