Controversial Issues in Social Policy is an edited collection of contemporary social policy debates argued between some of the foremost thinkers in the field of social work as well as prominent authors in other fields.

The eighteen debate topics were selected to cover a wide range of professional interests in the field of social policy and are divided into four parts—Social Policy and the American Welfare State; Poverty, Inequality and Social Policy; Issues in Social Service Policy; and Social Work Education and Professional Policy. The text stresses the importance of critical and independent thought in the educational process.