Begging is widely condemned, but little understood. It is increasingly visible, yet politically controversial. Recent changes in British social security, housing and mental health provision can be seen to have exacerbated the extent of begging in the UK, and its persistence is an indictment of the failures of social policy throughout the Western world.

Though begging is intimately linked to issues of street homelessness, mental health, substance abuse and social exclusion, this book specifically focuses on begging as a distinctive form of marginalised economic activity.

It looks at:

the significance of face-to-face contact between beggars and passers-by;

the preoccupation with the classification of beggars;

the stigma associated with begging and judgements required by the passer-by;

the place of begging in the spectrum of informal economic activity.

The book provides a comprehensive overview and will stimulate theoretical, policy and methodological debates, driving forward the research agenda.

It is important reading for researchers, academics and students in social policy, social work, sociology, politics and socio-legal studies, and also for social work practitioners and, particularly, policy makers.