This is the fourth edition of a textbook that first appeared in 1973. Does the present edition merit a continuing place in undergraduate reading lists? A textbook whose publishing history continues into its fourth decade must be counted a success and to have established its credentials. It deals succinctly with two centuries of institutional and policy development in a little over three hundred pages of main text, and although there are more heavyweight competitors, for example, the texts by Harris (Harris, Reference Harris2004) and Lowe (Lowe, Reference Lowe2005) from the same publishing house, Fraser is a handy and compact alternative or supplement.

Social policy history has often been taught as part of the first-year programme on degree courses, less often now than in the past perhaps. The principle is possibly more important than ever, given the much-criticised supposed gaps in contemporary school history syllabuses. Historical references are ubiquitous and apparently inescapable in debates about British social policy. ‘Back to Beveridge’ or ‘Back to the Poor Law’ have been typical ways in which debates about social policy have been framed for criticism or endorsement.

Fraser's text was notable at the time of its first publication for its focus on the politics of policy and for eschewing an approach to policy change and development – the key one being, of course, the emergence of a ‘welfare state’ in the twentieth century – which saw it simply as the outcome of a growth of collective altruism or benevolence. In line with the methodological and theoretical self-consciousness now regarded as necessary in any branch of the humanities and social sciences, Fraser provides, in an introduction, ‘Perspectives on the history of welfare’, an outline of the variety of approaches available – he lists no fewer than eight of these – and presents and defends his own; something not regarded as necessary in the first edition. He is open about his own approach to the subject, which he describes as, mainly but not exclusively, ‘pragmatism’, an approach that tends to downplay the role of ideology. Nevertheless, Fraser recognises the role of ideas in policy change, and Chapter 5, ‘Laissez-faire and state intervention’, a feature of the first and subsequent editions, deals explicitly with this. While there are occasional references to Foucault, there is an absence of such fashionable approaches to the subject as postmodernism or social constructionism. Feminism is not specifically dealt with, although the role of women reformers, especially in the nineteenth century, is clearly brought out.

It is a conscientious revision, in that references for the whole period covered by the book are up to date, and the story has been brought down to 2008, with, for example, references to the Work and Pensions Minister James Purnell's initiatives of that year and to the Conservatives’ ‘broken Britain’ agenda developed under David Cameron's leadership. Fraser has also taken account of recent interpretations and reinterpretations of issues in the literature, drawing attention to disagreements and controversies. He writes clearly and accessibly – a key factor in the book's long-lasting success – and as an experienced teacher understands the needs of undergraduates commencing the study of social policy, mainly, but not exclusively, those on social policy degree courses. The excellent study aids of earlier editions have been retained, including the valuable documentary appendix, an extensive and detailed time chart from 1802 to 2007, a good index, endnotes and very comprehensive topic-focused bibliographies organised essentially as further reading, helpfully divided into separate sections for books and articles and with important references starred. However, it is somewhat confusingly numbered and it is not quite clear how the numbered sections correspond to particular chapters. Most sources are referenced as endnotes; a few are given Harvard-type references, and this is occasionally a problem, because in one or two cases these are omitted from the end-of-volume bibliographies (there is no single Harvard-style bibliography for all sources).

Social policy history is a blend of social, economic, administrative, political and cultural history, as well as of the history of ideas; it lies at the intersection of these historical specialisms, and as well as drawing on them, helps in turn to illuminate them. Political history in the twentieth century, for example, is incomprehensible without some consideration of and attention to the development of welfare. Fraser's history is especially strong on the administrative, political and ideological aspects of developments. One could envisage a more ‘social’ approach to welfare history than Fraser provides, which might involve a stronger focus on the attitudes and experiences of ordinary people, users and non-users of social services, in relation to poverty, sickness or housing and educational deprivation and their experiences of and reactions to the activities of governments, welfare bureaucracies and professions, public and private. A focus on institutional developments is, however, almost inevitable, given the nature of the evidence, the availability of substantial archival resources, generated particularly by governments, and the difficulty of accessing sources for this kind of social history.

Fraser has not seen fit to change his basic approach to the subject matter in this new edition. The main chapter divisions and subdivisions of earlier editions have largely been retained. He deals with all the main areas of social policy and retains the very useful opening chapter on the factory question with which the book has always commenced. The ‘Introduction’ to the third and earlier editions, a brief examination of the economic and social context for the emergence of social policy in the UK, principally the Industrial Revolution and its effects, has regrettably been dropped from the present edition in order to save space. He succeeds in conveying, as in previous editions, an enormous amount of information reliably and accurately. The final chapter compresses the last 60 years of social policy history into less that forty pages – quite an achievement.