What is social policy? : understanding the welfare state / Daniel Béland.

What is social policy? : understanding the welfare state / Daniel Béland.

9780745645834
0745645836
9780745645841 (pbk.)
0745645844 (pbk.)

Cambridge, U.K. ; Malden, Mass. : Polity, 2010.

English

viii, 199 pages ; 22 cm.

HN18.3 .B45 2010

361.61

From housing, pensions, and family benefits, to health-care, unemployment insurance, and social assistance, the welfare state is a key aspect of our lives. But social programs are contested political realities that we can't hope to understand without locating them within the "big picture." This book provides a concise political and sociological introduction to social policy, helping readers to grasp the nature of social programs and the political struggles surrounding them. It takes a broad comparative and historical viewpoint on the United States, using an international perspective to contextualize American social policy within the developed world. Provocative and engaging, it offers insight into a wide range of social policy issues such as: welfare regimes, welfare state development, the politics of retrenchment and restructuring; the relationship between social programs and various forms of inequality; changing family and economic relations; the role of private social benefits; the potential impact of globalization; and debates about the future of the welfare state. What is Social Policy? will be stimulating reading for upper-level students of sociology, political science, public policy, and social work.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Political sociology series.

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