Introducing social work: who are social workers? Why do we need them?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Linda Bell
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Reflections

This introductory chapter introduces social work and social workers. It also considers other questions related to social work, infusing the discussion with some personal reflections. It asks how we address the taken-for-granted nature of social work. The influences of the state, social policy, and public perceptions (including users of social work services) on social work are also explored. The chapter includes some extracts taken from recent interviews with workers about social work as they have experienced it in the past and the present, and how they view its future prognosis. Finally, the chapter also outlines the outsider approach that this volume will take towards exploring social work.

Facilitating Injustice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoosun Park
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Mass Removal ◽  
Professional Obligations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Private Charity ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Major Shift

Social workers were involved in all aspects of the removal, incarceration, and resettlement of the Nikkei, a history that has been forgotten by social work. This study is an effort to address this lacuna. Social work equivocated. While it did not fully endorse mass removal and incarceration, neither did it protest, oppose, or explicitly critique government actions. The past should not be judged by today’s standards; the actions and motivations described here occurred in a period rife with fear and propaganda. Undergoing a major shift from its private charity roots into its public sector future, social work bounded with the rest of society into “a patriotic fervor.” While policies of a government at war, intractable bureaucratic structures, tangled political alliances, and complex professional obligations all may have mandated compliance, it is, nevertheless, difficult to deny that social work and social workers were also willing participants in the events, informed about and aware of the implications of that compliance. In social work’s unwillingness to take a resolute stand against removal and incarceration, the well-intentioned profession, doing its conscious best to do good, enforced the existing social order and did its level best to keep the Nikkei from disrupting it.

Social Work and Social Welfare: The Organization of Philanthropic Resources in Britain, 1900–1914

1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social System ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
The State ◽  
Charity Organization ◽  
Transitional Era

Late Victorian and Edwardian social reform has been studied in recent years in order to clarify that important transitional era when new state resources were being called upon to help redress the most glaring abuses which comprised the condition-of-England question. Most of these studies have emphasized the politics of social policy and have also subsumed the tangled and competitive world of philanthropy. But philanthropists were prominent in the politics and practice of social welfare. In his study of Edwardian social policy, Bentley Gilbert distinguishes three organizations as characteristic of “scientific social reform”: settlements (inspired by Canon Samuel Barnett), the Fabians, and the Charity Organization Society. His analysis of each concluded that “professionally-minded social work,” as represented by the C.O.S., least typified the transition from old to new attitudes about social policy. David Owen's examination of English philanthropy supports Gilbert's conclusions concerning the C.O.S., and less detailed surveys of social policy also cite that agency as representative of a philosophic individualism which rejected the policies necessary for reform. All agree that the charitable community called attention to many defects in the British social system, but they leave readers with the impression that it generally opposed state sponsored remedies for those ills.It is the concern of this essay to show that the “professionally-minded” world of Edwardian philanthropy was, like the state, developing new agencies and reorganizing its resources to help meet the massive and diverse welfare needs of the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Practising social work

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
Guy Shennan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Science Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Work Knowledge

The chapter considers changes and developments in the content of social work education under the three headings of social science disciplines, understanding human development and relationships, and theories, approaches and methods for practice. At the start of the period under review, social science knowledge (primarily from sociology and social policy) and human development theories predominated, but as their research base and published literature have expanded, theories and methods for practice have become more prominent. The contribution to knowledge from research conducted by social workers themselves is acknowledged, as is the contribution made by experts by experience, both directly and through research interviews. The prominence of sequences on law for social workers is noted. The chapter concludes by asserting that the broad partnership of interests which should determine the content of the social work knowledge base is threatened by Government's much-expanded role, but that most social work programmes continue to ensure a balanced curriculum.

Institute of social work as a promising tool for social dev

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-35
Author(s):  
Maria Kudryavtseva
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines the relationship between the social policy of the state and the Institute of social work. Some foreign and domestic approaches to defi ning the essence of social work as a specifi c type of activity are presented. It is noted that at a specifi c historical stage, the prevailing directions of social work, models of social assistance and support are determined by the socio-economic situation in the country, the level of social development, and the socio-cultural context. It is emphasized that in the conditions of modern reality, there is a need to develop the Institute of social work and realize its potential.

SOCIAL WORKER TURNOVER ISSUE IN MAINLAND CHINA: ORGANIZATIONS CAN DO SOMETHING

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
KITTY YUEN-HAN MO ◽  
HUNG-SING LAI
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
Worker Turnover

The turnover issue among social workers in Mainland China has been a challenge for the past ten years. Research studies on organizational effort in handling turnover problems of social worker have been lacking in the country. A recent qualitative study has been conducted in the summer of 2017. The study examines turnover issues and how to tackle them by management practices. It helps to answer a question, that is, “what organization can do to retain social workers?” Cultural issues are discussed as well. The role and responsibilities of social work managers in implementing management strategies are mentioned in this study.

Promoting Young People’s Participation: Exploring Social Work’s Contribution to the Literature

Social Work ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Pritzker ◽  
Katie Richards-Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Youth Civic Engagement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
Meaningful Involvement ◽  
The Social

Abstract In the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, social workers are called on to promote meaningful involvement in decision making among vulnerable populations. The ethical imperatives and social justice implications associated with unequal participation suggest that the field of social work is uniquely situated to lead research and practice in the area of youth civic engagement. This article examines the current state of the social work literature regarding how young people participate civically. Authors identified 113 articles on this topic published over the past decade in journals with a large presence in social work or by social work authors. They present the findings of their exploratory research, with a focus on describing where this research is being published, the range of research foci, and the terms used to describe this work. Increased attention to promoting youth civic engagement is needed in the profession’s core journals. Based on the analysis of this literature, they recommend moving toward a cohesive body of social work scholarship that includes increased collaboration among scholars, more unified terms and language, increased range of research foci and methodologies, and more rigorous and comparative testing of strategies by which youths participate civically.

scholarly journals Personal reflections: What happens when disaster hits?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Briggs ◽  
Molly Heisenfelt Roark
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Charity Hospital ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Personal Reflections

This article is a reflection by two social workers who were involved both personally and professionally in a community in stress in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes. As such we worked as volunteers offering counselling to people in need through the Canterbury Charity Hospital. While one of us lived through the earthquakes and the other was only a part of the quake-stricken community for a short period of time, both were witness to the appreciation, resilience, and courage paramount in clients; the emotional accounts of survival and loss; and Cantabrians going through the ongoing aftershocks that have relentlessly pounded our city over the past two and half years.

scholarly journals Professional Challenges of the Past 30 Years of Social Work in Romania (1990-2020). Interview with Social Workers(1990-2020). Interview with Social Workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-132
Author(s):  
Lídia Berszán
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Professional Challenges ◽  
Insight Into

In the following interview, social workers talk about what this profession means to them and what challenges they have encountered, meet in everyday life. Their responses provide insight into the events of the past 30 years of social work. Keywords: professional challenges of social work, social wellfare system, progresses and deficit areas

scholarly journals SOCIAL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN THE KUZBASS METROPOLITANATE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

2017 ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
M. A. Ardashkina
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
The State ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
The Church

The article is based on the structural-functional, comparative research methods and critical analysis of sources on the post-Soviet period in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereinafter – ROC), including data reference and information materials, public Internet resources. The author analyzes traditions, continuity and the realization of social policy in the Kuzbass archdiocese at the modern ROC stage. Using the example of Kuzbass archdiocese the author identifies the ROC units responsible for social work, and the main types of social assistance to the church. The conclusion is made that within the period of 1990s-the beginning of XXI century Russian Orthodox Church, with the support of the state, created a major conceptual, legal and organizational base of its social policy, for its implementation involving Orthodox public organizations and associations. Of great importance was the fact that the Church concentrated its efforts on solving social problems, which the state and public organizations could not solve effectively. Therefore, the ROC is hardly criticized for the use of social activities as a mechanism to achieve its main goal – to spread creed. Analysis of the social activities of the Church in the Archdiocese of Kuzbass allowed the author to make a prediction about the promising directions of development of social work in the region.

ЗНАЧЕНИЕ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ РАБОТЫ В УСИЛЕНИИ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ// Social Sciences: Achievements and Prospects Journal 2(10), 2019/ OEAPS Inc.(Open European Academy of Public Sciences); Chief Editor Mark Freeman - Barcelona, Spain. 16.02.2019: OEAPS Inc., 2019. - pp. 38-45.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Жаъфархон Исахонов
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Chief Editor ◽  
The State ◽  
European Academy ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
Work System ◽  
System P ◽  
The Social ◽  
Goals And Objectives

Данная статья посвящена проблемам социальной политики и социальной работы. В ней показана важность системы социальной работы в усилении социальной политики государства. Социальные работники являются профессональными кадрами, осуществляющие социальную работу, предусмотренной социальной политикой государства. Высококачественная работа в любых отраслях деятельности зависит от знания этой области. Поэтому можно сказать, что система профессиональной социальной работы имеет важное значение в осуществлении целей и задач социальной политики. В статье даётся рекомендации по усилению социальной политики путём совершенствования системы социальной работы.This article is devoted to the problems of social policy and social work. It shows the importance of the social work system in strengthening the social policy of the state. Social workers are professional cadres engaged in social work, provided for by the social policy of the state. High-quality work in any industry depends on the knowledge of this area. Therefore, we can say that the system of professional social work is important in the implementation of the goals and objectives of social policy. The article provides recommendations for strengthening social policy by improving the social work system.

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