Main description:

Provides a rich synthesis of research and theory of nascent and emergent innovative work of social suffering through rich empirical examination of changing welfare structures, regimes and technologies.

Synthesises, critiques and expands the boundaries of existing research which has been undertaken from a number of different disciplinary and international perspectives and examines in rich empirical analysis its implications for specific subjectivities.

Fills an existing gap within the international literature through focusing upon the Australian case and empirically demonstrate the significance of Australia to identifying and understanding global trends.

Contents:

0.Introduction: Social suffering and resistance in the social protection system. Part I: Structure, power and social suffering. 1.'Problem family' representations: the construction of intergenerational disadvantage in policy. 2.Corroding motherhood: Australian single mothers' social suffering and supplication. 3.Violence-induced social suffering and the toxic mix of automated and privatised social security: the case of the Cashless Debit Card in Australia. 4.Public service ethics and the Income Compliance Program. 5.Barriers to recovery: the impact of disability social security reform on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians living with mental health conditions. 6.Neoliberal principles and the perpetuation of ableism in the economic participation stream of the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building program. 7.Whose aged care? My Aged Care representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and ageing. 8.Torture in the Meantime: Australia's mandatory detention regime for asylum seekers. Part II: Practices of resistance and hope. 9.Subjectification, suffering and emotional resistance: life on the Cashless Debit Card. 10.Universal income and services for people with disability in Australia: lessons from the blind pension. 11.Neoliberalism and suffering in higher education: compassionate pedagogy as an act of resistance. 12.Transforming colonial social suffering: strategies of hope and resistance by LGBTIQ+ Indigenous peoples in settler-colonial Australia. 13. First Nations organisations and strategies of disruption and resistance to settler-colonial governance in Australia. 14. Conclusion: Making suffering legible.