Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Social Policy and Law

Integrated Master's degree
Language: EnglishStudies in English
Subject area: social
Qualification: MA
Kind of studies: full-time studies
Master of Arts (MA)
University website: www.ed.ac.uk
Law
Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. Law is a system that regulates and ensures that individuals or a community adhere to the will of the state. State-enforced laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or established by judges through precedent, normally in common law jurisdictions. Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.
Policy
A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies to assist in subjective decision making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result are often hard to test objectively, e.g. work-life balance policy. In contrast policies to assist in objective decision making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested, e.g. password policy.
Social
Living organisms including humans are social when they live collectively in interacting populations, whether they are aware of it, and whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.
Social Policy
Social policy is a term which is applied to various areas of policy, usually within a governmental or political setting (such as the welfare state and study of social services).
Policy
It is better to walk than to run; it is better to stand than to walk; it is better to sit than to stand; it is better to lie than to sit.
Hindu proverb.
Law
But is this law?
Ay, marry is 't; crowner's quest law.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act V, scene 1, line 23.
Law
As in elections, the law pretended universal rights, while securing the interests of powerful houses.
David Brin, Glory Season (1993), chapter 27.
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