ABSTRACT
Much work in the field of social policy tends to ignore issues of identity, assuming that individuals experience particular social policy regimes in very similar ways. This idea has been subject to criticism by writers such as Hughes (1998), Hughes and Lewis (1998) and Saraga (1998), who maintain that social welfare is experienced differently by different individuals and groups. The implication of these ideas is that future welfare regimes must deliver services which accommodate, rather than curb, individual difference, whilst retaining some notion of collective entitlement. Within recent sociological theory, on the other hand, there has been a focus on individualism and difference, to the extent that the power of structural forces has often been underplayed. Within postmodernity, the self is construed as performative and reflexive, constantly defined and redefined in varying social contexts. Writers like Beck (1992), Beck, Giddens and Lash (1994) and Lash and Urry (1993) emphasise the ability of the individual to self-define through patterns of consumption, thus bypassing the forces of social determination.
