This book presents a psychosocial examination of the changing relationships between users of services, professionals and managers in the post-war welfare state. It: develops practice-based perspectives on changing social relations of care; discusses the psychic dimensions of entitlement, risk, responsibility, compassion and dependency in the welfare system; develops a grid to link the interpersonal, institutional and sociopolitical dimensions of successive post-war welfare settlements; explores the potential contribution of psychoanalytic concepts to social policy and practice. This book is aimed at all those who have an interest in the development of responsive welfare institutions, including policy makers, professionals and academics.