Abstract: Targeted towards constructing a socialist harmonious society, developmentoriented social policy is now attracting more and more academic attention in China. This paper, on the basis of distinguishing the three theoretical schools of productivism, social investment and inclusive development, traces their theoretical evolution in two aspects: the relationship between social policy and economic development and the welfare objective of social development, comments on the contribution of Midgleys thoughts on social development to the evolution of developmentoriented social policy, and explores the practical modes in various countries. It also makes a comparison between domestic and foreign developmental contexts and offers a prediction about the future trend of developmentoriented social policy against the realization of a moderately prosperous society in China.

Key words: developmentoriented social, productivism; social investment, inclusive development