Social policy is intimately connected with issues of human need, yet strangely, with the exception of the ground-breaking work of Len Doyal and Ian Gough almost 20 years ago, now there is not much literature within the social policy area specifically focusing on human need. Understanding Human Need aims to remedy this neglect and provides a valuable contribution to the study of social policy.

In this work, Hartley Dean surveys some of the many important distinctions and issues that play a central role in needs discourse, and also provides a compelling analysis and normative account which also constitute an innovative contribution to some controversial debates. Dean starts by challenging readers to think about the ways in which people talk in ordinary discourse about human needs. He suggests that there are at least four ways in which we talk about needs. People sometimes make claims about what they need in order to be able to survive (a ‘moralistic’ of ‘moral-authoritarian’ way of talking, according to Dean). They sometimes demonstrate through their preferences in market interactions what they take themselves to need (which Dean describes as an ‘economistic’ way). Common customs in the community can reflect what people are perceived as needing (‘paternalistic’, according to Dean). Sometimes, claims about what people need reflect an ideal vision of what is believed to constitute human fulfilment (this is the ‘humanistic’ approach in Dean's account).

Dean goes on to analyse other important distinctions commonly drawn, such as between absolute and relative need (and related concerns), and between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ accounts of need. He also does an admirable job connecting needs to central debates in social policy, such as debates about poverty and inequality, and other related concepts such as social exclusion, capabilities, well-being and recognition, helping thereby to deepen our understanding of human need and its connection to other central concepts.

Dean then presents a model for categorising approaches to social policy, which draws on an alternative taxonomy of need connecting the four ordinary discourses of need with different approaches to the development of social policy. The four elements of this model are:

1. 1. Circumstantial need: reflected in social policies which offer conditional forms of welfare provision (rooted in ‘moralistic’ approaches).

2. 2. Particular need: reflected in targeted forms of welfare provision (rooted in ‘economistic’ approaches).

3. 3. Common need: reflected in policies which organise the sharing of risks (rooted in ‘paternalistic’ approaches).

4. 4. Universal need: reflected in policies based on social citizenship rights (rooted in ‘humanitarian’ approaches).

Social policy may, and frequently does, combine different conceptions of need in ways that may sometimes be complex or contradictory. The model provided can help us better understand how human need informs social policy.

One of the central challenges for the politics of need is to ensure appropriate rights accompany significant needs. Dean then turns his attention to the ways in which human needs may be translated into social rights. This involves negotiation between ‘top–down’ and ‘bottom–up’ approaches, and thick and thin understandings of our needs. The ideal he offers is an open understanding of human needs that is universal, but which can accommodate a variety of particular and common needs. This means we must squarely face some key issues of social justice, but doing so with a heightened awareness of the richness of human need can assist. He argues that an inclusive dialogic process that can authoritatively translate needs into rights can be built from the local level upwards to, indeed, the global level. He outlines some of the mechanisms available that could do this, from local social rights councils up to campaigns for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, which could effectively pave the way for a new, more inclusive, architecture for global governance. A particularly welcome aspect of the book is the attention devoted to policy at the global level as well as more traditional intra-state approaches. The final chapter contains good discussion of issues concerning meeting human need at the global level, including consideration of fiscal mechanisms that could be implemented for meeting human needs.

Several features of this book will make it an excellent resource for teaching. It includes helpful highlighted sections indicating what is to be covered in a particular chapter, concise summaries of key points, interesting questions for discussion (which should prove highly stimulating for both individual reflection and class conversation), a section with additional resources, including further readings and interesting web-sites. All in all, this book is a welcome addition to the literature and a very useful resource for teaching that fills an important gap.