This article analyses the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of ‘same race’ (‘black on black’) adoption policy in Britain and the accompanying antagonism to transracial adoption. In order to highlight the assumptions on which current policy and practice are based, it refers to infant adoption, not to the placement of older children who have already experienced family life in particular class and ethnic locations. The author suggests that current policies, amounting to a virtual ban on transracial adoption in both Britain and the USA, are based on a binary opposition between black and white which denies differences within these categories and similarities across them. She also suggests that this portrayal of black and white people in monolithic terms rests on racist stereotyping and is a distortion of the reality of social relations in contemporary society which marginalises large numbers of people whose origins include both black and white. It draws attention away from crucial questions on adoption in heterogeneous, hierarchical, racially ordered societies and has implications for social relationships in such societies.

This article surveys, from the perspective of systems theory as expounded by Niklas Luhmann, recent developments in the evolution of the role played by Scottish Children's Panels in the protection of children. It traces the way that in England the problem of the paradoxical nature of the social worker's task in protecting children was resolved by reconstructing the problem in legal terms. The same process, it argues, has now occurred in Scottish social work practice, but there ambiguity in the nature of the Children's Panels makes it difficult for social workers to obtain clear legal authority for their actions. Since the Clyde Report on the Orkney case, therefore, considerable controversy has arisen over the future of Children's Panels and, in particular, over their role in emergency situations. This controversy is seen as part of a wider evolutionary process involving law and child welfare, which cannot be adequately explained in terms of changes in political ideology.

In 1982 Julian Le Grand in his text, The Strategy of Equality delivered the message that ‘almost all public expenditure on the social services in Britain benefits the better off to a greater extent than the poor’. This has been developed into the conventional wisdom, that the welfare state has failed to achieve equality. However, this pessimistic verdict may be challenged on a number of grounds. First, it is debatable to what extent the welfare state was intended to achieve the types of equality defined by Le Grand. Second, it is possible to arrive at a less pessimistic conclusion both by re-examining Le Grand's original evidence and by examining subsequent evidence on the extent of equality achieved by the welfare state. This article examines the pessimistic thesis on both conceptual and empirical grounds, with a specific focus on the National Health Service. It is concluded that reports of the failure of the welfare state may be premature.

‘Elder abuse’ has recently emerged as an important phenomenon, with implications for social policy and professional practices. In this article it is argued that responses must be based on a more thorough definition. of ‘elder abuse’. A distinction between acts which can be regarded as ‘abuse’ and those which could be seen as ‘criminal’ is seen to be necessary for the development of policy and practice, recognising that these two ideas are grounded in competing discourses. The concept of an ‘obligation of care’ between perpetrator and elderly person is proposed as the basis for establishing a boundary between the two discourses and their policy implications. It is argued that this concept will enable a more focused definition of ‘elder abuse’ to be developed which will provide a more effective foundation for policies and subsequent social responses.

The article explores factors mediating the relationship between carers and service provision, exploring the judgements and expectations that lie behind the complex and sometimes seemingly inconsistent pattern of provision for carers. The article which is based on an empirical study teases out a series of factors that structure responses in this area covering: the attitude adopted by the carer to his or her caring role; the views of the cared-for person and other kin; the impact of different relationships, of what we term ‘moral status’, and of the existence or otherwise of a separate future for the cared-for person, as well as more social structural factors such as gender, age, class and race. The significance of these is explored through their impact on the assumptions of both service providers and carers.

This article argues that the writings of T. H. Marshall contain not one, but two, theories of citizenship, and there is a problem about whether they are compatible with one another. The second, less familiar, theory is mainly developed in Marshall's later works, especially The Right to Welfare, but many of its essential features can be found in Citizenship and Social Class, although not in the sections of that work which are most frequently quoted. Several areas where Marshall's shifting views contributed to this second version of citizenship are discussed: citizenship as national membership and as a body of obligations, the reality of social rights, discretion versus enforceable entitlements, citizenship as a bearer of its own inequalities, the relationship with the capitalist class system. Increasingly, Marshall came to restrict citizenship to the political sphere, thereby endorsing a conventional liberal view: but then he was, it is argued, in many respects a pretty conventional liberal. The article concludes by noting the paradox that much of the current interest in Marshall's thought is because a ‘strong’ view of citizenship is attributed to him which he may never have held, and which he certainly relinquished towards the end of his writing career.

Recent feminist literature on care has suggested that, conceptually, it is better to dissolve the boundaries between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ care when analysing care. This article suggests that there are policy developments taking place, both in Britain and in some of the countries of Europe, which are dissolving the boundaries between formal and informal care, particularly as far as payment for care is concerned. It is argued that, in this case, far from benefit systems being a form of ‘decommodification’ they are actually a form of ‘commodification’ of the caring relationship. The article then explores these empirical developments, considers their gendered nature and genderedimpact, and their possible consequences for the relationship between care-giver and care-recipient.

Martin Powell has produced an important critique of some of the arguments put forward in The Strategy of Equality. In doing so, he advances the debate in several significant ways, although not always in the direction that he may have intended.

The decline in smoking prevalence in Britain has been associated with a narrowing of gender differences and a widening of class differences in cigarette smoking. The shrinking population of smokers is increasingly drawn from those occupying subordinate positions in the gender and class hierarchies. The article reviews the evidence linking social inequality and women's smoking, drawing on conventional measures of gender and socio-economic position and on alternative measures which tap more directly into the processes that sustain gender and class inequality. The article deepens its analysis of the links between social inequality and smoking behaviour through a survey of women caring for young children in manual households. The survey uncovered pronounced intra-group differences in the smoking behaviour of women occupying broadly similar gender and socio-economic positions. These differences were associated, in clear and systematic ways, with differences in the mothers' social and material circumstances. High rates of prevalence and consumption and low rates of cessation were related to heavier caring responsibilities and to greater material disadvantage.

The British government's social policy reforms of the late 1980s have been quickly followed by political embarrassment over a series of social issues (crime, single parenthood, benefit fraud, truancy, drugs). Its response, ‘back to basics’, is a rather clumsy attempt to provide a readymix morality as the cement of society and increased reliance on enforcement. This article uses one of the new right's most effective weapons – public choice theory – to analyse the outcomes of strategic interactions within these new institutional structures, showing that they are collectively sub-optimal. New policies, announced in 1993, merely worsen the situation by driving up costs. Furthermore, the rising prices of the ‘positional goods’ enjoyed by better-off households suggest that the majority coalition in favour of the new systems may not be sustainable.

The potential of non-governmental agencies as providers of welfare services is increasingly recognised but little attention has been given to the welfare-providing role of religious congregations. This article draws on four case studies to describe and analyse the range of congregational welfare activities. Six types of welfare work are distinguished: welfare projects, indirect welfare work, informal care, informal care in an organised framework, mutual aid and social integration. Distinctive features of congregational welfare work are identified. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and considering whether there is scope for expanding the contribution of congregations to the mixed economy of welfare.

The social insurance system has been an important element in the Swedish welfare model. However, in Sweden as in other Western countries there is an ongoing discussion about the rationality of the post-1940 welfare state. A social right or benefit constantly debated is the right to an early retirement pension. The value of such an early retirement pension has been questioned from economical as well as social or human points of view. The purpose of this article is to shed light on different processes behind the increasing number of early retirement pensioners and on the ongoing rehabilitation programmes in Sweden. A question that will arise: Is there a possible margin of gains from the interventions of the rehabilitation programme?

In the NHS quasi-market, contracts are the crucial mechanism through which purchasers influence providers of health care. Most attention has been given to the commissioning and contracting process in acute hospital services. However, there is another important but neglected sector of health care – community health services (CHS) – in which the specification and implementation of contracts is particularly difficult. In this article, three dimensions of contracting are analysed, illustrated by qualitative evidence from case studies, concerning: the measurement of activity; the estimation of costs and prices; and the monitoring of outcomes and quality. This article argues that community health services are intrinsically problematic within the quasi-market, and suggests that the nature of the services and the system of delivery militate against provider competition. It is argued that CHS have more in common with ‘clans’ and ‘networks’ rather than markets and hierarchies, and that this requires collaborative rather than adversarial relationships between purchasers and providers.

During the 1980s, unit cost inflation more than swallowed up all the increased spending on local authority social services, leaving a 10 per cent net reduction in service volumes. This increase can be only partly explained by increased labour prices and increased client needs resulting from the implementation of community care. Explanations in terms of quality and efficiency changes are explored in relation to individual services, and there appears to be a prima facie case that efficiency reduced during the 1980s.

Variation between local authorities in the costs of apparently similar services rose during the 1980s. An analysis of these variations shows that those authorities which experienced the greatest rise in unit costs also had the greatest reduction in service volumes. Unit cost containment has been greatest where there was grant reduction and a declining local tax base, while volume declined most where there was rate-capping. The rising variation in unit costs has been responsible for the widening gap between standard spending assessments and what local authorities have wanted to spend on personal social services. If these increased variations reflect widening efficiency standards, then reversing this trend will require that social services department managements have both the motivation and capacity to implement unit cost monitoring and control.

Abundant evidence exists to suggest that increasing numbers of people in England and Wales are facing difficulties in paying for water services. The reasons for these difficulties and their consequences are not easy to disentangle yet it is essential to understand them if policies for their alleviation are to be developed in the context of increasing costs of water service provision. This article suggests how social policy research can address the main issues at three levels: first by looking at economic, environmental and political considerations underlying increasing costs, the need for water conservation and changes in charging systems; second, by understanding how ability to pay depends not only on the resulting size of water bills, but also on income levels and access to organisational arrangements to help with payments; and third, by examining the impacts of inability to pay – debt and disconnection – on living standards, health and well-being.

The class system in England is becoming more entrenched as society increasingly divides between rich and poor and north and south, according to a social atlas published by the School for Advanced Urban Studies (SAUS) at the University of Bristol. (94—24/2—1.1). Britain needs a far-reaching programme of economic and social reforms to avert the damaging consequences of a deepening divide between rich and poor, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into Income and Wealth, whose report was published in February. They found that income inequality has grown further and faster during recent years in Britain than in any comparable industrialised country. In July 1994 there were approximately 570,000 Family Credit (FC) recipients. A study from the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) showed that some families entitled to FC do not claim it for a variety of reasons. The number of lone parents receiving FC rose to almost 244,000 in July 1994, a rise of almost 13 per cent since July 1993.

Paul Watt's (1993) response to my article ‘A nation of inheritors?’ (Hamnett, 1991) raises some interesting and worthwhile questions about the class basis of housing inheritance which I would like to address and clarify. To recapitulate briefly, my article attempted to assess the validity of Saunders's (1986, 1990) arguments regarding the importance of home ownership and housing inheritance in the creation of a new consumption cleavage independent of social class. Using data from a survey of beneficiaries I argued that although housing inheritance is distributed across the class spectrum, the incidence of inheritance is far greater amongst home owners, higher social classes and those living in southern Britain (where home ownership is longer established) than it is among council tenants, the lower social classes and those living in the north. I argued that there is nothing inherent in a person's social class, housing tenure or location which makes inheritance more likely. On the contrary, the determinants of housing inheritance are influenced by the social characteristics of dying home owners. Because the structure of inheritance reflects the structure of property ownership a generation ago, current differences in the incidence of inheritance will reflect the class and tenure characteristics of the dying population and their relationship to the class and tenure characteristics of beneficiaries. The incidence of housing inheritance is higher among home owners and those in higher social classes because their parents are more likely to have been home owners. I went on to argue that because home ownership has become much more widely spread across the class spectrum over the last 40 years (Hamnett, 1984), the incidence of housing inheritance in 30–40 years' time is likely to be more widely spread than it is today. Thus, I concluded that whilst Saunders' arguments regarding the distribution of house inheritance are not empirically supported today, they may be more so in 30–40 years' time. I argued, however, that although housing inheritance was likely to be more widespread in future than it is today, the children of tenants were unlikely to inherit. Given the growing social residualisation of the council sector I argued that ‘the less skilled, the low income and the unemployed’ were likely to be excluded from inheritance.

Many of the difficulties of implementing the new community care policy arise from the fact that local authorities are being asked to make substantial changes on a large number of fronts. However, studies to date have tended to concentrate on only single areas of change. This article aims to provide a wide-ranging discussion of the new policy and its implementation, drawing on empirical research for illustration.

The article suggests first that it is important to situate the difficulties local authorities are experiencing in implementing the changes in the context of the unresolved tensions contained within the objectives of the reforms. The problems these issues raise for implementation are then examined in relation to two main areas: care management and assessment, and enabling, drawing on a two-year monitoring project (from mid-1992 to mid-1994) in one shire county, one inner London borough and three outer London boroughs. The article concludes by speculating on what the changes will mean for the future of social service provision.