Essentials of Social Policy Studies

Course Coordinator: Chan Wai-leung, BSSc (Hons), MPhil (CUHK)

Aims
This course serves as a general introduction to the field of social policy studies, covering the core conceptual tools for social policy analysis. As such, this course explores the issues with regard to the relevance of social problems to social policy, the debates on the values and ideologies in social policy, the model of social policy and the formation and transformation of the welfare state.

Contents

• The concepts of social policy and social welfare
• Social problems and social policy
• The values of social policy
• The ideologies of social policy
• The model of social policy and the idea of the welfare state

Assessment
Course assessment includes:

1. Presentation and discussion (35%)
2. Term essay (35%)
3. Final examination (30%)