One of the most important political and economic challenges facing Europe and elsewhere is the ageing of societies. Must ageing populations create conflict between generations and crisis for health systems? Our answer is no. The problem is not so much demographic change as the political and policy challenge of creating fair, sustainable and effective policies for people of all ages. This book, based on a large European Observatory study, uses new evidence to challenge some of the myths sur...

Since the 1990s, mainstream political parties have failed to address the problem of growing inequality, resulting in political backlash and the transformation of European party systems. Most attempts to explain the rise of inequality in political science take a far too narrow approach, considering only economic inequality and failing to recognize how multiple manifestations of inequality combine to reinforce each other and the underlying political features of advanced welfare states. Combi...

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.Health inequality has reached a crisis point. Your income or hometown can have a devastating impact on how well and how long you live. This injustice, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, continues as the cost of living rises and other sources of inequity grow. What can be done to make things better?This book, written by the authors behind the award-winning The Unequal Pandemic, explores successful international...

Rated as a top 10 book about the COVID-19 pandemic by New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2021/07/best-books-about-covid-19-pandemicEPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC- NDIt has been claimed that we are ‘all in it together’ and that the COVID-19 virus ‘does not discriminate’.This accessible, yet authoritative book dispels this myth of COVID-19 as an ‘equal opportunity’ disease, by showing how the pandemic is a syndemic of disease and i...

Health Care in Canada examines the challenges faced by the Canadian health care system, a subject of much public debate. In this book Katherine Fierlbeck provides an in-depth discussion of how health care decisions are shaped by politics and why there is so much disagreement over how to fix the system.Many Canadians point to health care as a source of national pride; others are highly critical of the system's shortcomings and call for major reform. Yet meaningful debate ca...

In this current environment, it is urgent to understand how oppression and health are closely connected. Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health offers a thorough and accessible overview of the root or structural causes of ill health, such as capitalism, globalization, colonialism, medicalization and neoliberalism. The contributors to this volume insist that the key to tackling these structural forces is understanding and changing oppressive practices that cause ill health, thu...

Forty-five contributions from renowned international specialists in the field provide readers with expert analysis of the core issues related to the welfare state, including regional depictions of welfare states around the globe. The second edition of the Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State combines essays on methodologies, core concepts and central policy areas to produce a comprehensive understanding of what ‘the welfare state’ means around the world.In the aftermath...

Demographic ageing is a reality - within 25 years half the population of Western Europe will be over 50, one quarter over 65, and the Less Developed Countries will contain one billion elderly people. Ageing Societies examines the myths, challenges and opportunities behind these figures.Ageing Societies explores three areas:§ the growing necessity for extending economic activity into later life and the implications of societal ageing for the intergenerational contract and t...

Poverty has dire consequences on the ability to fulfil one’s aspirations for life. Poverty has strong implications for social cohesion and societies’ abilities to function in harmonious ways. This book presents the readers with the core concepts, latest development and knowledge about policies that work to eliminate absolute poverty.This volume shows what the consequences are for the quality of life of those living in poverty. It describes life for people in poverty in general, but...

Health Reform explores the challenges facing health care provision in the advanced economies. The book exposes the limitations of market-led health reform and demonstrates the indispensable role of a vibrant public authority in the renewal of modern health care systems. Issues covered include:* cost-containment and privatisation strategies in an international perspective* the role of business and the private sector in setting the agenda for health care reform*...

This volume provides a timely collection of the most germane studies and commentaries on the complex links between recent changes in national economies, welfare regimes, social inequalities, and population health. Drs. Vicente Navarro and Carles Muntaner have selected 24 representative articles, organized around six themes, from the widely read pages of the International Journal of Health Services (2006-2013) - articles that not only challenge conventional approaches to population health b...

Ted Schrecker and Clare Bambra argue that the obesity, insecurity, austerity and inequality that result from neoliberal (or 'market fundamentalist') policies are hazardous to our health, asserting that these neoliberal epidemics require a political cure.