The Social Policy Association (SPA) is the United Kingdom's professional association for teachers, researchers, students and practitioners of social policy. It works to promote the discipline, encourage public awareness of social policy research, liaise with relevant public bodies and higher education institutions, and facilitate the impact of research on public debates and social policy.
Founded in 1967 as the Social Administration Association, the SPA adopted its current name in 1987, reflecting the changing nature of the discipline and profession. It produces three academic journals: Journal of Social Policy, Social Policy and Society, and Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy published by Cambridge University Press.
The SPA is a membership organisation and membership is open to anyone with an interest in the social policy field. Members pay an annual fee, with the cost varying according to income bands and their country of residence. Benefits include subscriptions to the SPA's journals, discounted registration for its conference and the ability to apply for grants. Members are also eligible for nomination to the society's awards, which have been given out annually since 2006.
The SPA is a member learned society of the Academy of Social Sciences. It is one of the UK Government's approved professional organisations and learned societies for tax purposes.
History
Social administration as a discipline emerged in Britain in the mid twentieth century and expanded alongside the growth of the welfare state, especially in the period after the Second World War. In universities, it was initially a vocational subject focused on training social workers, and also became a form of a training for people employed in social services. Among its early proponents were Richard Titmuss and Brian Abel-Smith. The expansion of higher education in the 1960s allowed for the profession and the discipline to grow. In 1967, the Social Administration Association was founded as a professional association. It launched its own journal, Journal of Social Policy, in 1972.
Across the 1970s, scholars argued that social administration needed to incorporate more theory, move away from studying the details of administration, and bring in concepts from other disciplines like sociology. It became less vocationally-orientated and more academic; the diplomas previously awarded were gradually replaced by full degrees; and some universities abandoned vocational teaching altogether. Increasingly, to recognise the more academic focus, university departments began to incorporate social policy, rather than administration, in their names. It became common for academics appointed to professorships of social administration to request the chair be renamed "Professor of Social Policy".
In 1987, the Social Administration Association changed its name to the Social Policy Association. It was criticised by Howard Glennerster (the professor of social administration at the London School of Economics) for playing down the value of examining bureaucratic welfare administration, but Gilbert Smith (the professor of social administration at the University of Hull) defended the decision and the state of the discipline.
Aims and objectives
As of 2021, the SPA aims to promote social policy as an academic subject by supporting research and teaching; it also works to increase public awareness of the discipline and help research have an impact on social policy and public debates. To this end, it consults with higher education providers and research institutions, and liaises with the Economic and Social Research Council. For members, it aims to provide a forum for discussion and a means of keeping up-to-date with changes in the discipline abroad and in the UK.
Membership
Membership is open to people from any country. Individual members pay an annual fee of £40–125, depending on their annual income (or £10 for people in countries classified by the SPA as belonging to the global "economic south"). Public-sector and third-sector organisations may apply for institutional membership, charged at £100 annually (or discounted to £50 for those in the "economic south"). Membership benefits include subscriptions to the SPA's three academic journals and its Social Policy Review, as well as discounted registration for the SPA's conferences, discounts for some other academic journals in the field, the ability to apply for grants, and eligibility for nominations to the society's awards. Most of the SPA's members are teachers and researchers in the field, usually based in UK universities. There is a growing number of members from outside the UK.