Part I: charting the dimensions of change in welfare states Introduction What is meant by welfare? How can welfare needs be met? Geographical variations in welfare states: the international scale Geographical variations in welfare within states Pressures for change in the welfare state Changing the welfare state: chipping away at the edges Rationalisation Privatisation 1: asset sales and residualisation Privatisation 2: increasing reliance on the private sector Self-provisioning Voluntarism Deinstitutionalisation Deregulation Hollowing out the centre: changes within public services Investment and technical change Intensification Flexibilisation Contracting-out Internal markets Commercialisation and corporatisation Devolution Decentralisation Part II: evaluating contemporary social theories Regulation theory The attractions of regulation theory The key elements of regulation theory Fordism The demise of fordism Neo-(or post) fordism Regulation theory and the welfare state The geography of the neo-fordist welfare state Criticisms of regulation theory Structuration theory The basics of structuration theory The structuration debate Structuration theory and the changing welfare state The cultural turn What is the cultural turn? Cultural studies and geography Cultural studies and the welfare state Feminist critiques of welfare states Racism and the welfare state Disability and welfare Sexuality and welfare Conclusions The post-modern dilemma Social needs and universal notions of justice Towards the mean and lean welfare state?