The subject of human nature has recently returned to the centre of welfare debates in Britain, with prime ministers, politicians and academics addressing the effects of social policy on individual character and morality.

This book offers a serious examination of ideas about human nature and motivation in twentieth- century social policy, focusing specifically on social democratic, neo-liberal and mutualist ideas in mainstream welfare, and on Marxist and feminist alternatives. It pays close attention to the important reappraisal of welfare and human needs currently underway in each of these movements as they respond to the changes affecting global capitalism at the close of the twentieth century. The book attends to the renewed interest in human nature in Marxism and feminist thought - especially about mutual welfare, the struggle for recognition, and human need - and considers their contribution to revitalizing welfare thought and practice in the new century.

Each chapter provides a systematic account of the human nature discourses of each intellectual movement, noting central ideas and tensions in each discourse and their influence on social policy.