Paul Spicker

Professor Paul Spicker holds the Grampian Chair of Public Policy at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. He has written widely in the field of social policy, having published fifteen books, several shorter works and over 75 academic papers. His research has included studies related to benefit delivery systems, the care of old people, psychiatric patients, housing management and local anti-poverty strategy. He has experience of housing and welfare rights work, and has also been a consultant on social welfare in practice, having done work for a range of agencies at local, national and international levels.

Publications

His published work includes:

• Stigma and social welfare, Croom Helm 1984; Seishinshobo (Tokyo) 1987
• Principles of social welfare, Routledge 1988
• Social housing and the social services, Longman 1989
• Poverty and social security, Routledge 1993
• Social policy: themes and approaches, Prentice-Hall 1995; Yuhikaku (Tokyo) 2001; Policy Press 2008
• Planning for the needs of people with dementia, (with D S Gordon) Avebury 1997
• Social protection: a bilingual glossary, (co-edited with J-P Révauger) Paris: MIRE 1998
• Social policy in a changing society, (with Maurice Mullard) Routledge 1998
• The international glossary on poverty (co-edited with David Gordon), Zed 1999; Poverty: an international glossary (second edition), co-edited with Sonia Alvarez Leguizamon and David Gordon, Zed 2007.
• The welfare state: a general theory, Sage 2000; Keiso Shobo (Tokyo), 2004.
• Policy analysis for practice: applying social policy, Policy Press, 2006
• Liberty, equality, fraternity, Policy Press, 2006
• The idea of poverty, Policy Press, 2007 and Seikatsushoin 2008
• The origins of modern welfare, Peter Lang, 2010.
• How social security works, Policy Press 2011

Click on the links, or on book images, for more details.

Recent publications and papers

Some of these papers have been made available on the internet by their publishers; click on the link to load them.

2010

1. P Spicker, D Byrne, Unethical guidelines, Policy World Winter/Spring 2010 pp 12-4.

2. The origins of modern welfare: Juan Luis Vives, De Subventione Pauperum, and City of Ypres, Forma Subventionis Pauperum, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010, 157 pp.

3. Paul Spicker, Sonia Alvarez Leguizamón y David Gordon [editores] Pobreza: Un glosario internacional, Buenos Aires: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales 2010, 320 pp.

4. P Spicker, L Simpson, Editorial: the cuts Radical Statistics 2010 no 103

5. Cutting social security, Radical Statistics 2010 no 103, pp 40-49.

6. The Universal Credit, Holyrood 2010 no 243, p 29.

2011

1. Ethical covert research, Sociology 2011 45(1) 1-16

2. Generalisation and phronesis: rethinking the methodology of Social Policy, Journal of Social Policy 40(1) 1-19.

3. How social security works: an introduction to benefits in Britain, Policy Press 2011.

4. Universal Credit will not simplify benefits, The Guardian 19th January 2011, Society Guardian section, page 4

5. Europe risks undermining public services, Public Service Europe, 3rd May

6. Services of general interest - what does the jargon mean?, Public Service Europe 24th October.

7. Blame 1970s problems on "rush for growth", Aberdeen Press and Journal 16th November p 15.

2012

1. Poverty, in R Chadwick (ed), Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, vol. 3, San Diego CA: Academic Press pp 554-560.

2. Social security, in R Chadwick (ed), Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, vol. 4, San Diego CA: Academic Press, pp 167-174

3. Social welfare: the provision and finance of social services, in R Chadwick (ed), Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, vol. 4, San Diego CA: Academic Press, 182-188.

4. “Leadership”: a perniciously vague concept, International Journal of Public Sector Management 25(1) 34-47.

5. Personalisation Falls Short, British Journal of Social Work 2012; doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcs063

6. Social Policy Approaches, ch 580 of The International Encyclopedia of Housing and the Home, vol 6 pp 478-483, Elsevier.

7. Universal Credit: simplification or personalisation?, Local Economy 27(5-6) 496-501

8. Poverty, democratic governance and poverty reduction strategies, 1 Uluslararasi Sosiyal Politikalar Sempozyyumu, Istanbul 15th June.

9. Why refer to poverty as a proportion of median income?, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 20(2) 163-176.

10. Changing Housing Benefit, Housing Scotland, Sept 2012, p 5.

11. More cuts?, Housing Scotland, Nov 2012, p 5

12. M Danson, R McAlpine, P Spicker, W Sullivan, 2012. The case for universalism, Biggar, Jimmy Reid Foundation, 18 pp.

13. Liberal welfare states, chapter 19 of in B Greve (ed), 2013, The Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State, London: Routledge. pp 193-201.

14. Can we afford to support older people?, The Herald, 18th December.

Also available

Earlier material by Paul Spicker still available on the Web includes

• The rights of the poor, in P Robson, A Kjonstad, Poverty and the Law, Oxford: Hart, 2001
• Poor areas and the ecological fallacy, Radical statistics 76, 2001
• Child Poverty, in F Bennett, J Ginn, J Grieve Smith, H Land, R Madeley, P Spicker, A West, Budget 2002: a Catalyst response, London: Catalyst, pp 20-26.
  
• P.Spicker, S Morris, V Strachan, Consultation on the review of Scottish charity law, Scottish Executive Central Research Unit 2002, 85pp.
• Poverty and the Welfare State: dispelling the myths, London: Catalyst, 2002, 44 pp.
• Continental shifts on exclusion, Inside Housing 11.10.02 pp 28-29.
• Paul Spicker talks to the BBC about poverty
• Solidarity between generations, paper presented to the International Social Security Association research conference, Antwerp, May 2003.
• Dundee Anti Poverty Forum, with Paul Spicker, 2003, No room for dreams: poverty in Dundee, Dundee: DAPF, 124 pp
• Moray against Poverty, Voices from the Edge, 2004
• Exclusion and rights, in L Williams, A Kjonstad, Law and poverty, London: Zed
• V Strachan, P Spicker, S Morris, T Damjanovic, 2004, The consultation on Civil Partnership Registration: analysis of the responses, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive
• Spicker, P., McLaverty, P., Strangward, L., & Grampian Racial Equality Council, 2004, Community safety for minority ethnic groups in Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen: Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership.
• Schools in Aberdeen: responses to the 3Rs consultation, Aberdeen City Council 2005, 46 pp.
• Myths of absenteeism mask the true issues to be addressed on incapacity, The Scotsman 27th November 2007, pp 50-1.
• Research without consent, Social Research Update 2007 no. 51, 4 pp
• Submission to the Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee: Child Poverty, Scottish Parliament 6 pp.
• Taking forward the Government's Economic Strategy: response to the discussion paper,Scottish Government, 6 pp.
• Evidence to the Local Government and Communities Committee, Local Government and Communities Committee Offical Report, Scottish Parliament 26th November 2008
• Welfare reform has the makings of a nightmare as jobs disappear, Scotsman 15th January 2009.
• The foundations of welfare: Bruges and Ypres, Social Policy Association conference, Edinburgh 30th June 2009
• D Byrne, P Spicker, Ethical principles in social policy research and practice, Social Policy Association conference, Edinburgh 1st July 2009.

Paul Spicker's first book, Stigma and social welfare (1984), is now freely available for download under a Creative Commons licence.