Social Policy, Social Welfare and Scandal : How British Public Policy Is Made

This book explores the complex relationship between public policy and scandal. By critically examining some of the landmark scandals of the post war period, using a variety of contemporary records and by close examination of the public inquiries which followed, this book describes the process whereby scandals are constructed and pursued, and demonstrates how scandals coincide with key shifts in public policy, in ways that are more complex and reciprocal than might first appear. Scandals do not just happen. They are made. They are constructed out of such everyday tragedies as the small carelessnesses and institutional brutality of the long stay hospital, the abuse of children or the violent deaths of innocent bystanders. This book, by examining the landmark scandals of the postwar period, reveals how scandals are generated, to what purposes they are used and whose interests they are made to serve. In particular, it examines the role of the public inquiry, an increasingly familiar policy device in the process whereby the story of a particular scandal is told and its meaning fixed. Using transcripts, press coverage, materials from the Public ecord Office and other contemporary sources, each of the scandals described in the book is located in its own historical and policy context in order to explore the complex cause and effect relationship between public policy and scandal "This is an original and thought-provoking book which is very much to be welcomed."--Social Policy 'For those who have concerns about the development of policy and the media representation of social work and social care, this is an important book.' - Brian Littlechild, University of Hertfordshire ' ... a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of how public policy is made.' - Karin Crawford, Children & Society 'Butler and Drakeford present a convincing account of the peculiar significance of public scandal in this well-written and clearly constructed volume.' - Sir William Utting, The Mental Health Review

This book explores the complex relationship between public policy and scandal. By critically examining some of the landmark scandals of the postwar period, using a variety of contemporary records and by close examination of the public inquiries which followed, this book describes the process whereby scandals are constructed and pursued, and demonstrates how scandals coincide with key shifts in public policy, in ways that are more complex and reciprocal than might first appear.

Front Matter....Pages i-xi Scandal....Pages 1-5 ‘Gothic Nightmare’....Pages 6-29 ‘The Corruption of Care’....Pages 30-55 ‘Household Happiness, Gracious Children’....Pages 56-75 The Story of ‘Cinderella’....Pages 76-102 ‘Mere Oblivion’....Pages 103-129 ‘Carnage in the Community’....Pages 130-156 ‘An Ambience of Uneasiness’....Pages 157-180 ‘A Narrow, Punitive and Harshly Restrictive Experience’....Pages 181-204 Scandal, Welfare and Public Policy....Pages 205-225 Back Matter....Pages 226-244