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AbstractThis article explores the way aspects of our approach to social policy in the UK have changed over the last 40 years – one academic lifetime and also, coincidentally, the lifetime of this journal – and the significance of six particular changes. More social problems have come to be seen as having a supra‐national dimension: the scale and ramifications of problems are much better appreciated; the accepted territory of social policy has greatly widened; the state has lost people's confidence; we have come to see organizational and management issues as much more important; and the health of the economy has come to be regarded as a greater priority than the development of systems of social welfare.

This paper explores the implications of globalization for social policy, and teases out those elements of globalization which have impinged most on it. Then it explores the most important ways in which globalization has had an effect on social policy. Seven issues are explored—the way in which globalization has highlighted and/or created new problems, its contribution to hollowing out the state, the way in which it has altered the balance of power between capital and labour, its contribution to stimulating an ideology of competitiveness, its re‐establishing of the importance of trade in discussions about social policy and, finally, the way in which it has helped to make the maintenance of social order a new priority. The paper then explores the possibilities for supranational or regional social policy. It examines the case for moving towards such a policy and the problems of so doing.

Explores interaction of political, economic, and social factors prior to 1997 retrocession to Chinese sovereignty; focuses on roles of business and political elites in shaping the public welfare system and subordination of social policy to economic and political goals.

ABSTRACTIn the 1980s there was a new emphasis on the achievement of clear standards of Quality in public services in Britain. This has been accompanied by a wide ranging discussion of how Quality is most effectively promoted and maintained.This paper begins by setting out the key elements of a Quality service — accessibility, acceptability, effectiveness and openness. It then analyses and evaluates four elements in the maintenance of Quality. First it examines the role of management in setting standards and monitoring performance and in promoting a culture of Quality. Then it analyses the importance of organizational structures in generating staff commitment to the goal of Quality. Third, it assesses the role and potential or user involvement. Finally it looks at legalistic approaches — the promulgation of guidelines and procedures, the setting of explicit standards with clear complaints systems and guaranteed redress if standards are not maintained.The discussion draws primarily on British material but the argument clearly has a wider relevance. Many of the issues are universal rather than peculiar to one particular society.The conclusion is that Quality is only achieved by a balance between these various mechanisms.