The consumer in public services : choice, values and difference / [electronic resource]
Simmons, Richard(Richard A.),editor.
Powell, Martin A.,1961-editor.
Greener, Ian,editor.
This book challenges existing stereotypes about the 'consumer as chooser'. It shows how we must develop a more sophisticated understanding of consumers, examining their place and role as users of public services. The analysis shows that there are many different 'faces' of the consumer and that it is not easy to categorise users in particular environments.  Drawing on empirical research, "The consumer in public services" critiques established assumptions surrounding citizenship and consumption. Choice may grab the policy headlines but other essential values are revealed as important throughout the book. One issue concerns the 'subjects' of consumerism, or who it is that presents themselves when they come to use public services. Another concerns consumer 'mechanisms', or the ways that public services try to relate to these people. Bringing these issues together for the first time, with cutting-edge contributions from a range of leading researchers, the message is that today's public services must learn to cope with a differentiated public.  This book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of social policy and public administration. It will also appeal to policy-makers leading 'user-focused' public service reforms, as well as those responsible for implementing such reforms at the frontline of modern public services.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The consumer in public services; Contents; List of figures and tables; Acknowledgements; Notes on contributors; Foreword; 1. Introduction: managing the 'unmanageable consumer'; 2. The consumer and New Labour: the consumer as king?; 3. Narratives of public service delivery in the UK: comparing central and local government; 4. Understanding the 'differentiated consumer' in public services; 5. Differentiating consumers in professional services: information empowerment and the emergence of the fragmented consumer; 6. The healthcare consumer; 7. The consumer in education.
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 21 Jan 2022).
This book challenges existing stereotypes about the 'consumer as chooser'. It shows how we must develop a more sophisticated understanding of consumers, examining their place and role as users of public services. The analysis shows that there are many different 'faces' of the consumer and that it is not easy to categorise users in particular environments.  Drawing on empirical research, "The consumer in public services" critiques established assumptions surrounding citizenship and consumption. Choice may grab the policy headlines but other essential values are revealed as important throughout the book. One issue concerns the 'subjects' of consumerism, or who it is that presents themselves when they come to use public services. Another concerns consumer 'mechanisms', or the ways that public services try to relate to these people. Bringing these issues together for the first time, with cutting-edge contributions from a range of leading researchers, the message is that today's public services must learn to cope with a differentiated public.  This book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of social policy and public administration. It will also appeal to policy-makers leading 'user-focused' public service reforms, as well as those responsible for implementing such reforms at the frontline of modern public services.
Customer services
Public administration
Municipal services
Consumption (Economics)