ABSTRACT
The term social policy is almost always interpreted to mean public policy. Such an interpretation is understandable. Social policy decisions that are made, or laws that are written, or regulations that are adopted by public agencies or political entities often affect the lives of large numbers of people and frequently produce their share of controversy. This “public” subset of social policies is therefore often in the news—the busing of pupils to achieve racial balance; Head Start; minimum competency testing; education for the handicapped—to name just a few. So it is not surprising that the terms “social policy” and “public policy” are often used interchangeably; nor is it surprising that when universities develop courses or programs of study in social policy it is the public domain—the domains of the executive, the judicial, and the legislative branches of government—that are stressed and upon which attention is concentrated.
