Thinking Complexity in Public Policy

This chapter begins by describing what is meant by policy, offering definitions and highlighting assumptions underpinning it. The multiple and competing factors driving policy are identified, followed by a discussion of complexity theory and its contribution to understanding, and potentially influencing, policy processes. The chapter is not intended to provide a comprehensive account of public policy or the policymaking process but rather to sketch how a social worker, thinking complexity and acting pragmatically, might understand the role policy plays in constructing the context within which social workers practice. We discuss a number of crucial areas where social work implements, interprets, is shaped by and works with policy directives, noting some of the challenges and tensions this entails. This is followed by a discussion of social workers thinking complexity and acting pragmatically in relation to policy, choosing as an example their accounts of working in front line roles during COVID-19 and its attendant restrictions. The ways in which they adapted, and the ways in which changes they made to practice evolved, are discussed. The chapter concludes by noting the importance, underscored by CT’s explanation of ‘how the world works’, of ensuring that feedback from the front line where policies are implemented and outcomes become visible is an essential aspect in the ongoing processes, which comprise policymaking, development and implementation, and is an activity that social workers should ensure they participate in.