Editing Social policy

{{short description|Action of institutional agencies that aim to improve society}}
{{Multiple issues|
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[[File:Socialsecurityheadquarters.jpg|thumb|Headquarters of the [[Social Security Administration]] in [[Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland|Woodlawn, Maryland]]]]
Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of [[public policy]],<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Malcolm Wiener Center|url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/socpol/about.html|publisher=Presidents and Fellows of Harvard|access-date=21 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225021708/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/socpol/about.html|archive-date=25 December 2008|date=15 February 2006}}</ref> while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same [[public interest]] (similar to [[Comparison of MD and DO in the United States|MD and DO in healthcare]]), with social policy deemed more holistic than public policy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Penn SP2 Mission Statement|work=School of Social Policy & Practice |url=https://www.sp2.upenn.edu/about/mission-statement/|publisher=University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice|access-date=26 April 2021}}</ref>  Whichever of these persuasions a university adheres to, social policy begins with the study of the [[welfare state]] and [[social services]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Spicker|first1=Paul|title=An introduction to Social Policy|url=http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/index.htm?CFID=75213086&CFTOKEN=94736152&jsessionid=50314442b009e7f430b746b7574792426401TR|website=www2.rgu.ac.uk|access-date=21 May 2015}}</ref>  It consists of [[guidelines]], [[principles]], [[legislation]] and associated activities that affect the living conditions conducive to [[human welfare]], such as a person's [[quality of life]].  The Department of Social Policy at the [[London School of Economics]] defines social policy as "an interdisciplinary and applied subject concerned with the analysis of societies' responses to social need", which seeks to foster in its students a capacity to understand theory and evidence drawn from a wide range of social science disciplines, including economics, sociology, psychology, geography, history, law, philosophy and political science.<ref>{{cite web|title=Welcome to the Department|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/socialPolicy/aboutUs/introduction.aspx|publisher=London School of Economics (LSE)|access-date=21 May 2015}}</ref> The Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at [[Harvard University]] describes social policy as "public policy and practice in the areas of [[health policy|health care]], human services, [[criminal justice]], [[Social inequality|inequality]], [[education policy|education]], and labor".<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Malcolm Wiener Center|url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/socpol/about.html|publisher=Presidents and Fellows of Harvard|access-date=21 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225021708/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/socpol/about.html|archive-date=25 December 2008|date=15 February 2006}}</ref> Social policy might also be described as actions that affect the well-being of members of a society through shaping the distribution of and access to goods and resources in that society.<ref>''Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Critical Introduction'' (2005) by Christine Cheyne, Mike O'Brien, & Michael Belgrave - Page 3</ref> Social policy often deals with [[wicked problems]].<ref>[[Horst Rittel|Rittel, H.]] & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. ''Policy Sci'' 4:155-169.</ref>

The discussion of 'social policy' in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] can also apply to governmental policy on social issues such as tackling [[racism]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Eilperin|first1=Juliet|last2=Mufson|first2=Steven|title=Obama calls for social policy changes in wake of Baltimore riots|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-calls-for-social-policy-changes-in-wake-of-baltimore-riots/2015/04/28/4a370162-edce-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html|access-date=21 May 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=28 April 2015}}</ref> [[LGBT]] issues (such as [[same-sex marriage]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Gay marriage inquiry reaches consensus|url=http://www.australianmarriageequality.org/2012/06/18/gay-marriage-inquiry-reaches-consensus/|publisher=AustralianMarriageEquality.org|access-date=21 May 2015}}</ref> and the legal status of [[abortion]],<ref>{{cite journal|title=Gender and sex equality|journal=Social Policy Digest|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/spd/action/digest?type=old&category=Gender%20and%20sex%20equality&topic=Contraception%20and%20abortion%20rights|access-date=21 May 2015|publisher=Cambridge Journals}}</ref> [[guns]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Gun Control|url=http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/guns.shtml|publisher=Almanac of Policy Issues|access-date=21 May 2015}}</ref> [[euthanasia]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thomasma|first1=David C.|last2=Graber|first2=Glenn C.|title=Euthanasia: Toward an Ethical Social Policy|journal=Ann Intern Med|volume=114|issue=12|pages=1067|date=1991|doi=10.7326/0003-4819-114-12-1067_3}}</ref> [[recreational drugs]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Drug Use, Consequences and Social Policies|url=http://www.udel.edu/soc/tammya/pdfs/Drug%20Use%20Concequences%20and%20Social%20Policies.pdf|website=Tammy L. Anderson, Ph.D|publisher=University of Illinois|access-date=21 May 2015|location=Chicago, IL}}</ref> and [[prostitution]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Prostitution Policy in Canada: Models, Ideologies, and Moving Forward|url=http://www.casw-acts.ca/sites/default/files/Prostitution%20Policy%20in%20Canada%20-%20Models,%20Ideologies,%20and%20Moving%20Forward.pdf|publisher=Canadian Association of Social Workers|access-date=21 May 2015|date=5 September 2014}}</ref> In other countries, these issues would be classified under [[health policy]] and [[domestic policy]].

The study of social policy can either be a stand-alone degree at providers such as the [[University of Birmingham]], [[University of York]], [[Oxford University]], and the [[University of Pennsylvania]],  a specialization as part of a public policy degree program such as at [[McGill University]], [[Balsillie School of International Affairs]], [[Harris School of Public Policy Studies|Harris School of Public Policy]], and the [[Hertie School|Hertie School of Governance]], or a joint degree along with a similar related degree in social work or public health such as at [[George Warren Brown School of Social Work]] at [[Washington University in St. Louis]]. In the Global South, social policy is offered along with public policy degree programmes, as at the Institute of Public Policy, [[National Law School of India University]], Bangalore, combined with development policy.

==History==
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{{See also|Welfare State|Welfare spending}}
[[File:Hans von Aachen 002.jpg|thumb|''Allegory or The Triumph of Justice'', an 1858 painting by [[Hans von Aachen]]]]
'''Social policy''' is a plan or action of [[government]] or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform [[society]].
Social policy was first conceived in the [[1940s]] by [[Richard Titmuss]] within the field of social administration in Britain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=STEWART |first=JOHN |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv128fqbs |title=Richard Titmuss: A Commitment to Welfare |date=2020 |publisher=Bristol University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv128fqbs |jstor=j.ctv128fqbs |edition=1}}</ref>  Titmuss's essay on the "Social Division of Welfare" (1955) laid the development for social policy to gradually absorb social administration.  Titmuss was an [[essayist]] whose work concerned the failure of the market; the inadequacy of selective social services; and the superiority of [[Collectivism and individualism|collectivism]] and universal approaches.  While some scholars describe social policy as an [[interdisciplinary]] field of practice, scholars like [[Fiona Williams]] and Pete Alcock believe social policy is a [[academic discipline|discipline]] unto itself.

Some of the earliest examples of direct intervention by government in human welfare date back to [[Ancient Rome]]'s ''[[Cura Annonae]]'' (grain dole) founded in 123 BC, and [[Umar ibn al-Khattāb]]'s rule as the second [[caliph]] of Islam in the 6th century: he used ''[[zakat]]'' collections and also other governmental resources to establish pensions, income support, child benefits, and various stipends for people of the non-Muslim community{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}.  The enactment of [[English Poor Laws]] helped curb [[poverty]] and recidivism: these laws influenced the justices of Berkshire to implement the [[Speenhamland system]], which was the first [[social program]] in the modern sense of that word.  In the modern West, proponents of scientific social planning such as the sociologist [[Auguste Comte]], and social researchers, such as [[Charles Booth (philanthropist)|Charles Booth]], contributed to the emergence of social policymaking in the first industrialised countries following the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Surveys of poverty exposing the brutal conditions in the urban [[slum]] conurbations of [[Victorian Britain]] supplied the pressure leading to changes such as the [[decline and abolition of the poor law system]] and [[Liberal welfare reforms]]. Other significant examples in the development of social policy are the [[Otto von Bismarck#Social legislation|Bismarckian welfare state]] in 19th century [[Germany]], [[Social Security (United States)#History|social security policies in the United States]] introduced under the rubric of the [[New Deal]] between 1933 and 1935, and both the [[Beveridge Report]] and the [[National Health Service Act 1946]] in Britain.  Thus, two major models of [[social insurance]] arose in practice:  Bismarkian welfare from Germany and Beveridgean welfare from Britain.

Social policy in the 21st century is complex and in each state it is subject to [[Local government|local]] and [[Central government|national governments]], as well as [[Supranational union|supranational]] political influence. For example, membership of the [[European Union]] is conditional on member states' adherence to the [[Law of the European Union#Social chapter|Social Chapter]] of European Union law {{clarify span|text=and other [[international laws]].|date=May 2015}}<!-- Which "other international laws"? -->

==Types==
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[[File:JMR-Memphis1.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Lady Justice]] depicting justice as equipped with three symbols: a sword symbolizing the court's coercive power, a human scale weighing competing claims in each hand, and a blindfold indicating impartiality<ref>Luban, ''Law's Blindfold'', 23</ref>]]
Social policy aims to improve human welfare and to meet [[Human need|human needs]] for education, health, housing and economic security.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Science |first=London School of Economics and Political |title=What is social policy? |url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/about-us/What-is-social-policy.aspx |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=London School of Economics and Political Science |language=en-GB}}</ref> Important areas of social policy are [[wellbeing]] and welfare, poverty reduction, [[social security]], [[justice]], [[unemployment insurance]], [[living conditions]], [[animal rights]], [[pensions]], [[health care]], [[social housing]], family policy, [[social care]], [[child protection]], [[social exclusion]], [[education policy]], [[crime]] and [[criminal justice]], [[urban development]], and [[Contract labour|labor]] issues.

==United States social policy==
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[[File:William Jennings Bryan, 1860-1925.jpg|thumb|A 1908 photo of [[William Jennings Bryan]], a champion of [[social justice]] and former [[U.S. Secretary of State]], the first major U.S. political figure to incorporate social policy into government policies]]
The United States was a pioneer in generous social spending (relative to comparable countries), as it provided substantial social spending for Civil War veterans and their families.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skocpol |first=Theda |date=1992 |title=Protecting Soldiers and Mothers |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674717664 |access-date=2020-03-21 |via=Harvard University Press |publisher=Belknap Press |isbn=9780674717664 |language=en}}</ref> However, the United States would go on to lag behind other advanced industrial democracies in social spending.

Religious, racial, ideological, scientific and philosophical movements and ideas have historically influenced American social policy, for example, [[John Calvin]] and his idea of [[pre-destination]] and the [[Protestant]] Values of hard work and [[individualism]]. Moreover, [[Social Darwinism]] helped mold America's ideas of [[capitalism]] and the ''[[survival of the fittest]]'' mentality. The Catholic Church's social teaching has also been considerably influential to the development of social policy.

President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s ground breaking [[New Deal]] is a paragon example of social policy that focused predominantly on a program of providing work and stimulating the economy through public spending on projects, rather than on cash payment. The programs were in response to the [[Great Depression]] affecting the United States in the [[1930s]].

United States politicians who have favored increasing government observance of social policy often do not frame their proposals around typical notions of welfare or benefits; instead, in cases like ''[[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]]'' and ''[[Medicaid]]'', President [[Lyndon Johnson|Lyndon B. Johnson]] presented a package called the [[Great Society]] that framed a larger vision around [[poverty]] and [[quality of life]].

President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] would also attempt to implement education policy under his Great Society package, introducing several programs and laws, such as the [[Elementary and Secondary Education Act|Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965]] (ESEA), [[Higher Education Act of 1965]] (HEA), and the [[Bilingual Education Act|Bilingual Education Act of 1967]] (BEA)''',''' and many others. These laws would form the backbone of the education policy changes of the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] (NCLB), introduced during the administration of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] President [[George W. Bush]] with [[Bipartisanship|bipartisan]] support. The law took effect on January 8, 2002, attempting to raise standards in education, address [[Educational inequality|educational inequities]] (framed as an achievement gap), and issues in schools framed as issues of accountability. The No Child Left Behind Act required every state to [[Standards-based education reform in the United States|assess students on basic skills]] to receive federal funding. While the law did attempt to address issues underlying U.S. education, its provisions were widely viewed as unsuccessful. States continued to create their own standards while assessing themselves. NCLB also led to the closure of numerous schools labeled "low-performing" or "failing", disproportionately impacting schools that served predominately Black students and rural communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tilsley |first=Alexandra |date=March 23, 2017 |title=Subtracting Schools from Communities |url=https://www.urban.org/features/subtracting-schools-communities |access-date=December 28, 2021 |website=Urban Institute}}</ref>  Provisions of NCLB were changed and replaced under the [[Race to the Top]] (R2T, RTTT or RTT) and [[Every Student Succeeds Act|Every Child Succeeds Act]] (ESSA) passed during the Administration of President [[Barack Obama]].

[[Insurance]] has been a growing policy topic, and a recent example of [[health care law]] as social policy is the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]] formed by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President [[Barack Obama]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], on March 23, 2010.

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30%}}
*[[Criminology]]
*[[Education policy]]
*[[Great Society]]
*[[Health policy]]
*[[Housing policy]]
*[[Medicaid]]
*[[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]]
*[[Social insurance]]
*[[Social Security Administration]]
*[[Social Security (United States)]]
*[[Social theory]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=social policy}}
*[http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/spol Social Policy & Administration]
*[[Richard Titmuss|Titmuss, R. M.]] (1951) [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-Civil-Social/index.html ''Problems of social policy'']. [[HM Stationery Office]]. {{ISBN|9780527357665}}
*Dean, H. (2006). ''Social Policy''. Cambridge: [[Polity Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7456-3434-0}}.
* Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) ''The three worlds of welfare capitalism''. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
* [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/pap/2011/00000039/00000004/art00010 Ferragina, Emanuele and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser, "Welfare Regime Debate: Past, Present, Futures?" ''Policy & Politics'': 39 (2011): 4: 583–611.]

{{Public policy|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Social work|state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Social Policy}}
[[Category:Comparative politics]]
[[Category:Social policy| ]]