|
`Fred Powell argues for social work as civic
engagement, promoting inclusion and justice through
dialogue and trust. His book is an impressive
combination of deep scholarship and fresh, up-to-date
analysis of current issues'- Bill Jordan,
University of Exeter
`An illuminating
discussion of the influence of postmodern trends on the
practice of social work that also offers a bracing guide
for the future of the profession. Social work practice,
Powell argues, needs to be anchored in a commitment to
an inclusive idea of citizenship, and especially the
inclusion of the most vulnerable citizens'-
Francis Fox-Piven, City University of New
York
`[T]his is an extraordinarily useful
book for studies of social policy, especially in its
presentation of a condensed history of social work's
relationship to social policy... The book is well
documented, well written and challenging. It stimulates
more thought than is common in professional literature'
- International Social Work
The
Politics of Social Work provides a major contribution to
debates on the politics of social work at the beginning
of the 21st Century. It locates social work within wider
political and theoretical debates and deals with
important issues currently facing social workers and the
organisations in which they work. By setting the current
crisis of identity social workers are experiencing in
international context, Fred Powell analyses the choices
facing social work in postmodern society.
Fred Powell
explores in this text contemporary and historical
paradigms of social work from its Victorian origins to
the development of reformist practice in the welfare
state to radical social work, responses to social
exclusion, the rennaissance of civil society,
multiculturalism, feminism and anti-oppressive practice.
In conclusion the he examines the options facing social
work in the 21st century and argues for a civic model of
social work based on the pursuit of social justice in an
inclusive society.
The Politics of Social Work will
be essential reading for students on qualifying and
post-qualifying social work courses, as well as courses
in sociology, social policy, social administration and
politics.
|
|
