Humanities & Social Sciences
January 2026
Histories, challenges and dilemmas
Migration and social policy in a changing world bridges the generally separate fields of social policy and migration studies. This book traces social policy responses to migration from the Industrial Revolution to today's era of globalisation and large-scale migration.
Through case studies from across the globe, the book explores key themes including rural-urban migration, social citizenship, welfare internationalism and diasporic care systems. It examines how migrants are included in or excluded from social citizenship in host societies, and how they become providers of welfare services such as health and social care.
Moving beyond a methodological nationalist focus, the book investigates migrant incorporation into welfare states through family networks, faith communities, and other informal welfare structures. It combines migrants' experiences with host societies' immigration politics, institutional perspectives and policies to present a comprehensive analysis of the migration-welfare relationship.
This volume fills a gap in academic literature and offers policymakers, practitioners and scholars a framework for understanding the interplay between migration and social policy in our changing world.
