Rate My Professor Adam Stebbing

Dr. Adam Stebbing is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Macquarie University, within the Faculty of Arts' Department of Sociology. He earned a Bachelor of Social Science with First Class Honours (BSocSci Hons 1) and a PhD from Macquarie University in 2011. His doctoral thesis, titled 'The politics of the new welfare state: social tax expenditures and the second tier of Australian welfare,' analyzed the role of social tax expenditures in Australia's welfare system. Stebbing's research focuses on the dynamics of Australian social policy, including social tax expenditures, asset-based welfare, housing finance, intergenerational equity, population ageing, climate change and social policy, retirement incomes, social service marketisation, and community care outcomes. His work examines how fiscal policies and market mechanisms contribute to social inequality and shape welfare provision across domains such as housing, health, childcare, domestic and family violence, and ageing.

Stebbing has made significant contributions through numerous peer-reviewed publications and applied research projects. Key works include 'Universal welfare by “other means”? Social tax expenditures and the Australian dual welfare state' (Journal of Social Policy, 2010, with Ben Spies-Butcher), cited over 127 times; 'The decline of a homeowning society? Asset-based welfare, retirement and intergenerational equity in Australia' (Housing Studies, 2016, with Ben Spies-Butcher), cited over 104 times; and 'Wage-Earners' Welfare after Economic Reform: Refurbishing, Retrenching or Hollowing Out Social Protection in Australia and New Zealand?' (Social Policy & Administration, 2013, with Shaun Wilson, Ben Spies-Butcher, and Simon St John), cited 73 times. He co-edited 'Designing social service markets: Risk, regulation and rent-seeking' (ANU Press, 2022, with Gabrielle Meagher and Diana Perche). Additional publications cover topics like 'Climate change and the welfare state? Exploring Australian attitudes to climate and social policy' (Journal of Sociology, 2016) and 'Measuring consumer outcomes: development and testing of the Australian Community Care Outcomes Measure' (Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2017). Stebbing has conducted program evaluations, such as the impact evaluation of the SafeT pilot, and contributed to reports like 'Housing and the 2025 Australian Federal Election.' He teaches units including SOCI3080 Economic Futures: Work, Inequality and Power and has supervised postgraduate theses in sociology.