ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the necessary background to understanding the current situation in the development of social policy. It examines some significant features of the historical development of social policy that culminated in the mature welfare state of the post-war period. The chapter looks at a range of critiques, from both left and right, that developed as the conditions which sustained the post-war welfare state broke down in the 1970s. It examines key phases in the development of social policy up until the mid-1970s. The Tudor Poor Law was established in a period in which the transition to capitalist relations of production was taking place. The new liberalism began the replacement of the Victorian Poor Law, this had largely rested on a system in which eligibility for benefits was based on the 'workhouse test'. The discussion of the key phases illustrates that the structures of the state, at both local and national level, have normally been retained over long periods.
