Discretion has re-emerged as an issue of central importance for welfare
professionals over the last two decades in the face of an
intensification of management culture across the public sector. This
book presents an innovative framework for the analysis of discretion,
offering three accounts of the managerial role - the domination model,
the street level model and the author's alternative discursive
perspective. These different regimes of discretion are examined through
a case study within a social services department, comparing and
contrasting social work discretion in an Older Persons Team and a Mental
Health Team. This innovative, theoretical and empirical analysis will be
of great interest to postgraduate students and researchers in social
work and related disciplines including social policy, public
administration and organizational studies, as well as professionals in
social work, health and education.