ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with a discussion of values and ideologies - bodies of attitudes and doctrines basic to social welfare policy in all societies. It looks at problems that are of a broader, more general character; namely, lack and ambiguity of data, and the need to establish criteria for selecting countries to be compared, to assess social reality and progress, and to assure a comparative dimension. The book also looks at the nature of values and the manner in which they evolve from the social matrix, and at the differences in the degree of consensus they represent at a high and general level of abstraction, on the one hand, and at lower levels of generalization, on the other. It aims to indicate the most promising directions for future undertakings in cross-national research in social welfare policy and planning.
