Unit 6: (Week 11 & Week 12)The Organisation of Public Services

A common flaw in analyses of policy is the assumption that ideologues, reformers or governments have simply to agree what they want and they will get it. However, there are serious concerns about this simplistic notion of policy practice. Whatever governments decide, policies cannot simply be set in motion; policies have to be translated into practice. The effect of policies may be very different from what is expected, and the administrative process plays a major role in this. In sociology, explanations for policy and process are often based on a distinction between ‘structure’ – the social relationships and conditions which set the framework for action – and ‘agency’, or human action. That distinction tends to miss a third dimension, the influence on policy of the institutions and organisations which carry out policies. This unit hihlights the influence of administrative organisation 

Week 11: Lecture 11

  • Welfare sectors
  • Social division of welfare
  • Role of state
  • Public sector and welfare bureucracies

Week12: Lecture 12

  • Role of private sector in provision of welfare
  • Governance, partnership and agency
  • Welfare pluralism
  • Organizational role

Required Reading:

Spicker, P. (2014), Social Policy: Theory and Practice. Policy Press: UK 

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