Who is responsible for determining the quality of life or for providing solutions?; Who should bear the costs and benefits of societal development?; What justifies government action or inaction?; You'll examine these and other key questions facing American society in this scholarly, in-depth look at social policy and its place in social work and the human services.

As you explore the social policy-making process, you'll get a sense of what's really involved in selecting alternative social policy solutions to major societal problems and learn how to assess public social policy.

You'll also find chapter-opening quotes from major daily newspapers and other mass media, focusing on current and critical social welfare policy issues, to help you connect theoretical policy concepts with actual social conditions; emphasis on the broader concepts of social policy as an instrument of providing citizenship rights to all population groups, rather than focusing on social services and social welfare programs for the poor; through discussion of such issues as the distributive role of government, the growth of the welfare state, and the persistence of unemployment and poverty.