Series introduction

Social policy in the United Kingdom has undergone major changes since the mid-1970s and particularly since the election of the Thatcher government in 1979. The post-war consensus is long gone and far-reaching changes have been made in every area of social policy. These changes, of principle and of practice, have been guided both by ideology and by the context of a postindustrial and increasingly globalized economy. The emergence of New Labour has added a new and still developing dimension of change.