1.  "One in which deliberate measures are adopted by government to influence, interfere with, or super cede the free play of market forces in the interests of welfare." (Kathleen Herman)

2.   "The institutional outcome of the assumption by a society of legal and therefore formal and explicit responsibility for the basic well-being of all of its members.  (It) emerges when a society or its decision-making groups become convinced that the welfare of the individual is too important to be left to custom or to informal arrangements and private understandings, and is therefore a concern of government." (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences)

3.   ìA state in which organized power is deliberately used in an effort to modify the play of market forces in at least 3 directions: first by guaranteeing individuals & families a minimum income irrespective of the market value of their work or their property; second, by narrowing the extent of insecurity by enabling individuals and families to meet certain ësocial contingenciesí which lead otherwise to individual & family crisis; and third by ensuring that all citizens without distinction of status or class are offered the best standards available in relation to a certain agreed range of social services.î  (Briggs: Welfare State in Historical Perspective)
 

Social Welfare

1.   "A network of legislation, policies, institutions, resources and services that have been developed to ensure that citizens will have access to those materials, services and resources of society that will permit them to develop their potential as individuals in a manner acceptable to them with due regard to the rights of others." (Turner & Turner)

Social (Welfare) Policy

1.   "Social policy can be defined as planning for social externalities (sickness, unemployment), redistribution, and the equitable distribution of social benefits, especially social services.   It can include analysis -- accounting for the development of public policy and explicating the choices or assumptions underlying present or future programs; and planning -- converting value choices into concrete programs and plans for action by choosing among alternative patterns and levels of allocating resources to reach some predefined goal." (Rein)

2.   *ìSocial policy means choice involving change.  Because it is action-oriented and problem-oriented no policy can escape from values, ideologies and images of what constitutes the ëgood society.íî (Titmuss)