Understanding Social Policy

In the eighth edition of this highly successful text, the authors seek to develop readers’ appreciation of the key substantive areas of social policy but also the context and processes which surround their development.
With case studies reviewing contemporary topics and examples, new chapters, and a greater emphasis on key principles, themes, and issues within the policy areas, this revised and updated edition combines an assessment of the breadth of social policy study and considers policy changes since the previous edition.
Written for people who have had no previous training in the social sciences, with the needs of social workers, nurses, health visitors, and other social policy ‘practitioners’ very much in mind, as well as those studying social policy, the eighth edition of Understanding Social Policy brings a classic textbook right up to date.

Spis treści:
List of Tables.
Preface to the Eighth Edition.
1. Studying Social Policy.
Introduction.
The Individual and Society.
Rights and Obligations.
Social Policy: Magpie, Jelly–baby or Side–salad?.
The Contents of this Book.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
2. The Shaping of Contemporary Social Policy.
Introduction.
Poverty and the State before the Welfare State.
The Emergence of a ‘Welfare State’ in the Early Twentieth Century.
Beveridge’s ‘Five Giants’.
The Welfare State after Beveridge.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
3. The Making of Social Policy.
Introduction.
The Representative Government Model.
The Central Government System.
Devolution.
Local Government.
The United Kingdom in Europe.
The Global Context.
The Voice of the People?.
Influences on Policy Making.
Ministerial Power: the Role of Officials and the Influence of Outside Groups and Policy Communities.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
4. Implementation .
Introduction.
Structures for Policy Implementation: Under Central Government.
Structures for Policy Implementation: Under Local Government.
Analysing Policy Implementation.
Issues about the Implications of the Way Policy is Formed.
Issues about ‘Layers’ in the Policy Transfer Process.
Factors Affecting the Responses of Implementation Agencies.
Horizontal Interorganizational Relationships.
The Social, Political and Economic Environment.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
5. Social Security.
Introduction.
The Distinctive Characteristics of the UK System of Social Security.
Contributory Benefits.
Benefits that the State Requires the Employer to Provide.
Non–contributory, Non–means–tested, Contingent Benefits.
Means–tested Benefits.
Tax Credits.
Statistics on the Benefit System.
Pension Reform.
Problems with Means–testing.
Social Security Assumptions about Family Life and Women’s Roles.
Social Security Benefit Levels and Poverty.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
6. Employment Policy.
Introduction.
Alternative Approaches to Employment Policy.
The Evolution of the UK Approach to Employment Policy.
The Impact upon the UK of European Union Membership.
The Main Employment Policy Measures.
Training.
Encouraging/Enforcing Labour Market Participation.
Reducing Unemployment or Stimulating Employment?.
Government Regulation of Work Conditions and Job Security.
Employment and Social Policy: a European Future?.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
7. Health Policy.
Introduction.
The Organization and Management of the National Health Service.
Patient Access to Health Services.
Management and Professional Accountability.
The Financing of the National Health Service.
Need and the Rationing of the Health Service.
Equality of Treatment: the Impact of the Private Sector.
Equality of Treatment: Inequalities in Health and Medical Treatment.
Health Policy or Illness Policy?.
The Representation and Protection of the Public.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
8. Social Care for Adults.
Introduction.
An Overview of Social Care Services.
Residential Care: a More Detailed Examination.
Care Outside Residential Homes.
Direct Payments and Personal Budgets.
The Relationship Between Personal Social Care and the Health Service.
Needs and Priorities.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
9. Education and Children.
Introduction.
The Organization and Management of the State School System.
Higher and Further Education.
Child Care.
Child Protection.
Control over the Education System.
The Government and the Curriculum.
Diversity and Selectivity in the Education System.
Education and the Disadvantaged.
Education and Minority Ethnic Groups.
Special Education and Other Welfare Measures.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
10. Housing.
Introduction.
How the Housing System Acquired its Present Shape.
The Social Housing Sector.
Owner–occupation.
The Private Rented Sector.
Homelessness.
Social Exclusion and Residualization.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
11. The UK in the Wider World.
Introduction.
Policy Learning.
Explaining the Shape of Developed Welfare States.
Gender, Diversity and Culture in Comparative Theory.
Comparing Social Policies.
Social Policy from Above and Below.
Conclusion: the UK in Comparative Context.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
12. Social Policy and Social Change.
Introduction.
Changes in the Family.
Changes in Working Life.
Changes in the UK Population.
Conclusions.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
References.
Index

Nota biograficzna:
Michael Hill is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, University of London and the University of Brighton. He is the author of numerous books on Social Policy and the study of policy processes.
Zoë Irving is lecturer in Comparative Social Policy at the University of Sheffield. She is co–editor of Policy Reconsidered, Meanings Politics and Practices (2007) and has published in the areas of gender and employment and learning and teaching Social Policy.

Okładka tylna:
In the eighth edition of this highly successful text, the authors seek to develop readers’ appreciation of the key substantive areas of social policy but also the context and processes which surround their development.
With case studies reviewing contemporary topics and examples, new chapters, and a greater emphasis on key principles, themes, and issues within the policy areas, this revised and updated edition combines an assessment of the breadth of social policy study and considers policy changes since the previous edition.
Written for people who have had no previous training in the social sciences, with the needs of social workers, nurses, health visitors, and other social policy ‘practitioners’ very much in mind, as well as those studying social policy, the eighth edition of Understanding Social Policy brings a classic textbook right up to date.