Vic George is Professor of Social Policy and Administration and Social Work at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Paul Wilding is Professor of Social Administration at the University of Manchester. Together they have written Motherless Families (1972), Ideology and Social Welfare (1976) and The Impact of Social Policy (1984), all published by Routledge & Kegan Paul. They were also joint editors of the Concepts in Social Policy series (also published by Routledge & Kegan Paul)., Professor of Social Administration, University of Manchester

• Chapter 1 Society, the state, social problems and social policy; Chapter 2 The anti-collectivists; Chapter 3 The reluctant collectivists; Chapter 4 The Fabian socialists; Chapter 5 The Marxists; Chapter 6 The future of the welfare state;

`A valuable and above all readable textbook for students.' - Richard Marquiss, Community Care`Essential reading for every student of social policy' - Sociological Review (of the 1st edition)