ABSTRACT
T H Marshall, in one of the earliest of them, argued that social policy should be defined by its objectives, which he listed as health care, social security, welfare, and housing and community services. After a brief review of the scope of social policy analysis, it is possible to begin to consider it as an approach to adult education. Perhaps one of the most important benefits of adopting a social policy analysis model to adult education is the emphasis this approach would place on the need to relate policies one to another. The potential of the state to affect or determine the objectives of adult education policy has never been greater, whether or not this potential is realised. As an object of social policy, the welfare state and the adult education movement have common roots in a desire to extend the economic and social benefits of industrialised society to all of the people.
