Book review: social policies and social control: new perspectives on the “Not-so-Big Society” edited by Malcolm Harrison & Teela Sanders

This collection seeks to provides an innovative account of social control and behaviourism within welfare systems and social policies, and the implications for disadvantaged groups. The authors consider the controls, assumptions and persuasions applied to individuals and households and explores broader themes, including how ‘new behaviourism’ was consolidated during the New Labour and Cameron periods. For anyone interested in ‘nudges’ this is a good starting point, finds Lee Gregory.