This text looks at the historical and contemporary changes in social welfare systems and provision, and the debates and struggles surrounding them. The perspectives of liberalism, Marxism, neo-liberalism, post-structuralism, political economy, political ecology and postmodernism are used to provide an introduction to the theoretical frameworks within which the sociological perspectives on welfare have been formulated. The authors also examine: issues such as the justification for theory in the analysis of welfare as well as the present definitions of theory, social welfare, the welfare state and the state; and show how social theories construct the relationship between state, society, economy, culture, environment, production, consumption and other forms of individual and collective and experience.