Social Conscience and Social Policy

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Abstract
Elementary textbooks in a subject may well influence students more than their subsequent reading, and they show the basic assumptions of teachers. This article is based on a study of introductory reading recommended to social administration students in British universities and polytechnics in 1976. It argues that many textbooks incorporate to some extent an ideal-typical interpretation of social policy which is called ‘the social conscience thesis’. The first part of the article sets out to establish that this approach, which was one of the dominant ones in social administration, remains influential. It is still the most common interpretation of social policy at the elementary level. The article is not concerned with advanced and specialized texts, where, although the social conscience thesis is still strong, different approaches are more commonly found. The second part then attempts to explain why this approach was once so powerful and why it is still with us.

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