This book offers a comprehensive evaluation of community care strategies within the context of government social policy, and assesses the recent shifts of political power from Conservative to Labour towards the end of the century. Unlike the majority of texts in the field of community care, it makes explicit the historical, philosophical, social and political inter-connections, and therefore provides an in-depth understanding of changing policy issues for students, practicioners and managers in health and social care.

This book offers a comprehensive evaluation of community care strategies within the context of government social policy, and assesses the recent shifts of political power from Conservative to Labour towards the end of the century. Unlike the majority of texts in the field of community care, it makes explicit the historical, philosophical, social and political inter-connections, and therefore provides an in-depth understanding of changing policy issues for students, practicioners and managers in health and social care.

The idea of human nature is centuries old. Yet epithets like 'human greed', 'natural inequalities' and 'you can't change the world' still underpin discussion in everyday life as well as in the academic arena. Human Nature Debate challenges the fixity of such notions and argues that the manifestations of the human nature idea are socially and politically - rather than philosophically - grounded. The book's scope is wide, spanning the social science disciplines and, unlike other texts in the field, incorporates everyday social and political examples into the academic. Cowen demonstrates how theories of human nature must be related to their intellectual, historical and social roots by analysing biological, psychological and social models, assessing the impacts of Freudianism, behaviourism, existentialism and Marxism upon social theory, policy and caring professions, and evaluating the political significance of racist and sexist accounts. The book covers the issues of women and human nature and feminist critiques and acquaints the reader with a variety of social thinkers.