This article analyses the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of ‘same race’ (‘black on black’) adoption policy in Britain and the accompanying antagonism to transracial adoption. In order to highlight the assumptions on which current policy and practice are based, it refers to infant adoption, not to the placement of older children who have already experienced family life in particular class and ethnic locations. The author suggests that current policies, amounting to a virtual ban on transracial adoption in both Britain and the USA, are based on a binary opposition between black and white which denies differences within these categories and similarities across them. She also suggests that this portrayal of black and white people in monolithic terms rests on racist stereotyping and is a distortion of the reality of social relations in contemporary society which marginalises large numbers of people whose origins include both black and white. It draws attention away from crucial questions on adoption in heterogeneous, hierarchical, racially ordered societies and has implications for social relationships in such societies.

‘Elder abuse’ has recently emerged as an important phenomenon, with implications for social policy and professional practices. In this article it is argued that responses must be based on a more thorough definition. of ‘elder abuse’. A distinction between acts which can be regarded as ‘abuse’ and those which could be seen as ‘criminal’ is seen to be necessary for the development of policy and practice, recognising that these two ideas are grounded in competing discourses. The concept of an ‘obligation of care’ between perpetrator and elderly person is proposed as the basis for establishing a boundary between the two discourses and their policy implications. It is argued that this concept will enable a more focused definition of ‘elder abuse’ to be developed which will provide a more effective foundation for policies and subsequent social responses.

The decline in smoking prevalence in Britain has been associated with a narrowing of gender differences and a widening of class differences in cigarette smoking. The shrinking population of smokers is increasingly drawn from those occupying subordinate positions in the gender and class hierarchies. The article reviews the evidence linking social inequality and women's smoking, drawing on conventional measures of gender and socio-economic position and on alternative measures which tap more directly into the processes that sustain gender and class inequality. The article deepens its analysis of the links between social inequality and smoking behaviour through a survey of women caring for young children in manual households. The survey uncovered pronounced intra-group differences in the smoking behaviour of women occupying broadly similar gender and socio-economic positions. These differences were associated, in clear and systematic ways, with differences in the mothers' social and material circumstances. High rates of prevalence and consumption and low rates of cessation were related to heavier caring responsibilities and to greater material disadvantage.

In the NHS quasi-market, contracts are the crucial mechanism through which purchasers influence providers of health care. Most attention has been given to the commissioning and contracting process in acute hospital services. However, there is another important but neglected sector of health care – community health services (CHS) – in which the specification and implementation of contracts is particularly difficult. In this article, three dimensions of contracting are analysed, illustrated by qualitative evidence from case studies, concerning: the measurement of activity; the estimation of costs and prices; and the monitoring of outcomes and quality. This article argues that community health services are intrinsically problematic within the quasi-market, and suggests that the nature of the services and the system of delivery militate against provider competition. It is argued that CHS have more in common with ‘clans’ and ‘networks’ rather than markets and hierarchies, and that this requires collaborative rather than adversarial relationships between purchasers and providers.

The class system in England is becoming more entrenched as society increasingly divides between rich and poor and north and south, according to a social atlas published by the School for Advanced Urban Studies (SAUS) at the University of Bristol. (94—24/2—1.1). Britain needs a far-reaching programme of economic and social reforms to avert the damaging consequences of a deepening divide between rich and poor, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into Income and Wealth, whose report was published in February. They found that income inequality has grown further and faster during recent years in Britain than in any comparable industrialised country. In July 1994 there were approximately 570,000 Family Credit (FC) recipients. A study from the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) showed that some families entitled to FC do not claim it for a variety of reasons. The number of lone parents receiving FC rose to almost 244,000 in July 1994, a rise of almost 13 per cent since July 1993.