Social Policy and Social Justice: The IPPR Reader

Built on the core concepts of social justice, individual rights, equality of opportunity and public participation in decision making, this volume provides an analysis of the changing needs and demands in welfare; the debate about public and private provision and the interface between family, work and community.

Social Policy and Social Justice brings together, for the first time, the IPPR's influential work on family policy, health rights and rationing, self help and community development and citizens' juries. The authors address the issues and debates which characterize today's changing policy-making agenda. What kind of policies can encourage a stable and loving home environment for children to grow into dependable adults? How can we encourage initiatives to rejuvenate local communities from the bottom up? Can a cash-limited NHS survive ever increasing demands on its services? Why should we look for new ways to involve the public in decision making? The IPPR's approach to policy making has influenced the new Labour Government, elected in 1997. It is an approach that takes account of the complexities of everyday life and develops strategies for working with rather than against the tide of change; with how people really live rather than how some people think they should live.

Contributors include Adrienne Burgess, Ian Bynoe, Anna Coote, Dan Corry, David Donnison, Ian Gough, Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt, David J. Hunter, Jo Lenaghan, Tariq Modood, Raymond Plant, Sandy Ruxton and Mai Wann.

This comprehensive social policy textbook is for students and researchers of social policy and the politics of welfare, as well as those working in health, housing, community, the voluntary sector and local government. It offers a distinct democratic liberal framework for policy making.

Jane Franklin is a Research Fellow at South Bank University and an Associate of the Institute for Public Policy Research. Previously a Research Fellow at IPPR from 1994 to 1997, her recent publications include Equality (IPPR, 1997) and The Politics of Risk Society (Polity Press, 1998).