Dr Kevin Farnsworth

Senior Lecturer in Social Policy (BA, MSc, PhD)
Course Leader - MA in International and Global Social Policy

Academic Profile

I joined Sheffield University in February 2004, after spending several years at London South Bank University.

Research

My research interests centre primarily on the relative power and influence of business and labour on governments, especially with regard to social and public policy. Recently, I have been researching corporate welfare (state assistance to corporations) and its relationship with social welfare within various welfare systems. I am currently working on a book on British Corporate Welfare.

Teaching

I offer a number of modules at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My modules cover a range of issues, but two key questions are at their heart: why does inequality persist, and why do some governments appear to be so unwilling or unable to do anything about it? My aim is to arm students with the necessary tools - theoretical and empirical - to critique their own perceptions of who benefits from the welfare state, who (or what) shapes it and what are the effect of social policies (or a lack of social policies) on individuals and society more broadly. I encourage students to not only reflect upon the key problems and challenges that confront societies, but to come up with solutions to those problems.

I currently convene the following modules:

• Level 2: Social Policy in Global Context.
• Level 3: Business and Society
• MA: Political Economy of Global Social Policy

See:

Undergraduate Degrees
MA Global and International Social Policy

Postgraduate Supervision

I would welcome applications from PhD students working in the following areas:

• Economic Sociology
• Economic Crisis and its social impact / impact on welfare systems
• The sociology of business/markets
• Business and community/society
• Business / corporate power and policy making
• Nationally and internationally organised business
• Comparative Social Policy
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Corporate welfare
• Global actors and Social Policy
• Occupational welfare
• Political economy and social/public policy
• Privatisation and public policy

To find out more about our PhD programmes, go to:
Studying for a PhD in Sociology

Publications since 2005

Books

(2012) Social versus Corporate Welfare: Competing Needs and Interests within the Welfare State, London: Palgrave

with Z. Irving (eds) (2011) Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol, The Policy Press

Refereed journal articles

(2010) 'Business and Human Rights', Global Social Policy, 10:2, pp.164-168. DOI: 10.1177/14680181100100020104

(2006) 'Globalisation, Business and British Public Policy', Contemporary Politics, vol. 12 no. 1, pp. 79-93

(2006) `Capital to the Rescue? New Labour´s Business Solutions to Old Welfare Problems´, Critical Social Policy, vol. 26 no. 4, pp. 817-842. [http://csp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/4/817]

(2006), 'Business in Education: A Reassessment of the Contribution of Outsourcing to LEA Performance', Journal of Education Policy, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 485 – 496.
[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680930600732193]

with C. Holden (2006) `The Business-Social Policy Nexus: Corporate Power and Corporate Inputs into Social Policy´, Journal Of Social Policy, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 473–494
[http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=449181]

(2005) `International class conflict and social policy´, Social Policy and Society, special issue on Political Economy, vol. 4 no. 2, pp. 217-226.
[http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=293071]

(2005) `Promoting business-centred welfare: international and European business perspectives on social policy, Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 15, pp. 65-80. [http://esp.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/1/65?etoc]

Chapters in Books

with Z. Irving (2011) ‘Varieties of Crisis’, in Farnsworth, K and Irving, Z. (eds), Social Policy in Challenging Times, Bristol: Policy Press.

(2011) ‘From Economic Crisis to a New Age of Austerity: the UK’, in Farnsworth, K and Irving, Z. (eds), Social Policy in Challenging Times, Bristol: Policy Press.

(2011) 'All the Wrong Answers: Labour's Corporate-Centred Education Initiatives' in Green, A. (ed) Blair's Educational Legacy Thirteen Years of New Labour, London: Palgrave Macmillan

(2010) 'Business Power, Social Policy Preferences and Development' in Marques, J.C and Utting, P. (eds) Business, Politics and Public Policy: Implications for Inclusive Development, London:Palgrave

(2008) ‘Business and Global Social Policy Formation' in Yeates, N. (ed) Understanding Global Social Policy, Bristol: Policy Press

(2008) ‘Globalisation, Business and Public Policy: International and National Dimensions’ in Kennett, P. (ed) Globalisation, Governance and Public Policy, Cheltenham: Edward-Elgar

(2007) 'Business, Policy and Politics' inIrving, Z. and Hodgson, S. M. (eds) Policy Reconsidered, Bristol: Policy Press

Full list of publications (pdf)