Comparative Studies in Social Policy and Administration

Abstract

In the final chapter of a book dealing with so many fundamental aspects of social administration, there is no need for me to define or defend it as a subject of academic study, or to be over-worried about its boundaries. While we would all agree that ‘The quality of our understanding of current problems depends largely on the broadness of our frame of reference’, we have also had demonstrated to us that understanding of the many different ways in which social policies are being, or could be, implemented depends on our willingness and ability to subject these ways to much more detailed analysis. But whether we are principally concerned with the frame of reference or the practical possibilities of different forms of administration, we are now confident enough in the core, the main focus, of our studies in social policy and administration to welcome the important contribution to be made to almost any aspect of them, by political scientists, economists, sociologists, lawyers and others.