ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the leading findings and discusses some of the implications of this study for social policy in the years ahead, particularly for the mixed economies in the advanced industrial democracies of Europe and the United States; the findings may also have some relevance for the countries in Eastern Europe. Trends toward formalization, bureaucratization, and professionalization were more evident in England and the Netherlands, while secularization and modernization continued apace in all four countries. In England, there were also notable expansions in organizational size, program diversity and complexity, and spreading commercialization. While the choice of a particular sector may be less important than the particular welfare mix, here, too, there is a paucity of information that might guide planning decisions. A serious consideration of these issues requires that the policy analysis move to broader arena than sectoral choice, one that would include multiple dimensions of the public policy process, as well as the different types of service provision relationships.
