The Student's Companion to Social Policy

This book offers the most accessible and comprehensive review of UK and comparative social policy available for undergraduate students, written by a range of leading experts in the field and covering all the perspectives, debates, issues, and challenges in the theory and practice of social policy. As well as a textbook for those at the beginning of their study of social policy, this book provides a personal reference for students to consult, revisit and refer to throughout their undergraduate programme, as well as at postgraduate level or at various stages of professional courses. The themed structure of the text will remain for the new edition. However, to enhance their saliency and value, the completely revised and updated individual chapters reflect current and likely developments in the discipline and meet the changing needs of students and tutors. In order to help facilitate this a new editor, Vikki McCall, has joined the editorial team. Chapter-specific revisions and refocusing are designed to ensure full coverage of issues of growing interest in social policy, including digital welfare, welfare funding and the role of taxation, provisions for the self-employed, gig workers, the LGBT community, public attitudes to welfare, regional and inter-generational relations, wealth, and environmental concerns. Each chapter begins with a boxed 5-point summary overview and concludes with an ‘emerging issues’ section. The chapters also provide a guide to further sources (books, journals, websites, datasets, etc.) and problem-centred chapter review questions. These are designed to encourage students to reflect on, revisit and reconsider the issues raised as they learn about social policy. Overall, the chapters are presented with clarity and consistency in terms of the overall aims and presentational style of the text. They have been revamped to reflect the policy implications of recent financial, political, social and health developments, including the UK general elections of 2015, 2017 and 2019, the advent of Brexit, and the coronavirus COVID-19.

• | Author: Pete Alcock, Tina Haux, Vikki Mccall, Margaret May
• | Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• | Publication Date: May 23, 2022
• | Number of Pages: 544 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1119744873
• | ISBN-13: 9781119744870