Introduction: 40 years of Social Policy Review

Caroline Glendinning ACSS, Professor of Social Policy, Chair, UK Social Policy Association

As Chair of the Social Policy Association (SPA) during the 40th Anniversary year of the Social Policy Review, I am delighted to introduce this Preface.

Social Policy Review first appeared in 1972 in a rather different guise, as The Year Book of Social Policy in Britain. Jointly conceived by Professor Kay Jones and (then) publishers Routledge and Kegan Paul, the Year Book provided a critical review of recent developments in social policy and social work. Since then, it has moved publishers, to Longman and, most recently, The Policy Press, with a period in between when it was published ‘in house’ by the SPA. Indeed, one crucial development over these four decades has been the establishment of close links with the SPA. This has given the Year Book/Review a clear audience, of teachers and students in social policy, for whom it has become a vital source of discussion and debate on contemporary issues. It also means that the SPA can offer junior colleagues opportunities and mentoring in academic commissioning and editing. Three other developments stand out over the past 40 years: the shift from a focus on very recent developments in policy and administration to broader debates and trends; the regular rotation of editors to bring in new ideas and approaches; and, perhaps most significantly in a globalised policy environment, at least as much attention to international as to UK issues.

Some of the key turning points in the history of the Year Book/Review are marked in this Preface by those who were involved at the time – Jonathan Bradshaw, Clare Ungerson and Robert Page. Their accounts illustrate how much the study of social policy has changed over the past 40 years – and how the success of the Year Book and the Review has been rooted in their ability to adapt and keep pace with these changes.

The beginnings: 1972 – The Year Book of Social Policy in Britain 1971

Jonathan Bradshaw, Professor of Social Policy, University of York

The first edition was published in 1972 by Routledge and Kegan Paul and edited by Kathleen (Kay) Jones who was the editor of their International Library of Social Policy.