Comprehensive and based on research, Analyzing Social Policy explores:

• An overview of the practice of social policy analysis

• The role of research in guiding policy analysis

• The idea of policy analyses as research

• Themes, assumptions, and major theories that undergird rational models of policy analysis

• Nonrational themes, assumptions, and major theories informing nontraditional interpretive and critical approaches to policy analysis

• Strategies for applying selected models and approaches when engaging in policy analysis as research

Providing practitioners and students with a set of tools that can be used to enhance an understanding of what constitutes policy as well as acceptable standards for critical analysis of policy, this resource enables policy advocates—regardless of their level—to be political, strategic, and critical in their work.