The Uses of Social Investment surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politics of social investment as the welfare policy paradigm for the twenty-first century seen through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the knowledge economy and modern familyhood. Over a span of thirty-five contributions, The Uses of Social Investment revisits the intellectual roots, surveys the evidence of social investment progress in theory and practice, and looks at research methodology and normative philosophy. In addition, the volume also reviews the criticisms that have been levelled against the social investment perspective in the academic literature. In light of the progressive, and admittedly uneven, diffusion of the social investment policy priorities across all parts of the globe, many contributions address the pressing political question of whether the social investment turn will be able to withstand the fiscal austerity backlash that has re-emerged in the low growth aftermath of the recent global financial crisis.