A book about the defining assumptions and assumed definition of the welfare state. It is a work that pulls apart social categories like "disability" or "need" and shows how they function politically and where they come from historically.

"[T]he author sets out to challenge the fundamental construction of social phenomena." --Social Service Review "One of the most exciting works on the development and character of the welfare state, as well as a profound treatment of the ways in which apparent technical decisions so often reflect changing political values." --Alan Altshulter, Dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, New York University "Deborah Stone demonstrates that disability is a movable social boundary whose limits depend on cultural consensus. Her elegant analysis has important political implications." --Aaron Wildavsky, President, American Political Science Association