ECONOMICS AND THE POVERTY OF SOCIAL PLANNING

This article examines the reasons for the dismal state of social planning in Britain today. Several different explanations for this situation are discussed including its poor track-record, official reluctance to contemplate the future, the circumscribed and narrowly conceived way it is approached, and the ill coordinated and fragmented structure of the social services. While all these are seen to offer part of the answer, it is argued that the main obstacle to social planning lies in the subordination of social goals to economic objectives; a fact itself rooted in the persistence of the 'public burden model' of social expenditure. Finally, the implications of this analysis for social policy research are discussed.