Quality of Life: Concept, Policy and Prcatice

Description

Examining the concept of quality of life, the book looks at its relevance to social policy, especial in relation to class, gender, health and cultural diversity. The book explores subjective and objective individual well-being and family, community and social life. Quality of life is related to other contemporary concepts such as social capital, social inclusion and health inequality and set in an international and global perspective. It draws on a range of disciplines to bring a sense of wholeness to a subject which has many disparate elements and which has been treated in the past in fragmentary ways. Overall, it provides the student with a powerful overview of a concept which is becoming increasingly prominent in the social sciences. Quality of life is a central theme in the study and practice of social policy, but there is very little on the subject written from a social policy perspective. Addressing issues that are dealt with in most mainstream social policy modules the book covers; needs poverty; social exclusion; health and social divisions and is a welcome addition to the current literature.

David Phillips is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy in the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK. He has undertaken research on a wide range of topics in the health and social services, on community solidarity within minority communities and on quality of life. At present, he is studying the contribution of trust, reciprocity and altruism to social cohesion.