Social Policy Research Paper

What is social policy and what is its relevance to social care/ community development?
Many writers agree how difficult social policy is. They will also agree with how important it is in our lives for us as individuals, for communities and for society. In this essay the author will discuss social policy in detail and explore where it originated from, in order to obtain a greater understanding of this term. The author will also look at the different understandings of social policy, as a real life activity such as social security, health, education and social care; the social policies which all have an impact on one’s welfare/ wellbeing and Social Policy as an academic subject. “Social policy entails the study of the social relations necessary

It is studied in a wide range of social science disciplines including social care, economics, sociology, psychology and law to name a few. Social Policy can be viewed as a discipline in its own right. “Social Policy differs from sociology, because it focuses on ‘the development and implementation of policy measures in order to influence the social circumstances themselves.’ In contrast to economics, while Social Policy is certainly concerned with matters of equity and efficiency, the interest stems from a focus on the well-being of individuals and social groups rather than the productive capacity of a nation’s economy.” (Alcock.2008) Social Policy is an interdisciplinary subject - it is a mixture of relevant ideas from sociology, history, economics and politics; and is applied to social issues, problems, welfare and wellbeing. Social Policy as an academic subject, combines approaches from the different social sciences. Dean states that “Students of Social Policy are more like magpies than butterflies. They are pragmatic, even ruthless, in the way they pick whatever they need from across the social sciences in order to fashion answers to real life issues.” In order to understand what is needed to achieve human wellbeing, studying social, political and economic processes can have a major importance. People who study Social Policy as a career, use this knowledge to inform debates and try and influence governments for policy changes and