COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY: CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

Three reasons exist for undertaking a comparative study of social policy: there is no other way of evaluating and increasing understanding of social policies; through its study, a wide range of policy options for tackling particular problems become known and understood; policy makers can learn lessons from others' experience with particular policies. Conceptual and methodological issues raised by comparative study are briefly studied. All study is in fact comparative. As a field of study becomes more theoretically explicit and sophisticated it becomes more explicit and self‐conscious about some important comparisons. The development of comparative social policy indicates a growing theoretical awareness of the need for certain types of important comparisons. In time it is expected to disappear as a separately designated aspect of “the study of social policy”. The study of the field of social policy brings the kind of knowledge produced by the so‐called social sciences into sharp relief.