'It's a small world': Mental health policy under welfare capitalism since 1945

Abstract

Much sociological theorising about community care in mental health universalises from Anglo-American contexts. So do assessments of policy shifts towards deinstitutionalisation, whose tendency towards negativity largely reflects the downsized mental health care systems that have emerged in welfare regimes, strongly influenced by neoliberal political ideology. Drawing on the framework of Esping-Anderson (1990), the article seeks to theorise from a wider range of welfare regimes, including Sweden and Italy, where political influences on policy provide more support for a degree of optimism. It also seeks to demonstrate in outline the advantages of analysing global influences on mental health policy under welfare capitalism, as key factors shaping policy throughout the whole post-1945 period.