Publisher's Synopsis
This accessible and comprehensive textbook introduces social policy and outlines the conceptual and analytical tools essential to the understanding and investigation of social policy in any society, enabling the student to engage with the theoretical debates surrounding the discipline.
Social Policy introduces and reviews key theoretical approaches used in social policy analysis, considering competing interpretations based on social democracy, neo-liberalism and Marxism. It outlines radical critiques that address inequalities of gender, race, sexuality and age in welfare provision, and examines the issues and debates of social justice, citizenship, poverty and universalism versus selectivism. Throughout, there are a range of theoretical and practical tasks to aid students.
