Social work and the community : a critical context for practice / Paul Stepney and Keith Popple.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stepney, Paul.

Contributor:

Popple, Keith.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social service--Great Britain.

Social service.

Great Britain.

Community organization--Great Britain.

Community organization.

Physical Description:

x, 201 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Summary:

Against a backdrop of major social change, globalisation and welfare modernisation, there is an urgent need for social work to reassess its relationship with the community. What practical contribution can professionals make to social justice, social cohesion and inclusion? This book brings together critical analysis, research and policy debate to offer a model of community-based practice that is reflective, progressive and ultimately transformative.

In particular, Social Work and the Community: explores the current and historical relationship between social work and community-based interaction, provides a critical analysis of contemporary social problems, with specific attention to neo-liberalism and issues of diversity and choice in the mixed economy of welfare, examines the role of community as a platform for developing critical practice that is anti-racist, anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive, discusses the future of social work in the community, for professionals across different organisational boundaries and in a global context.

With detailed consideration of a wide variety of community settings, this comprehensive and readable book demonstrates how important it is to understand the place of community throughout social work activity. This is vital reading for students of social work, community and youth work, and an invaluable resource for practitioners and policy makers at all levels.

Contents:

Introduction to the idea of community

The contribution of community studies and increased state intervention in communities and neighbourhoods

Rethinking community : globalisation, neo-liberalism and inequality

Community as an area of social policy

Community as an organising focus for social policy

Community care : promoting an empowering service or using the market to contain costs?

Remaking community : communitarianism and the modernisation of the welfare state

Social work and the community : from theory to practice

The theory and practice of community of social work

Community work and community action

Future possibilities for community-based social work in an international context.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-191) and index.

ISBN:

140399126X

9781403991263

OCLC:

223370129

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description