The New Social Policy

Social policy has been too narrowly conceived for too long, often failing to address the many changes and challenges of contemporary society.

This groundbreaking introductory textbook sets down an agenda for a new social policy. No longer limited to the five services that have traditionally characterized the "welfare state", the discipline must look to the interconnections between these services and other areas of policy.

Michael Cahill here presents a social life of analysis of social policy built on the premise that only if we are sensitive to the context in which government policy programmes operate can we provide good social policies.

Chapters on communicating, viewing, travelling, shopping, working and playing examine these areas from the perspective of everyday life. Each chapter focuses on the theme of inequality in the examination of social change and social life: the old inequalities which persist and the new inequalities which have been produced. In addition, each thematic chapter is supplemented by discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.

Timely and accessible, this much-needed textbook will be welcomed by students and teachers of public policy, social policy and administration, and social studies.