First published in 1989, is an invaluable text that will give students an admirable introduction to the central concerns of the study of social policy. It asks what have been the traditional concerns of social policy as a subject of academic study, and what its context should be in the changed political environment of twenty-first century. Three issues receive close attention for their future implications: social policy and the family (focusing on gender), social policy and community (including race and public order issues) and social policy and the economy. Retrospective chapters examine the relationship between social policy and social research, social theory and social work.