Social Work: A Very Short Introduction

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Holland ◽  
Jonathan Scourfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Work Relationships ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
What Works ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human

Social workers spend their time trying to ease social suffering. They encounter the extreme casualties of social inequality: the victims of poverty, illness, addiction, and abuse; they work with abusers and offenders; and operate in the space between the state and the poor or marginalized. Social Work: A Very Short Introduction explains what social work is and looks at its rich historical development. Reflecting international human stories of social problems and social work relationships, as well as the philosophies behind the practice and the evidence about what works throughout the world, it looks at the various definitions, history, and debates about purpose and effectiveness, theory, and methods.

Disrupting, destabilising and declassifying: Jacques Rancière’s potential contribution to social work

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
The World

Jacques Rancière’s main philosophical thematic preoccupations stem from an understanding that human beings are equal in all respects. This article is a short introduction to key conceptual formulations central within his diverse body of work. Rancière prompts us to think more critically about how people are apt to be fixed in particular political and cultural locations. His philosophical perspective on ‘police’ and ‘politics’ pivots on a subversive endeavour to dis-order dominant ways of perceiving the world and the roles which groups and individuals are expected to fulfil. Rancière also furnishes a range of concepts which can be fruitfully disruptive of particular fields and the more encompassing economic and political frameworks in which they are located. On account of his engagement with these themes, it is argued that Rancière’s work may aid social workers’ critical reflection.

1. What is social work?

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Holland ◽  
Jonathan Scourfield
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Broad Definition ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
The Poor

What is social work, what makes it distinctive, and where do its boundaries lie? ‘What is social work’ provides a short definition: it is a community-based response to social need. Social workers spend their time trying to ease social suffering. They encounter the extreme casualties of social inequality—the victims of poverty, illness, addiction, and abuse—and they operate in the space between the state and the poor or marginalized. A broad definition is necessary when looking at any social phenomenon internationally, because of political and cultural variations. Important themes in social work’s history are also considered along with the boundaries with other professions such as public health, counselling, psychotherapy, and community development.

A complicated welcome: social workers navigate policy, organisational contexts and sociocultural dynamics following migration to Canada

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Brown ◽  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Stephanie Éthier ◽  
Amy Fulton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Better Life Index ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Natural Beauty ◽  
The World ◽  
Work Education

Canada is promoted as a land of opportunity, with its natural beauty purportedly matched by the generosity of its people. Since 1994, Canada has been ranked in the top 10 places to live in the world, and in 2013 it placed third in the global ‘better life index’, recognised for its comfortable standard of living, low mortality rate, solid education and health systems, and low crime rate (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2013). It is a promising option for migrant professionals looking to leave their home countries for a variety of reasons related to social, political and economic conditions. This chapter reports on the experiences of 44 social workers who undertook their social work education outside Canada and migrated to Canada with the intent of continuing to practise social work. We bring analysis to three key areas experienced as problematic: policy, including immigration, recognition of foreign credentials, and registration with the licensing body; organisational context, including issues related to the search for employment and process of hiring; and socio-cultural dynamics, the more subtle relations required to ‘fit in’ and feelings of ‘difference’ in relation to one’s colleagues. The findings for each of these are discussed in detail below, drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986).

Shame and Social Work

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Painful Experience

This book aims to approach the phenomenon of shame, especially in the context of social work. It explores the profoundly damaging experience of shame on the identities and potential of many service users, who, through, for example, the stigmatised experiences of poverty or abuse, are silenced within and disconnected from full participation in societies and communities. The book considers shame as a social, moral, and politically generated phenomenon, but equally focuses on the powerful, painful experience of each individual subjected to shaming. Having set out key contextual issues and theoretical approaches to understand shame, the book turns its attention to service users, more specifically young people and the poor. Finally, it offers examples of shame in relation to how social workers experience this in organisations and through, for example, human mistakes and limitations. In relation to shamed social workers and shamed service users, attention is given to how it might be possible to begin to address this painful state.

scholarly journals Degrowth for transformational alternatives as radical social work practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-433
Author(s):  
Meredith C.F. Powers ◽  
Komalsingh Rambaree ◽  
Jef Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Ecological Justice ◽  
The World

Historically, and in modern times, social workers have been culpable in perpetuating the very systems of oppression that we seek to eliminate. This happens as we are part of cultures and economies that operate out of the growth ideology. Acting in accordance with the growth ideology does not lead to the outcomes that we strive for as professional social workers. Rather, the growth ideology results in growing social inequalities and increasing ecological injustices around the world. Social work can, instead, embrace an ecosocial lens and promote degrowth approaches for transformational alternatives. Rather than reinforcing the existing systems of injustice and oppression, radical social work can take an activist role and bring about urgent and radical changes to promote ecological justice through social and ecological well-being. Examples from radical social work in local and international communities demonstrate the possibility of degrowth for transformational alternatives as radical social work practice.

Industrialization and The Family1

2018 ◽  
pp. 65-75
Author(s):  
Richard M. Titmuss
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores how there are at least three reasons why industrialization and the family is today an important subject for debate by an international conference of social workers. The first is an obvious one: the opportunities that it offers for discussion and analysis on a comparative basis. The second lies in the fact that the world is increasingly an industrial world and dominated in its values and goals by problems of economic growth. The third reason in supporting the choice of this particular subject for discussion is that social work is primarily an activity carried on in industrial, urban societies. The problems of human needs and relationships with which social work has traditionally been associated have had their origin in those societies experiencing the impact of industrialization.

Still the Poor Relations?: Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Kirton ◽  
Jennifer Beecham ◽  
Kate Ogilvie
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Quantitative Survey ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Status ◽  
Service Managers ◽  
Research Studies

There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers, but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children's workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawing on quantitative survey data and qualitative material from focus groups and interviews, Derek Kirton, Jennifer Beecham and Kate Ogilvie explore from the different perspectives of supervising social workers, service managers and foster carers, the extent to which the latter are valued, listened to or regarded as ‘colleagues' by social work professionals and agencies. Key findings include that carers’ sense of being valued may be linked to factors such as age, experience, health and number of placements provided. Discussion of the status of foster carers revealed not only wide variation in practice but also a complex set of sentiments and significant divisions among social work professionals on the question of whether carers should be regarded as ‘colleagues’.

scholarly journals Theories in Māori social work: Indigenous approaches to working with and for indigenous people

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Awhina Hollis-English
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Ancestral Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Work World ◽  
Contemporary Context

Māori social work practice has been developed upon a strong foundation of indigenous knowledge, theories and values. Theories can be used to validate social work practice and to build and enhance the engagement between workers and whānau. This article describes some Māori social work theories and how they have developed both within the social work world and that of neighbouring professions. A number of theories have been described by Māori social workers from across Aotearoa as the foundations for their social work practice. Theoretical discourse in the world of Māori social workers enables one to grow and develop their practice, leaning on ancestral knowledge and valuing the skills that are gained through understanding tikanga in a contemporary context. Through enhancing one’s knowledge of Te Ao Māori and evidence-based practice, social workers can use, develop and create Māori theories in a social work context for the benefit of Māori whānau and communities.

Women: Practice Interventions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefina Figueira-McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The Core ◽  
Gender Hierarchy ◽  
The World ◽  
Professional Intervention

Gender hierarchy is the most pervasive source of inequality in the world. In view of the commitment of social work to the goal of justice, redressing the consequences of inequality among the most disenfranchised should be at the core of professional intervention. Rather than discussing the merits of specific types of practice intervention adopted by social workers, I focus on strategies and knowledge-gathering techniques relevant to empowering women, with an emphasis on five social work methods.

scholarly journals Amplified injustices and mutual aid in the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097332
Author(s):  
Finn McLafferty Bell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Ways Of Being

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing injustices in the United States, which is exemplified in Ypsilanti, Michigan. However, the pandemic also provides an opportunity to re-imagine existing ways of being in the world, and mutual aid networks that have provided for people's basic needs during multiple crises while also working towards more radical change provide an opportunity for social workers to examine their relationship to “helping.” The author uses their personal experience with a local mutual aid network to examine the power and possibility of mutual aid, particularly in times of crisis, as well as sources of social work resistance to decentralized and non-professional forms of helping and caring. These lessons are carried beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to their consequences for the looming climate crisis.

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