European Social Policy and Social Work explores shifts in international social policies and how they affect national trends and thus the context for social work practice. The book discusses international and national social work strategies and practice and investigates the responsibilities for social welfare held by the state, the market and civil society. Hans van Ewijk then elaborates a new concept of citizenship-based social work which supports and encourages self-responsibility, social responsibility and the implementation of social rights. The main themes covered are: international social policy and social work from welfare to workfare citizenship essentials of citizenship based social work community policy and community work social work and alternative areas of activity such as youth care and social care. Integrating different roots and social professions in an overarching new concept, this book particularly looks at European Union countries. Hans van Ewijk examines debates regarding social work as an internationally recognised profession and science. This book is suitable for social work students, academics and professionals with an interest in social policy and international social work.

This Handbook will comprise of 29 original pieces from key contributors to the field of European social policy. It is intended to capture the ‘state of the art’ in European social policy and to generate and contribute to debates on the the future of European social policy in the 21st Century. It will be a comprehensive and authoritative resource for research and teaching covering themes and policy areas including social exclusion, pensions, education, children and family, as well as mobility and migration, multiculturalism, and climate change.

The present social policy and social work are facing with and challenging the process of rapid change in all aspects of social life: economic, cultural and political. The globalising capitalistic economy is considered to be the main cause of this process and it is made responsible for reduction of the public sphere, for the demise of the welfare state, for growing poverty and social inequalities, for damage of the local communities and families, for degradation of the environment. There is no doubt social policy and social work has to rise to these challenges. This volume contains some interesting contributions to this question provided by international experts.

There are two tendencies in present public discussions.Social problems have their causes in the individual, and are thus not a problem of socio-economic inequality. Consequently, we find an increasing policy in Europe of selfactivation and self-help as substitutes of social work. On the other hand, new types of social vulnerability and challenges for social work and social policy are detected which are discussed in the book in their European dimensions. Beginning in the last century in Europe, processes of social exclusion are discussed as common phenomena of the crisis in social welfare systems. They have their origins in the radical changes in paid employment, the weakening of family ties, and the increasing incapability of the welfare state to promote social inclusion. New types of ,social vulnerabilities’ are emerging - containing chances as well as risks. They are discussed in two ways. On the one hand the implementation of indicator-based management systems of social services is attempted, which implies a range of chances and risks in ethical and professional self-image. On the other hand there are self-help movements, social networks and other social types of resilience – which are often a complement or support to Social Work. Yet there is a policy to substitute Social Work by a strategy of self-activation. Both developments are signs of the present and indicators of the future of Social Work. They show the necessity of clarifying the social and political scopes and prospects of Social Work in societies at the crossroads of enhancing civility, human development and social security or overburden the vulnerable, who face new dimensions of psychological, ecological and economic distress. This book is an attempt to bring together several European discussions concerning Social Work and social politics.

This book presents a unique analysis of the learning derived from East-West contacts in social work and reflects on the discipline's inalienable trans-national dimensions, of high actuality in the face of the re-emergence of nationalisms. The fundamental transformations in Europe subsequent to the revolutions of 1989 had a profound impact on social work in terms of raising sharply the profession’s relationship with politics. The exchanges between western schools of social work and the emergent academic partner institutions in former Communist countries formed a valuable testing ground for the essential principles and competences of social work in terms of their universal scientific basis on the one hand and their regard for cultural and national values and contexts on the other. The chapters in this contributed volume focus on lessons derived from fundamental social and political transformations, highlighted by East-West encounters and intra-national divisions, and thereby have important messages for mastering impending transformations in the light of the global COVID-19 health crisis. They demonstrate how cultural and social divisions can be addressed constructively with direct implications for training and practice in dramatically changing contexts: Lithuanian social work’s claim to professional autonomy vs. authoritarianism in popular and political culture Social work between civil society and the state – lessons for and from Hungary in a European context When Europe’s East, West, North and South meet: learning from cross-country collaboration in creating an international social work master programme Nordic-Baltic cooperation in social work researcher education: A Finnish perspective on the impact on scientific, historical and linguistic similarities and differences Intra-national similarities and differences in social work and their significance for developing European dimensions of research and education Social work, political conflict and European society: reflections from Northern Ireland European Social Work After 1989: East-West Exchanges Between Universal Principles and Cultural Sensitivity is an invaluable resource for social work educators; social work practitioners confronted with national and international divisions; students of social work, of social administration and policy; and any policy researcher with a comparative focus.

The publication takes account of the fundamental developments transforming social work in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. A European standard of social work has already emerged, but models for future European social work are absent. Therefore the compendium gives an overview of the current transformation process for the first time, discusses the visible and invisible changes and maps out where social work is positioned in the emerging post-welfare states.

Written to meet the needs of teachers, lecturers and tutors working at different levels and in many situations, this is an authoritative guide to understanding the key issues, best practice and new developments in social work and social policy.

Social Work in a Global Context engages with, and critically explores, key issues that inform social work practice around the world. Social work can take many forms, and is differently understood in different parts of the world. However, at base, it can be seen as a profession which strives to advance the causes of the vulnerable and marginalised with the aim of promoting social justice, equality, and human rights. This text provides examples of social work in a wide range of countries, informing our understanding of what social work is. It looks at how practice changes or stays the same, and at the impact of policy, as experienced by service users as well as by practitioners working in challenging circumstances. It also meaningfully reflects on the strengths and challenges that are enabled by diversity. Divided into four parts, this wide-ranging text discusses: - what social work means in four different countries -some examples of the impact social and political context can have on social work practice - how social workers see and work with the vulnerable - the future for social work, from disaster work to involving service users. Social Work in a Global Context is the first truly international book for all those interested in comparative and cross-cultural understandings of social work.

The book offers explanations and clarifications for the bewildering variety of titles and job profiles in the social professions in Europe. It presents them both as a product of specific national welfare arrangements and as a sign of a special kind of professional autonomy that so far helped to correct national welfare trends. Now this autonomy is once more called for in the light of the complete re-structuring of all European welfare states and a European model of social work could deliver impulses for real alternatives to growing exclusion and inequality.