Social policy is an applied version of Sociology. It is primarily concerned with improving and reforming society. It focuses on studying and also influencing how governments respond to social policy. Researching social problems such as poverty for example has proven hugely popular amongst many sociologists. For there is a high chance their research will be funded by the government, aiding in this common practical problem some sociologist’s face.

According to Anthony Giddens (2001), there are four practical benefits of studying sociology. One being that it helps our understanding of social situations. Factual information can be gained on society that can then be examined using theory. So the factual knowledge provides us with facts, and the theoretical understanding provides people with an explanation for these facts. For example, a series of reports by Townsend in 1979 and later Mack and Lansley showed the extent of poverty in Britain and showed groups most at risk of it. The facts they produced can be understood in relation to theory. Sociologists uncovered the extent of poverty by devising deprivation models of poverty, proving that it can be fully understood in terms of what people normally expect to have. Giddens also believes that another benefit is the awareness of cultural differences aspect. Leading to the raising of needs of minority groups in society. Over time, sociologists have built up a picture of the social and economic exclusion suffered by disabled people, which has led to greater public awareness and sympathy such as the Disability Discrimination Act. The third benefit being the assessments of the effects of policies. Once politicians have recognised that a particular social problem exists they are then able to develop policies to combat it. The ESRC funded research by Middleton Et Al (2005) into pilot schemes to test which policies could be