Biography

I am Professor Emeritus of Social Policy at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.

My main research interests are in the areas of the control and allocation of money in the family, violence against women, health and social care and the ethics of social research.

Working in the broad field of Social Policy research, my aim throughout my career has been to be intellectually innovative and academically rigorous, while also responding to the issues and questions raised by those who are responsible for developing policy and practice both nationally and internationally.

I was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2011 and presented with a Life time Achievement Award by the Social Policy Association in 2010. I was appointed an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences  2008.

Career
I began my academic career at the University of Kent in 1976, and for twenty years worked mainly as a social researcher, supported by a variety of different grants.  From 1985 I was employed as a researcher in the National Health Service and then in 1990 went to be Director of Research at the National Institute for Social Work (NISW).  I returned to Kent in 1995 to be Professor of Social Policy in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. 

In all these different contexts I was responsible for planning research projects, negotiating funding and ensuring that the research was properly carried out and made available to those who might find it useful.  I have been responsible for research grants totalling nearly £4 million and have received awards from over twelve different funding bodies. 

I have published seven books, and over 50 articles and other publications.  I have also made a contribution to policy debates in a variety of different fields, including policy relating to families, poverty and inequality, social security, financial exclusion, violence against women, taxation, and health and social care.

Education
My first degree was a 2.1 in Historical Geography from the University of Cambridge.  After graduating I married Ray Pahl and spent the next few 15 years combining the care of our three children with freelance work as a researcher and teacher, and voluntary work for the Citizens Advice Bureau and with schools and community groups.   I was awarded my PhD by the University of Kent in 1988.

Read my CV here.

Research

Research interests

I have long-standing research interests in three areas.  These are the control and allocation of money within the family, domestic violence, and health and social care. 

My research on the control and allocation of money was published as Money and Marriage (Macmillan 1989) and Invisible Money: Family Finances in the Electronic Economy (Policy Press 1999). I have a wide range of international links and welcome contacts and collaboration with other researchers working on family finances, financial exclusion, new forms of money and related topics. My current research is concerned with tax and tax policy and with the conflict between reason and emotion in financial matters. 

My research on domestic violence was published as Private Violence and Public Policy (Routledge 1985) and led on to invitations to represent the UK at international meetings organised by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. My work was quoted in the Grand Committee debate on the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill (see Hansard 5 February 2004). I have also written about domestic violence as a global social problem, publishing with two graduate students who completed their PhDs in the School.

From 2002 to 2008 I worked as a consultant to the Department of Health on the implementation of the Research Governance Framework in the field of Social Care. As part of this work I carried out a survey of research activity in social services and lectured and consulted extensively on the ethics of research. Read more here.

Current
I am currently working on a number of on-going topics.  These include the impact of the current cuts on family finances, the importance of emotion in shaping decisions about money, and the implications of taxation and tax policy for social policy.  I welcome queries from the media about these topics.

Past
Past projects include a major study of the social services workforce and research on community care, carried out when I was Director of Research at the National Institute for Social Work.  Other studies, now completed, were concerned with:

• Families with a child with a learning disability
• Community care for people with mental illnesses
• Day services for elderly people
• Health care for Travellers
• Violence against social care staff
  

Publications

Selected publications

• Invisible Money: Family Finances in the Electronic Economy, Policy Press, Bristol, 1999.
• Money and Marriage, Japanese edition with new material, Asauo Agency, Tokyo, 1994.
• Care Staff in Transition (with P. Allen and L. Quine), HMSO, pp. 165, 1990.
• Money and Marriage, Macmillan, pp. 215, 1989.
• Private Violence and Public Policy, Routledge, pp. 214, 1985
• A Refuge for Battered Women, HMSO, pp. 81, 1978
• Managers and their Wives, (with R. E. Pahl), Allen Lane Penguin Press, 1971.

Articles in refereed journals

• Family finances, individualisation, spending patterns and access to credit, Journal of Socio-Economics, 37, 2, 577-591, 2008.
• Power, ideology and resources within families; a theoretical context for empirical research on sleep, Sociological Research Online, 12, 5, 2007.
• What counts as research?  The implications of the Research Governance Framework in Social Care (with J. Boddy, A. Boaz, and C. Lupton), International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 9, 4, 317-330,  2006.
• Individualisation in couple finances: who pays for the children?  Social Policy and Society, 4, 4, 381-392, 2005.
• Couples and their money: patterns of accounting and accountability in the domestic economy', Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 13, 4, 502 – 517, 2000.
• The gendering of spending within households, Radical Statistics, 75, 38 - 48, Autumn 2000.
• Donne e denaro nell’economica elettronica, in F. Bimbi e E. Ruspini, (eds) Poverta delle donne e transformazione dei rapporti di genere, Inchiesta, no. 128, aprile-giugno, edizioni Dedalo, Bari, 2000.
• Working in the social services: job satisfaction, stress and violence (with S. Balloch), British Journal of Social Work, 28, 329-350, 1998.
• Denaro, potere e accesso alle risorse nell’ambito del matrimonio, Polis, IX, 2, 177-194, 1995.
• His money, her money: recent research on financial organisation in marriage, Journal of Economic Psychology, 16, 3, 1995.
• Money, power and inequality within marriage (with C. Vogler), Sociological Review, 42, 2, 263-288, 1994.
• Social and economic change and the organisation of money in marriage (with C. Vogler), Work, Employment and Society, 7, 1, 71-95, 1993.

Chapters in books

• The family and the production of welfare, in Social Policy, edited by J. Baldock, N. Manning and S. Vickerstaff, Oxford University Press, 154 – 188, 2012.
• The cost of caring for a child with a disability, in Cash and Care: Policy Challenges in the Welfare State, edited by C. Glendinning and P. Kemp, Bristol, Policy Press, 2006.
• Globalisation and family violence, in Global Social Problems, edited by V. George and R. Page, Cambridge, Polity Press, (with Hasanbegovic C. and Yu, M-K.), 2004.
• Widening the scope of social policy: families, financial services and the impact of technology, in Risk and Citizenship  Key Issues in Welfare, edited by R. Edwards and J. Glover, Routledge, 2001.
• Couples and their money: theory and practice in personal finances, in Social Policy Review 13, edited by R. Sykes, N. Ellison and C. Bochel, Policy Press, 2001.
• Money, households and social polarisation, in Reviewing Class Analysis, edited by R. Crompton, M. Savage, F. Devine and J. Scott, Sociological Review Monograph, 87 – 106, 2000.
• Patterns of exclusion in the electronic economy, in Researching Poverty, edited by J. Bradshaw and R. Sainsbury, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000.
• Coping with physical violence and verbal abuse, chapter in Social Services: Working under Pressure, edited by S. Balloch, J. McLean and M. Fisher, Policy Press, Bristol ps. 87-106, 1999.
• Health professionals and violence against women, in P. Kingston and B. Penhale, Family Violence and the Caring Professions, Milton Keynes, Open University, 1995.
• Preface to It Hurts Me Too: Children’s Experiences of Domestic Violence and Refuge Life, by Alex Saunders et al., National Institute for Social Work, Women’s Aid Federation England and ChildLine, 1995.
• ‘Like the job - but hate the organisation’: social workers and managers in social services, in Social Policy Review 6, edited by R. Page and J. Baldock, Social Policy Association, 1994.
• Force for change or optional extra?  The impact of research on policy in social work and social welfare, in Changing Social Work and Welfare, edited by P. Carter, T. Jeffs and M. Smith, Open University Press, Buckingham, 1992.
• Tracing the impact of feminist research on community care policy, in Community Care Research and Community Care Policy, edited by R. Smith and L. Harrison, School for Advanced Urban Studies, Bristol, 1992.

Reports

• Report from the Planning Group on Ethics Review in Social Care Research, report to the Department of Health, 2007.
• Research Governance in Social Care: Results of the 2005 Baseline Survey, report to the Department of Health (DH), 2006. 
• Ethics Review in Social Care Research: Report on the Consultation, Report to DH, 2005.
• Ethics Review in Social Care Research: Option Appraisal and Guidelines, Report to DH, 2004.
• Research Governance in Social Care: the Findings of the 2002 Baseline Assessment Survey, London, Report to DH, 2002.
• The Social Services Workforce in Transition (with six others).  Report to the Department of Health, National Institute for Social Work, 1997.

Activity

• Professional activities
• Member of the R & D committee, Thomas Pocklington Trust for people with sight loss (2006-now).
• Founder/Chair of the Canterbury Society (2008-now).
• Trustee of the Financial Inclusion Centre (2008-2010).
• Trustee of Grandparents Plus, based at the Young Foundation (2004-2008).

Editorial

• Co-editor of the Journal of Social Policy (2002-2007).

Memberships

• Honorary Member of the Faculty of Public Health.
• Member of the Academy of Social Sciences.
• Member of the British Sociological Association.
• Member of the Fawcett Society.
• Member of the International Sociological Association.
• Member of the International Association for Economic Psychology.
• Member of the Social Policy Association.
• Member of the Social Research Association.
• Member of the Women's Budget Group.
  

Links

Websites of interest

• The gender impact of social policy.
• Domestic violence in England.
• ESRC Gender Equality Network.
• Social Care Research Ethics Committee.
• The case for increased equality
• The Social Policy Association