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Call for Papers: RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2011 - New Welfare Geographies With apologies for cross-posting, colleagues are invited to submit abstracts for consideration for inclusion in a double session exploring New Welfare Geographies, sponsored by the Geography of Justice Working Group and Urban Geography Research Group, at the 2011 RGS-Annual Conference. The 2011 conference will be held in London between 31 August and 2nd September 2011. NEW WELFARE GEOGRAPHIES: THE REMAKING OF THE BRITISH WELFARE STATE? The British welfare state has always been open to both American and Continental European influences: on the one hand, reflecting Americanized entrepreneurialism and individualization, while on the other hand, reflecting more Continentalist urges towards social welfare, redistribution and community solidarity. However, the unprecedented October 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review threatens to fundamentally remake the British welfare state. With the introduction of significant cuts to benefits and eligibility, growing conditionality, increased emphasis upon both individual responsibility and the role of charity in welfare provision, and the (re) introduction of a much more explicitly moral dimension to the welfare debate, the balance is perhaps tipping towards the American model. Such developments potentially represent a sea change in how the British government relates to its vulnerable populations and places. In this session we are interested in conceptual and empirical research - both current and future-oriented - that may help us better grasp the profound geographical impacts of this restructuring. Potential foci for papers might include: * the geographically uneven impacts of welfare cuts and public sector job losses (including the capping of housing benefits and its relationships with urban change/state-sponsored gentrification); * specific impacts upon the wellbeing and citizenship of vulnerable populations (social housing tenants, the working poor, the long term sick and disabled, homeless people, asylum seekers, recent immigrants); * representations of welfare and the new morality (the deserving and the undeserving poor/places, individualisation and self provision); * the Big Society, role of charitable provision, the changing relationships between the 3rd sector, local communities and the state, and new regimes of welfare governance; * relationships to 'roll-out' and 'roll-back' actually-existing neoliberalism; * the potential Americanization of the UK welfare state (policy mobility, rhetoric and practice in areas such as workfare); * implications for comparative welfare studies; * alternative visions and practices, and resistance to the new welfare geographies; * the methodologies that might be best suited to grasping the critical changes to the welfare state at different scales. Format: A double, paper based session consisting of 2 x four 20 minute papers to leave time for discussion. Interested colleagues should submit an abstract of c200-250 words together with the title of their proposed paper and the names and affiliation of authors to Geoff or Jon not later than Friday 4th February 2011. Geoff DeVerteuil, Southampton University, [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Jon May, Queen Mary University of London, [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Dr Geoff DeVerteuil Lecturer, School of Geography University of Southampton Highfield Southampton UK, SO17 1BJ Tel: +44 (0)23 80 599622 Fax: +44 (0)23 80 593295 email: [log in to unmask]