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‘It’s a small world’: mental health policy under welfare capitalism since 1945
Author(s) -
Carpenter Mick
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.00222
Subject(s) - capitalism , welfare , optimism , ideology , politics , mental health , welfare capitalism , sociology , political economy , social policy , welfare state , economics , economic growth , political science , market economy , psychology , social psychology , law , psychotherapist
Much sociological theorising about community care in mental health universalises from Anglo‐American contexts. So do assessments of policy shifts towards deinstitutionalisation, whose tendency towards negativity largely reflects the downsized mental health care systems that have emerged in welfare regimes, strongly influenced by neoliberal political ideology. Drawing on the framework of Esping‐Anderson (1990), the article seeks to theorise from a wider range of welfare regimes, including Sweden and Italy, where political influences on policy provide more support for a degree of optimism. It also seeks to demonstrate in outline the advantages of analysing global influences on mental health policy under welfare capitalism, as key factors shaping policy throughout the whole post‐1945 period.