ABSTRACT
The rational and scientific are essential for a measured exploration of the changing nature of contemporary welfare policy and practice. One inescapable characteristic of modern welfare is therefore the tendency to believe in "rights" as a solution to the complexities and ambiguities that the welfare relationship entails. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the character of the welfare project in Britain has undergone profound transformations. It concerns the relational, emotional, and ethical conditions—the experiential facts of the situation—in which people now provide and consume welfare. The book offers a psychoanalytically informed analysis of the culture of audit, perhaps the most pervasive dimension of the new structure of feeling shaping modern welfare policy and practice. It delineates some key predicaments for the particular task orientation of welfare organizations arising from these trends.
