This book reveals that the Conservatives' attack on the Welfare State is not only unjust but inefficient. It shows how the "caring" professionals who run our social services have been put in the untenable position where the policies they administer are punitive, discriminatory and inegalitarian. Its unique feature is the combination of political analysis with attention to the details of change in the laws of social security. It examines the language of Thatcherism - words like "family", "enterprise" and "independence" - and contrasts with this with what has actually been done. It shows how social policy in the 1980s has been formulated for the deliberate degradation of the poor.