In his final statement of the book Welshman states ‘if this book has documented and analysed the cycle speech and Transmitted Deprivation Research Programme, and has helped to place current policies on social exclusion in historical perspective it will have served its purpose’ and although it would make a very short review the answer to this statement is ‘yes’ it has. From Transmitted Deprivation to Social Exclusion starts with the development of Sir Keith Joseph's ‘cycle of deprivation’ theory in 1974 and details the research programme into transmitted deprivation set in motion by him. The book gives details of the purpose of the research programme, the problems it encountered and the people involved. The final section shows how New Labour's approach to families, children, social exclusion and poverty is in many ways a reinvention of the debates that contributed to the research programme 30 years earlier.

For someone unfamiliar with the detail of the research programme outlined in this book the introductory chapter is a little daunting: there is an expectation that the reader will at least know what the ‘research programme’ is as the book does not seek to explain it but aims to give a clearer and more detailed account of the programme. There is little acknowledgment that this information may be completely new to anyone but when discussing a programme set up in the 1970s there will be many people – not least students of social policy – who have no previous knowledge of the debates. However, the apprehension that may be felt at the start of this book is soon lost in the excellent historical overview of not only the research programme but the political and social context in which it was based.

Welshman's book places the academic debates around transmitted deprivation into a clear and chronological framework and he highlights not only key players but, just as importantly, those people who were absent from the debates. In addition he is able to shed light on the reasons that individuals were or were not involved. His use of historical sources combined with interviews with those involved gives a depth to the book that draws the reader in.

This book is certainly not a dip in and out book, at least not until it has been read in its entirety at least once. Welshman has so much detail and creates a wonderful web feeling as he shows how complex the interplay between and within both academic and political circles was and continues to be. In places it seems that there is so much detail, so many names, research studies, government departments that the overarching aim of the book will be lost, but it is almost impossible to pick out anything that could be seen as irrelevant.

The topic area as highlighted in the book is one that is too rarely debated in the academic field. There is a reticence to discuss the ‘cycle theory’ but an acknowledgment that ‘something is going on’. What is striking is how the author shows that it was this reluctance by social scientists to get involved in the debate that left the way open for a more right-wing, eugenicist, victim-blaming approach. The resurgence of these debates in the past ten years almost suggests a commonsense and research-based justification; Welshman's analysis challenges these justifications on both fronts.

Although it is well known that social policy is cyclical, it is not always shown so clearly. The final section of the book, which looks at the way that Blair reintroduced the cycle of deprivation theory rebranded within social exclusion debates, was on first reading a little disappointing. There was an expectation that this final section would open up a whole new way of seeing the debate and show new clarity. However, what it does is take much of the underlying knowledge that we have and, by making explicit links between the Joseph's cycle speech and Tony Blair's third way shows a clear lineal connection. Instead of a blinding flash of enlightenment, the reader is left with an ‘of course’ sort of feeling. Ironically, this sort of misconception is exactly what is at the heart of this book. Academics and politicians (and the media) are desperate to find the answer to the question of transmitted deprivation; however, in many ways, the answers are the same as they have always been – no one questions why the children of the rich remain rich but somehow the reason why the children of the poor stay poor is a constant and perplexing puzzle. What Welshman shows is that politicians and policy makers have always blamed the poor and without the evidence, research and political will to challenge this view they continue to do so.