The book traces the political history of the concept of social policy. "Social policy" originated in Germany in the mid 19th century as a scholarly term that made a career in politics. The term became more prominent only after World War II. Kaufmann, the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany, argues that "social policy" responds to the modern disjunction between "state" and "society" diagnosed by the German philosopher Hegel. Hegel's disciple Lorenz von Stein saw social policy as a means to pacify the capitalist class conflict. After World War II, social policy expanded in an unprecedented way, changing its character in the process. Social policy turned from class politics into a policy for the whole population, with new concepts - like "social security", "redistribution" and "quality of life" - and new overarching  formulas, "social market economy" and "social state" (the German version of "welfare state"). Both formulas have remained indeterminate and contested, indicating the inherent openness of the idea of the "social".

Franz-Xaver Kaufmann is Professor emeritus for Social Policy and Sociology at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. He studied law, economics and sociology in Zurich, St. Gall and Paris. He is the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany and has been awarded honorary doctorates and prizes, including the Preller Prize for Social Policy and the Schader Prize for Applied Social Science. Lutz Leisering, the Editor, is Professor for Social Policy and Director at the Institute for World Society studies, University of Bielefeld. He took his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. He has published widely on European and global social policy.