'This extensively revised edition of A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy provides up-to-date and valuable insights on key concepts and issues, such as globalization, crime, diversity, housing, child poverty, gender inequality, and social policy regimes. To write about these topics, editor Patricia Kennett has gathered an excellent team of researchers, who deal with both the developing and the advanced industrial world. Students of comparative social policy would benefit from engaging with this illuminating Handbook.' Daniel Béland, JohnsonShoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, Canada The current context of social policy is one in which many of the old certainties of the past have been eroded. The predominantly inward-looking, domestic preoccupation of social policy has made way for a more integrated, international and outward approach to analysis which looks beyond the boundaries of the state. It is in this context that this Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research. Organized around five themes, this thoroughly revised and updated second edition explores the contextual, conceptual, analytical and processual aspects of undertaking comparative social research. The contributions highlight specific areas of comparative social policy including child poverty and well-being, patterns of housing provision and housing inequalities, and social protection in East Asia as well as crime and criminology in a global context. The authors of the Handbook explore continuing and emerging themes as well as issues which are of particular relevance to understanding the contemporary social world. International in scope, this authoritative Handbook presents original cutting-edge research from leading specialists and will become an indispensable source of reference for anyone interested in comparative and international social research. It will also prove a valuable study aid for undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines including social policy, sociology, politics, urban studies and public policy.

This book introduces readers to the world of ideal types within the readings of Max Weber by giving a theoretical understanding of ideal types, as well as applying the development of ideal types to an array of social policy arenas. The twenty-first century has seen the development of welfare regime analysis marked by two differing strands: real-typical welfare regime analyses and ideal-typical welfare regime analysis; the latter focusing on the formation, development and application of ideal types in general comparative social policy. Designed to provide new theoretical and practical frameworks, as well as updated in-depth developments of ideal-typical welfare regime theory, this book shows how Weber’s method of setting up and checking against ‘ideal types’ can be used in a wide variety of policy areas such as welfare state system comparison, comparative social and economic development, health policy, mental health policy, health care system analysis, gender policy, employment policy, education policy and so forth. The book will be of interest to all scholars and students working in the fields of social policy including health policy, public policy, political economy, sociology, social work, gender studies, social anthropology, and many more.

Drawing together international perspectives and disciplinary sub-fields of comparative and global social policy, this book provides an insightful guide for educators and academics embarking on or revisiting the design and teaching of classes, courses and programmes in and around social and public policy.

Governance, Globalization and Public Policy is concerned with exploring the nature of the policy arena in the context of globalization and the reconstitution of the state. The contributors to this book seek to broaden, extend and integrate theoretical, conceptual and substantive policy debates. The book begins by exploring the concepts and perspectives associated with globalization and governance, the relationship between them and the repercussions for public policy and the state. It also considers developments at the global and regional levels and the implications of the emergence of new regulatory regimes in the context of liberalization and privatization. The focus then turns to a broad range of substantive areas of public policy such as human rights, health and health care, housing markets, poverty, security and counter-terrorism. Together the chapters provide a thorough, integrated insight into the relationship between global processes, governance and public policy across a range of policy domains. Providing a comprehensive analysis of patterns and processes of governance in specific areas of public policy, this book will be of great interest to students undertaking programmes in social policy, social administration, public policy and political science, as well as researchers and academics concerned with the policymaking process.

V. 1. The profession of social work -- v. 2. Human behavior in the social environment -- v. 3. Social work practice -- v. 4. Social policy and policy practice.

Comprises 33 papers grouped under five themes: The Nature of social policy; The History of social policy; Social policy and the social services; The Political economy of social policy; and International and future perspectives on social policy.