Analyzing Social Policy: Multiple Perspectives for Critically Understanding and Evaluating Policy

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From formulation to implementation, an approach to the analysis of social policy through the lens of researchAnalyzing Social Policy prepares professionals and students to make better informed decisions related to identifying and understanding the intricacies and potential impact of social policymaking and enactment on their organization as well as their individual responsibilities, goals, and objectives.Authors Mary Katherine O\'Connor and F. Ellen Netting thoroughly examine various approaches to the analysis of social policies and how these approaches provide the knowledge, multiple perspectives, and other resources to understand and grasp the nuances of social policy in all its complexity.Comprehensive and based on research, Analyzing Social Policy explores:An overview of the practice of social policy analysisThe role of research in guiding policy analysisThe idea of policy analyses as researchThemes, assumptions, and major theories that undergird rational models of policy analysisNonrational themes, assumptions, and major theories informing nontraditional interpretive and critical approaches to policy analysisStrategies for applying selected models and approaches when engaging in policy analysis as researchProviding practitioners and students with a set of tools that can be used to enhance an understanding of what constitutes policy as well as acceptable standards for critical analysis of policy, this resource enables policy advocates—regardless of their level—to be political, strategic, and critical in their work.About the AuthorMary Katherine O\'Connor, MSW, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University where she has taught in the MSW and PhD programs for over twenty years. She has authored or coauthored numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in the areas of public child welfare practice, services to street children, and qualitative research method development.F. Ellen Netting, MSSW, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work and Samuel S. Wurtzel Chair at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches in the BSW, MSW, and PhD programs. She has authored or coauthored numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in the areas of health and human service delivery issues for frail elders, as well as nonprofit management concerns.