The Welfare Workforce: Why Mental Health Care Varies Across Affluent Democracies [Hardcover]

Examines how labor-organizing among welfare workers has contributed to the success, or failure, of mental health care systems.What explains differences in how affluent democracies have deinstitutionalized mental health care? This book highlights how labor-organizing among welfare workers contributes to the success, or failure, of mental health care systems. The book provides insights for scholars, health and medical practitioners, activists, and trade union strategists.What explains differences in how affluent democracies have deinstitutionalized mental health care? This book highlights how labor-organizing among welfare workers contributes to the success, or failure, of mental health care systems. The book provides insights for scholars, health and medical practitioners, activists, and trade union strategists.The Welfare Workforce is a thought-provoking exploration of mental health care in the United States and beyond. Although all the affluent democracies pursued deinstitutionalization, some failed to provide adequate services, while others overcame challenges of stigma and limited resources and successfully expanded care. Isabel M. Perera examines the role of the welfare workforce in providing social services to those who cannot demand them. Drawing on extensive research in four countries  the United States, France, Norway, and Sweden  Perera sheds light on post-industrial politics and the critical part played by those who work for the welfare state. A must-read for anyone interested in mental health care, social services, and the politics of welfare, The Welfare Workforce challenges conventional wisdom and offers new insights into the complex factors that contribute to the success or failure of mental health care systems. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.1. The welfare workforce: managers and workers make strange bedfellows; 2. Nowhere to go? The supply of mental health services across countries; 3. Before deinstitutionalization:l3Á