Inequalities, Families and Welfare States
The Inequalities and Social Welfare Research Centre brings together interdisciplinary research on how poverty, inequality and social exclusion shape people’s lives across local, national and global contexts. Our members examine social welfare through diverse lenses, including childhood and family life, care and social justice, migration, gender, labour markets, household resources, corporate power, and the role of welfare states. Using rigorous qualitative, quantitative, comparative and creative methods, we produce research that advances understanding and informs policy, practice and public debate.
Our group
At a time of significant change in family structures, employment patterns, and social policy, our work focuses on how these transformations interact with existing inequalities and how they contribute to the emergence of new forms of inequality.
Our aims and motives
The group aims to understand how changes in family life and transformations in the labour market interact to produce new social challenges and policy problems. It explores how policies designed to support families, particularly those addressing work–family reconciliation, may mitigate or, in some cases, exacerbate social inequalities.
The research also examines cross-national policy responses to evolving patterns of family formation and labour market outcomes, while contributing an integrated approach that brings together policy analysis with the lived experiences of families.
Our research areas and themes
- Families and family change
- Inter- and intra-household inequalities
- Labour market polarisation
- Gender, work, and labour
- Work-family reconciliation
- Family policy
- Labour market policy
- Social reproduction and care
- Comparative social policy