Caring for Strangers

Originally published in 1980, this book introduces students of social studies to ideas in moral, social and political philosophy which are useful for assessing social policy. At the same time the book enables philosophy students to discover the value of social and political philosophy beyond its traditional confines. The book begins with the claim that modern social welfare has to be thought of as help given to strangers and goes on to ask how services of this sort can be justified. The first part of the book discusses the distinction between social and economic policy. Using Titmuss’ notion of ‘the gift-relationship’ it shows its implications for our understanding of social integration, alienation, community and the importance of moral status in social life. It then considers the justification of our ways of discriminating among strangers in our social policies. The idea of social justice and the implications of the ‘work ethic’ are examined, particularly in relation to our views of what help strangers need or deserve and the relationship between welfare rights and human rights is also discussed.