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The Politics of Child Daycare in Britain

Vicky Randall author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Politics of Child Daycare in Britain cover

Child daycare is a crucial issue for gender equality. In Britain its provision, and especially publicly provided or subsidised daycare, has been meagre in comparison with a range of European States. In seeking to explain childcare policy in post-war Britain to the present, this study focuses primarily on the institutional context. It shows how the liberal state tradition, limiting intervention in the private family, and market spheres has intersected with an issue that impinges on family responsibilities and, arguably, requires public resources for its effective resolution. The book also argues that liberalism - in practice an eminently flexible approach - cannot on its own explain policy. Account must be taken of the gender assumptions of policy-makers and their principal advisers, including in the past trade unions; of the centralization of the British governmental process; of the weakness and fragmentation of the childcare lobby, including the less than wholehearted involvement of the women's movement; and of the sheer contingencies of timing.

Illuminating account of child day-care policies and practice in Britain ... a compelling account ... a tour de force ... this book is an outstanding achievement, dealing with a much-neglected subject, revealing how the provision of child care offers an exemplary case study not just of institutional and governmental politics but also of the detrimental affects of the combination of liberalism and patriarchy ... the analysis is an adroit critique of public policy theory, with Randall taking to task traditional institutional analysis, network and community theory, and various policy typology models, showing how all fail to explain the peculiarity of child-care policy in Britain. * American Political Science Review *
A timely and welcome book which explores the politics of childcare in postwar Britain ... This is a useful book because it helps explain the slow development of childcare policies and the factors shaping that development. * Social Policy *

ISBN: 9780198280484

Dimensions: 241mm x 164mm x 17mm

Weight: 479g

232 pages