A Contemporary History of Social Work : : Learning from the Past / / Terry Bamford.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Complete eBook-Package 2015
• VerfasserIn: Bamford, Terry,
• MitwirkendeR: Bamford, Terry,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.)

Drawing on lessons from the recent history of social work to identify how and why it has lost its privilege and influence, this book challenges social work students to understand why social work has failed to maintain its position as a driver of social reform. Bamford looks forward to a new model of practice that places a commitment to put social justice back at the heart of professional practice. The book contributes to the topical debates about social work education and the identity of the profession, encouraging critical thinking about organisation models, practice content and meaning of professionalism in social work. Students are asked to consider questions such as ‘why has social work found it so hard to define its role? ‘, ‘is the neoliberal tide irreversible?’, and ‘do the jibes of political correctness have any substance?’. The book provides students of social work, history of social work and social policy, with a greater understanding of how social work became an unloved profession, whilst simultaneously charting a more hopeful course for the future.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- A brave new world: social work at its zenith -- Social work’s ambivalence about professionalism -- Childcare and the loss of trust -- Neoliberalism and social work practice -- Education or training for social work -- The evolution of radical social work -- From the mainstream to the margins: two case studies -- The impossible dream: integration of health and social care -- Social work and devolution -- Social work in a changing world -- Rotherham and beyond -- References -- Index