Morality and Public Policy

Morality and public policy have long had a complicated, tense relationship—the product, at least in part, of growing secularism and unclear lines between the state and questions of morality. This book looks at that tension and explores ways that both scholars and practitioners can enhance the capability of public policy to understand moral questions, respond flexibly and quickly to changes in social mores, and take account of different cultural contexts that could lead to unexpected responses to particular policies. It is the best look we’ve had yet at the moral core of public policy—what it is and what it could be.

Clem Henricson is an honorary visiting research fellow at the University of East Anglia, member of the Oxford Centre for Research into Parenting and Children, and the former director of research and policy at the National Family and Parenting Institute.