ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter revisits the central research questions and the broader significance of the claims made in this book. The chapter also briefly considers the relevance of this book for the changed economic and social environment wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes by urging scholars to pay attention to the criminalisation of welfare in a manner that is attuned to the complexity and specificity of these criminalising processes. Such an approach illustrates that the rise of the punitive welfare state is neither complete nor inexorable, which may highlight possibilities for progressive welfare reform.
