Over the last 30 years, governments of many Western countries have repeatedly called for an end to welfare. While the virtue of this goal and the means of achieving it continue to be debated in politics, much of contemporary social science research on welfare assumes that, in fact, the end has already occurred. This volume contributes to a clearer understanding of how, where, and to what extent welfare really has changed since the 1980s. The book examines questions of change and continuity while exploring various fields of welfare policy and practice in the Western world. Contents include: continuity and change of welfare policy and practice - an introduction * beyond public and private? - dismantling and reassembling welfare * mutations of workfare - fast policy dynamics in late neoliberal times * on continuity of welfare in the Federal Republic of Germany * recovering citizens in post-welfare America - ethnographic reflections from the informal recovery house to the state penitentiary * change and consistency of familialism - a comparative analysis of familiar care in conservative welfare states * the daily struggle in welfare offices * regulating the poor: revisited - comments on current re-arrangements of social policy and social services in Germany.