The Anthropology of Welfare provides an overview of what anthropology has to offer welfare studies and vice-versa. Case studies from anthropologists in the field, examine different branches of welfare and community care, for example: * Maternity services * Children with learning difficulties * Children's homes * Mothers' centres * People with HIV * Mental health centres * Housing * Care and provision for the elderly. Contributors focus on comparative welfare systems - examples are taken from urban and rural areas of the UK, USA, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, and New Zealand. In each case the theoretical and methodological appropriateness of social anthropology for the study of welfare, and the insights gained by bringing anthropology and welfare together are examined. The Anthropology of Welfare will be essential reading for those studying anthropology, social work and social policy and will be of interest to teachers, practitioners and researchers in applied social welfare fields.

"The Anthropology of Welfare" explores how theoretical concepts of anthropology can be applied and used in issues of welfare and community care. It examines the relationship between the cared for, their carers and the social, cultural and political-economic milieu in which their interactions take place. The international contributors, whose work is based in both rural and urban areas, question definitions of "community" and the institutional interfaces involved--between social services and health services and primary and secondary health care.