This collection of recent essays by the influential sociologist Herbert J. Gans brings together the many themes of Gans’s wide-ranging career to make the case for a policy-oriented vision for sociology. Sociology and Social Policy explicates and helps solve social problems by presenting a range of studies on what people, institutions, and social structures do with, for, and against one another. These works from across Gans’s areas of interest—the city, poverty, ethnicity, employment and political economy, and the relationship between race and class—together make a powerful call to action for the field of sociology.

This comprehensive Handbook provides a unique overview of the key issues and challenges facing society and social policy in the twenty-first century, discussing how welfare is conceptualised, organised and delivered in contemporary global society. Chapters engage with specific areas of social policy as well as with the social divisions and institutional infrastructures that underpin them. The Handbook also considers how social policy should respond to the challenges posed by austerity, human migration and the climate crisis.

This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region’s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.

The Role of International Organizations in Social Policy makes an important contribution to the research about social policy of nation states that are increasingly integrated both in terms of socio-economic integration and in terms of membership of international organizations. The main strength of the book is to look at ideas and the way they travel between IO and nation states. This book is important for research in the field since it reviews the scattered literature and applies analytical perspectives to selected international organizations and their social policy recommendations. In some regards it explores new grounds and offers analyses, which may be an important contribution to an emerging scientific discussion on the role of international organizations and ideas in national welfare states. We lack analyses of various international organizations and their social policy recommendations. In this regard it is one of the first encompassing contributions in the field of IO and social policy. Klaus Armingeon, University of Berne, Switzerland This book considers the role of international organizations and their promotion of ideas and recommendations in social and health policy. It explores a wide range of organizations, scrutinizing their ideas-based content, their role as policy actors and their impact on national policy. What is the role of international organizations in the making of national social policy ideas and practices? What is the content of ideas advocated by international organizations? In examining these and other questions this book presents a range of international organizations dealing with social and health policies. The authors illustrate how welfare policy is shaped by the interplay between national and international policy-makers, focusing on the role of ideas rather than revisiting the more commonly discussed economic and technological issues associated with internationalization of welfare policy. They explore the content of ideas that international actors such as the EU and the OECD are promoting through recommendations and decrees concerning various systems of social policy. The possible effects of national and supranational welfare discourses on national welfare systems are also discussed. Dealing with both with the normative and cognitive dimensions of social and health policy discourses, this comprehensive book will prove invaluable to policy-makers as well practitioners within international organizations. It will also strongly appeal to scholars of international studies, public policy and social policy.

Environmental change is central to the global social policy challenges of the twenty-first century. This comprehensive Handbook brings together leading experts from around the world to address the most important questions and issues we face. How should

This book brings together leading international researchers to discuss governmental approaches to analysing social policies. Analysing Social Policy expands the scope of social policy analysis using the insights from post-Foucauldian scholarship on the art of governing in liberal democracies. One of the main conclusions reached is that policy researchers need to pay much greater attention to the minutiae of policy reform, and to the discursive and material ways in which power operates in policy change. The chapters comprising this book are purposefully written in a clear, accessible and reflective manner, with each of the contributions empirically grounded, drawing on social policy problems and practices in many countries, ranging from North America to Europe to Australasia. The editors address key concerns of both policy analysts as well as academic researchers attempting to locate appropriate theoretical frameworks to make sense of welfare state restructuring in the 21st century. This book will appeal to researchers and research students in political science, social policy, social work and sociology through its demonstration of how to apply contemporary social theory to research problems. It will also be of interest to policy scholars around the world who are involved in analysing the intersections of power, politics and policy.

The Handbook of Social Policy and Development makes a groundbreaking, coherent case for enhancing collaboration between social policy and development. With wide ranging chapters, it discusses a myriad of ways in which this can be done, exploring both academic and practical activities. As the conventional distinction between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries becomes increasingly blurred, this Handbook explores how collaboration between social policy and development is needed to meet global social needs.

Originally published in 1987, Sociology and Social Welfare looks at the relationship between state and welfare in the context of a wider sociological analysis of state and society in post-war Britain. The book looks at two main concerns, the first suggests the ways in which the theory and practice of welfare might be made more reflective and self-conscious if located in sociological understandings of state, society, and welfare. The second suggests that the sociological study of social work and other welfare activities might lead to the development of a more sensitive and practice-informed sociology.

This book is designed specifically for the new A, AS Levels and AVCE in Social Policy, Sociology, and Health and Social Care. It is widely used by students progressing to further study. It covers all the main areas of Social Welfare, including classic themes and debates, and the New Labour approach to social policy and social welfare provision. It is supported throughout by topic revision features and self-test opportunities to aid learning.

This book identifies specific changes to bring U.S. social policy in accord with the Information Age of the 21st century, in contrast to the policy infrastructure of industrial America. Welfare State 3.0: Social Policy after the Pandemic acknowledges the existing social infrastructure, considers viable options, and provides supporting data to suggest social policy reform by four strategies: consolidating programs, harmonizing applications, expanding equity, and conducting experiments. The book favors discreet, poignant proposals of social programs. In 12 chapters, the text provides an analysis that honors past accomplishments, recognizes the influence of established stakeholders, and concedes program inadequacies, while plotting specific opportunities for policy improvement. In contrast to liberalism’s tendency toward idealism, the book adopts a realpolitik appreciation for social policy. Written by one of the most respected academics of U.S. social policy, this book will be required reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate students of social policy, social work, sociology, and U.S. politics more broadly.