This chapter endeavors to develop an attempt at characterizing the social service system in Europe, serving three areas that we understand to be present in different system models but with different logics. The first has to do with the different denominations and ways of defining social services in each country. The second refers to the logic that legitimizes it, referring to its objects and purposes, as well as the type of needs and population groups that are targeted. The third area addresses issues of governance, the way it structures its devices and the relationships it establishes between the different levels of government and the main actors (the third sector, families, and the market). Having established this characterization (following this logic), we arrive at the Spanish case, trying to analyze its current model from legislative transformations that it has developed as well as trends and processes that the system has been generating as a result of the socioeconomic crisis, which have led to the modification of its profiles and demands. Finally, we take a rudimentary approach to the different challenges that we claim the Spanish Public System of Social Services must cope with in the current context.
Part of the book: An Analysis of Contemporary Social Welfare Issues