Introducing Social Policy - Softcover

Alcock, Dr Cliff; Payne, Dr Sarah; Sullivan, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0132722127 ISBN 13: 9780132722124

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2000

Synopsis

This text provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible overview of the development and contemporary provision for social welfare in Britain. The text begins with an historical overview of the `roots' of the British welfare state and explores the social, political and economic contexts within which social policy operates. It then goes on to examine the different ideological perspectives that are used to analyse social policies and to outline the main areas of social policy in Britain. The final section explores some contemporary `themes' in social policy, its contemporary context and future directions.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Introducing

Social Policy (revised edition)

 

Social Policy as an academic field of study is one of those curious items that we recognise when we see it, but which is notoriously difficult to describe. It is, at one and the same time, the theoretical pursuit of norms about how we think society ‘ought’ to behave, but also the practical application and implementation of those policies that we consider to be ‘social’. What then is Social Policy?

This revised edition provides students with the knowledge necessary to answer this question. The text aims to provide an up-to-date yet accessible overview of the development of, and the context for, the provision of social welfare in contemporary Britain. The authors discuss the historical, ideological and political context within which social policy has developed and explore the changing contemporary context within which social policy is developing today.

• explores the historical development of social policy through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
• examines the policy and political context within which social policy is made
• considers the ways in which different ideologies are used in explaining social policy and how such theoretical concepts are necessary to understanding social policy
• looks at the policy areas which form the backbone of the British welfare state and have traditionally been considered the very essence of social policy thinking and analysis
• revised to include more recent legislative changes and policy directions such as the proposed ‘top-up’ fees in Higher Education and Foundation Hospital status for the best-performing NHS hospitals

The book provides the reader with a flexible and accessible introduction to social policy making in modern Britain and will prove essential reading for undergraduates of social policy, as well as students taking relevant A level, BTEC or Access courses.

Cliff Alcock is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Coventry;
Sarah Payne is a Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Bristol;
Michael Sullivan is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Wales, Swansea; Judith Carlson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire;
Mike McBeth is a Lecturer in Health Policy at the University of Birmingham;
Tony Columbo is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Warwick.

About the Author:

Michael Sullivan is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Wales, Swansea.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0132722127
• ISBN 13: 9780132722124
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352