Social Policy and Social Justice: Meeting the Challenges of a Diverse Society

Providing the breadth of a standard text and the depth of a contributed volume, Social Policy and Social Justice: Meeting the Challenges of a Diverse Society is built on a clear, conceptual social justice framework and provides up-to-date analyses of contemporary social policy issues, written by experts in their particular areas of research and practice.

The book uses case studies and rigorous analysis to explore the relationship of social policy to economic, social, and culture transformation and the ongoing conflict between universal and population-specific conceptions of social welfare. The third edition addresses recent dramatic changes in social policy. It includes an assessment of policies adopted by the Obama administration, policy changes proposed and implemented by the Trump administration and Congress related to the country’s social welfare system, and the effects of the Trump administration’s immigration and criminal justice policies on communities of color. The #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, recent changes in the electoral landscape, and timely Supreme Court decisions are also addressed. Additionally, the text considers the future of Social Security and Medicare, employment policies, health and mental health policies, and more.

Social Policy and Social Justice is ideal for undergraduate and graduate social work courses, as well as classes in cognate fields such as nursing, public policy, and political science.

Michael Reisch is the Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He earned his master's degree in social work at Hunter College, and his Ph.D. in modern European history and the history of ideas at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He has held leadership positions in multicultural national, state, and local advocacy, professional, political, and social change organizations His publications have appeared in journals such as Social Work, Social Service Review, the British Journal of Social Work, and the Journal of Social Work Education. His most recent books are Macro Social Work Practice: Working for Change in a Multicultural Society, Social Work and Social Justice: Concepts, Challenges, and Strategies (co-authored with Charles Garvin), The Routledge International Handbook of Social Justice, and The Handbook of Community Practice (2nd edition). In 2014, he received the Significant Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council on Social Work Education and, in 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.