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ECONOMICS AND THE POVERTY OF SOCIAL PLANNING
Author(s) -
BOOTH TIMOTHY A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1982.tb00475.x
Subject(s) - subordination (linguistics) , obstacle , poverty , state (computer science) , social policy , social change , sociology , positive economics , economics , public economics , political science , economic growth , law , market economy , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , computer science
This article examines the reasons for the dismal state of social planning in Britain today. Several different explanations for this situation are discussed including its poor track‐record, official reluctance to contemplate the future, the circumscribed and narrowly conceived way it is approached, and the ill coordinated and fragmented structure of the social services. While all these are seen to offer part of the answer, it is argued that the main obstacle to social planning lies in the subordination of social goals to economic objectives; a fact itself rooted in the persistence of the ‘public burden model’ of social expenditure. Finally, the implications of this analysis for social policy research are discussed.