Review Titmuss’ ‘social division of welfare’, looking at the criticisms put forward by Hilary Rose (1981) and Adrian Sinfield (1978), with a view to establishing whether the writings of Titmuss are still relevant to social policy today.

Since the introduction of democratic governments, the governments role in social and economic affairs has been an ideologically contested issue. Politicians, governments, and social theorists differ in their beliefs on issues such as the distribution of resources and the role of the family. Current discussions about the welfare state revolve around levels of expenditure and where to make cuts rather than what kind or size of welfare state is needed. In the 50s and 60s, Richard Titmuss published a series of essays that were vastly critical of Britains social welfare systems….(short extract)