Social Policy: Themes and Approaches (in Persian)

Social policy as an academic discipline focuses on study the methods of devising and analyzing social policies. In the mean time, social policy may refer to governments’ interventions that deal with social problems, particularly in health, education, housing, welfare and social security and other spheres which bear effective role in endorsing political legitimacy of respective states. Social policy would appear more substantial when societies confront a variety of social, economic and environmental risks and uncertainties; accordingly, the theoretical and empirical arguments arise. Considering the current arguments in the domain of social policy, this paper tries to classify the backgrounds of formation of theoretical approaches in the area. Assuming a descriptive approach, the paper reviews various definitions of social policy and categorizes the relevant theoretical approaches into three main theories: representational, normative and explanatory. The findings show how negligence about time variances and institutional changes in various countries as well as the concurrence of the studies in this area with the failure of welfare states has made the explanation and description of such approaches insufficient. Moreover, sheer emphasis on the nature and extent of welfare and social expenses of governments would not be a proper indicator for analyzing welfare system and a dominating approach to social investment in different countries.