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Introduction

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Gender, Work and Social Control

Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies ((PSLS))

Abstract

The Introduction sets the book in the context of current debates surrounding Employment and Support Allowance. It explains how concerns about how to assess incapacity for work for benefits purposes date back to the first National Insurance Sickness Benefits in 1911. The chapter begins with an exploration of a key legal case, the case of Mrs E from the 1950s. Mrs E’s appeal to the National Insurance Commissioners, known as R(S)11/51, reflected many of the debates from the early twentieth century and provided the key case law for the next forty years. Her case illustrates many of the debates explored in the book. Over the last hundred years, debates about incapacity benefits have concerned disability, gender, the meaning of work and mechanisms for social control. This chapter introduces these concepts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I refer to Mrs E, rather than using her full name. For details of my approach to anonymity and other ethical matters, see the Appendix.

  2. 2.

    For details of archives, see Appendix.

  3. 3.

    For details of the main incapacity benefit schemes, including changes to names of benefits and mechanisms for appeal, see Chapter 2.

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  1. Edinburgh, UK

    Jackie Gulland

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Gulland, J. (2019). Introduction. In: Gender, Work and Social Control. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60564-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60564-1_1

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