The Politics of Unemployment Policy in Britain

Jay Wiggan is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh.

1. Introduction
2. Labour Commodification, the State and Class Politics
3. Labour Market Restructuring and the Changing Class Composition of Labour
4. Labour Autonomy, State Conciliation and the Emergence of Special Employment Measures: 1973 – 1979
5. A Cautious Offensive: Class Decomposition, Disorder and the Transitional Labour Market Policy Regime: 1979 – 1985
6. The End of Conciliation and Social Concertation: Dis-Embedding Labour 1985 – 1989
7. On the Offensive – Enterprise, Employability and Selective Activation: 1989–1997
8. Inclusive Employability, Consolidation and the Progressive Market Liberal Turn: 1997 – 2004
9. Disciplinary Inclusion and Extensive Labour Utilisation: 2005 – 2010
10. Austerity and the Imposition of Work Discipline: 2010–2016
11. Consolidation and Labour Market Policy Continuity in the Shadow of Crisis: 2016–2023
12. Concluding remarks