Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States

The aim of this book is to exemplify the ways in which social work and research develop in ‘advanced’ welfare states – countries where public spending is relatively high as a proportion of GNP. While such countries have traditionally been associated with Scandinavian countries in particular, and North-Western Europe more generally, there are other countries where the public spend on welfare is relatively high. The various contributors in this book explore and exemplify ways in which social work and research are distinctive for advanced welfare states. This involves exploring their connection to professional identities, histories and welfare systems; their associations with academic, theoretical and cultural traditions of collaboration between academic and social work practice, and the distinctive links with community, national policy, governmentality and agency, with respect to forms of knowledge, discourses and conception of social problems. Written by contributors who have experience of living and working in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Singaporeand the UK, this book speaks throughout about problems, methods, systems and ideas in language that is readily transferable and transcends national boundaries of thought and social work practice. It will be read and understood by social work students across Europe.

Introduction. Understanding Social Work in Advanced Welfare States, Ian Shaw and Kjeld Hogsbro Section 1: Advanced Welfare States: European patterns and trends 1. Diversities and Patterns in Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States, Walter Lorenz 2. Social work and research in a Europe of Superdiversity, Dirk Geldof & Kristel Driessens 3. Beyond Flexicurity: The Shift towards Work-First and its Implications for Street-Level Work in the Danish Employment System, Henning Jorgensen, Kelvin Baadsgaard, and Mads Peter Klindt 4 The impact of Neoliberalism through ideas of productivity - The Case of Child Welfare in Denmark, Maria Appel Nissen Section 2: Directions in social work research in advanced welfare states 5. Controversies in social work research - A critical hermeneutic perspective, Soren Juul 6. Driving forces in practice research, Maja Lundemark Andersen, Kirsten Henriksen, Kirsten Mejlvig and Lars Uggerhoj 7. The materiality and materials of social work: on socio-material theories and social work research, Rasmus Hoffmann Birk 8. Institutional Ethnography for people in a vulnerable and oppressed situation, Kjeld Hogsbro 9. Disagreement as Reparative Critique in the Development of Social Work Practice, Merete Monrad and Martin Grunfeld Section 3: Directions in social work practice in advanced welfare states 10. Local Community Work as an Incubator – The Role of Governance Technologies in Local Community Work Approaches to Inclusion, Mia Arp Fallov and Lykke Larsen 11. Proactive, Ambivalent and Defensive Relations between Social Work and Social Policy: The Shaping of Productivity, Mia Arp Fallov, Maria Appel Nissen, Jens Kjærulff, Pia Ringø, and Rasmus Hoffmann Birk 12. Vulnerable children and young people: An enduring challenge in the Danish welfare state, Betina Jacobsen, Erik Laursen and Karin Kildedal 13. The conception of disability and mental illness in advanced welfare states – A review and a proposal, Pia Ringo and Kjeld Hogsbro 14. The body in social pedagogical work, Mie Engen Conclusion References

Kjeld Høgsbro is Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark Ian Shaw is S R Nathan Professor of Social Work at the National University of Singapore, and Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of York.