Reinventing the Welfare State: Digital Platforms and Public Policies - Hardcover

by Ursula Huws (Author)

The Covid-19 pandemic has tragically exposed how today's welfare state cannot properly protect its citizens. Despite the valiant efforts of public sector workers, from under-resourced hospitals to a shortage of housing and affordable social care, the pandemic has shown how decades of neglect has caused hundreds to die. In this bold new book, leading policy analyst Ursula Huws shows how we can create a welfare state that is fair, affordable, and offers security for all. Huws focuses on some of the key issues of our time - the gig economy, universal, free healthcare, and social care, to criticize the current state of welfare provision. Drawing on a lifetime of research on these topics, she clearly explains why we need to radically rethink how it could change. With positivity and rigor, she proposes new and original policy ideas, including critical discussions of Universal Basic Income and new legislation for universal workers' rights. She also outlines a 'digital welfare state' for the 21st century. This would involve a repurposing of online platform technologies under public control to modernize and expand public services, and improve accessibility.

Author Biography

Ursula Huws is Professor of Labour and Globalisation at the University of Hertfordshire. Her most recent book is Labour in Contemporary Capitalism: What Next? (2019). She has been carrying out pioneering research on the economic and social impacts of technological change, the restructuring of employment and the changing international division of labour, for many years. She lectures, advises policy-makers, and has written numerous books.