Social policy: themes and approaches

Social policy as an academic discipline focus on study policy-making and analyzing social policies. Social policy as well as interventions of the government to deal with social problems، particularly in the areas of health، education، housing، welfare and social security، which are crucial and important in promoting political legitimacy. Social policy is more important especially when societies face with variety of social، economic and environmental risks and uncertainty. In this paper according to the current conflicts in social policy، tried to classifying themes of shaping، and theoretical approaches in this area. The paper also reviews various definitions provided descriptive approach on social policy، relevant theoretical approaches in three main theories: representational، normative and explanatory. In this paper it is shown how the process of industrialization، political، and social class and group benefits and conflicts، formal and informal institutions and international factors have a role in the development of social policy.