The Short Guide To Social Policy

This fully updated edition of an essential introductory text offers a concise guide to the key structures and concepts in social policy and is now supplemented by unique and innovative digital content that adds depth and provides a truly integrated way of learning. It is accompanied by a digital app, which is free to download and use with the book, that includes short videos with commentary, interactive charts and ‘unboxed’ examples that expand key issues raised in the text, enabling students to engage more deeply with statistical information. The book draws on examples from around the world and focuses on explaining key terms and introducing key debates. Written by experienced authors and teachers, the text explores the five pillars of welfare; social security, employment, education, health and housing, and this new edition adds a further chapter providing an overview of other fields such as criminal justice, social care and family policy. This will be an invaluable resource for students new to social policy.

This one-stop text for new and prospective social work students is easy to read and full of essential information and practical advice about what is needed to qualify and practice in social work.

This updated introductory text provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the essentials of social policy. Specifically designed for students who are new to the field, it explores the key policy goals, delivery mechanisms, and policy dilemmas of the five pillars of welfare. The Short Guide to Social Policy also has an international focus, drawing on examples from around the world to illustrate key debates and concepts, and each chapter includes a concluding key point summary and detailed guide to further reading. Complete with a free digital app and written in a clear and accessible style by scholars who are both experienced authors and teachers, this guide will be indispensable reading for every student of social policy.

In a political climate that is ever more focused on austerity and efficiency, it is crucial that those who advocate for, support, and implement social policy know how to analyze it and understand its effects, successes, and failures. This volume offers a clear introduction to social policy analysis, starting from the question of why social policy analysis is worthwhile, then moving on to how it can be used to consider approaches to a wide range of social welfare issues.

Providing a short and lively introduction for all students new to social policy, this text analyses how healthcare and education, jobs and money and even physical and emotional security are mediated through social policy.

As a field, health and social care is facing considerable challenge and debate, in the UK and internationally. This clear and succinct text offers a valuable introductory guide to this multidisciplinary subject, helping people who want to study or work in health and social care understand why these services matter, how they have developed and how they work. Framed by vital historical and social policy context, the book considers: · The social context in which health and social care are delivered · The history and nature of current services · Organising, funding and delivering services · How to be a professional in practice Including chapter summaries and links to further reading, this text will be invaluable to undergraduate students on programmes in Health and Social Care, Social Work, Nursing, Allied Health Professions, Social Policy and related applied social science subjects, as well as to A-level and Foundation programmes prior to University.

Some have argued that the rate and scale of human-induced global environmental change is so significant that it now constitutes a new geological epoch in the Earth’s history called the Anthropocene (Zalasiewicz et al, 2011; Steffen et al, 2011). More than ever, there is a need to have appropriate and effective environmental policies that address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity, food, water and energy insecurity, environmental pollution, poverty alleviation and environmental equity. The short guide to environmental policy provides a concise introduction to post-war environmental policies, bringing together perspectives from a range of fields including economics, sociology, politics and social policy. It covers a broad range of issues, including causes and effects of contemporary environmental issues, policy approaches to addressing environmental problems, challenges to implementing environmental policies and future environmental challenges. This book is an essential introduction to all those interested in how policies can address environmental problems.

Social Policy: An Introduction is a comprehensive, readable and thought-provoking overview of current developments in social policy and welfare. It represents an ideal entry-point for students at degree and pre-degree level who are beginning studies in social policy. It also includes some in-depth discussion of key policy questions which will be of interest to professionals and practitioners in such fields as health, medicine and nursing, social services, education, law and policing.This is the first introductory text in social policy to combine discussion of key policy-making themes (power and decision-making, paying for welfare, social control, the role of the professions) with particular areas of social policy. There are separate chapters on social security, education, health, housing and environment, and community care, as well as on the history and principles of British social policy. Readers will gain a perspective on the framework of social policy in Britain today, and also on why and how policies have developed in the way they have. In order to consolidate learning and to develop a critical approach, each chapter is concluded with further questions and suggestions for research and reading. The book is completed with a glossary of key terms in social policy.