Social policy debates often get lost in highly technical discussions and in day-to-day politics. This introduction to welfare theory offers an alternative approach to understanding social policy. It reviews the concepts of welfare, equality, liberty and citizenship, key political and sociological themes, old and new welfare ideologies, as well as recent theoretical developments including globalization, postmodernism and risk society.
The Principles of Social Policy provides a powerful exposition of policy making in the contemporary nation state. Social policies are shaped by prevailing political beliefs and values and they are made tangible in the form of overarching policy objectives. These may include, for example, the promotion of equality, the securing of justice or the preservation of liberty. In this text the key principles that underpin social policy in Western democracies are identified and scrutinised in clear, jargon-free language. The aims of this ground breaking text are clearly reflected in its structure. Opening chapters explore the multi-dimensional nature of the values and principles that stand behind political thought. Following this, a discussion of concepts such as equality, justice and freedom reveals the importance of values and principles in shaping the contours of social policy. In conclusion the centrality of the influence of key principles is examined as theoretical ideas introduced earlier in the book are related to the development of policy and practice in real society. This raises questions about the future of social policy and the serious implications for welfare in a fast changing world. This will be essential reading for students of social policy, applied social studies, politics and other courses concerned with the role of government and the provision of public services.
The Third Edition of this widely adopted textbook has been thoroughly revised and offers an authoritative and up-to-date coverage of the key theories, concepts and issues in social policy. The lively and readable text has been designed to provide students with the essential tools to gain a clear understanding of the theoretical debates surrounding the discipline. The book is organized into three parts: • Part One offers a detailed but accessible critique of major theoretical approaches such as neo-liberalism, Marxism, feminism and racism; • Part Two explores conceptual debates such as distributive justice and postmodernism; • PArt Three engages with contemporary social policy issues such as children, pensions and the role of New Labour. It also features newly commissioned chapters to reflect recent developments and current debates within social policy. New areas of consideration include: • Citizenship • Post-structuralism • The politics of food • Globalization Student exercises and reading lists feature throughout the text and practical examples are skilfully used to illustrate conceptual and theoretical material, making it the ideal core textbook for undergraduate social policy students, as well as those studying related welfare modules across the social sciences.
This is the second edition of a well-established study of perhaps the most controversial and contested concept in the social sciences. The book traces the historical origins of welfare to eighteenth-century sources in moral and social philosophy and shows how, in the evolution of the concept, doctrines of welfare have been associated with a variety of social philosophies, including utilitarianism, rights, individualism and collectivism. The result is a well-rounded text for students of politics, sociology and social policy, and an essential reference for researchers as well as those with a wider interest in the welfare state.
The definition and measurement of social welfare have been a vexed issue for the past century. This book makes a constructive, easily applicable proposal and suggests how to evaluate the economic situation of a society in a way that gives priority to the worse-off and that respects each individual's preferences over his or her own consumption, work, leisure and so on. This approach resonates with the current concern to go 'beyond the GDP' in the measurement of social progress. Compared to technical studies in welfare economics, this book emphasizes constructive results rather than paradoxes and impossibilities, and shows how one can start from basic principles of efficiency and fairness and end up with concrete evaluations of policies. Compared to more philosophical treatments of social justice, this book is more precise about the definition of social welfare and reaches conclusions about concrete policies and institutions only after a rigorous derivation from clearly stated principles.
Originally published in 1984 Theories of Welfare looks at theories of social administration developed in different social science disciplines. The book ranges widely and gives concise coverage to the historical and intellectual background in which the theory emerged, the implicit or explicit value assumptions, and account of the most important theoretical concepts and the major criticisms of them, an indication of the relevance to social administration and a guide to further reading.
