Social Policy Definition

What is social policy? According to text in Burger (2014) the Random House Dictionary (1978), stated “is a guiding principle or course of action adopted toward an objective or objectives.” The word social, according to the same dictionary, refers to “the life, welfare, and relations of human beings in a community.” Gil (1981) summed it up very well when he wrote that “social policies are a special type of policies, namely, policies which deliberately pertain to the quality of life and to the circumstances of living in society, and to intra- societal relationships among individuals, groups, and society as a whole” (p.13). Titmus (1974) makes it clear that the study of social policy includes an understanding of the political, social, and economic forces in society. Although such an understanding is beyond the scope of this text, it is certainly worth mentioning. Timus claims that “social policy can be seen as a positive instrument for changes; as part of the whole political process” (p.26). Another definition is that Huttman (1981), who sees social policies as “plans of action and strategies for providing services” (p.2). She adds that social policies have the …show more content…
Social policy is designed to meet the needs of selected populations, such as social welfare policy, housing policy, mental health policy, child welfare policy, and unemployment policy. The scope of social policy influence most, if not all, people in society, from the time a person is born to the time a person dies. Social policies influence us through our life time, but also influence us in almost every aspect of our lives. The making of social policy specifies earlier; one characteristic of social policy is that it is problem oriented. In other words, social policy attempts to improve the lives of people who need help in meeting certain needs. Burg (2014),