Social Workers, the Community and Social Interaction: Intervention and the Sociology of Welfare

Social workers are called upon to perform their varied tasks in a wide range of social settings, often involving intensely intimate contact with, and intervention in, a person's private moral and social world. Offering insights into the lives and motives of social work service users, Social Workers, The Community and Social Interaction demonstrates the practical relevance of recent sociological research for good social work practice. The book examines such topics as: · how social work is taught, managed and delivered · the interaction between clients and social workers · the nature of social life in institutions · how stigmatisation shapes social interaction · 'deviancy' and its policing · informal care and how social work can relate to it · everyday ideas and beliefs about poverty, inequality and illness. The author argues that sociology is an undervalued resource for social work training and education, and, emphasising the importance of competences in social work, shows how a greater awareness of sociological issues can help improve services for clients.

Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. Service Users and Social Workers. 2. Social Work and Informal Care. 3. Health, Illness and Social Work. 4. Institutions and Social Work. 5. Stigma, Discrimination and Social Work. 6. Delinquency, Social Work and the Police. 7. Relative Deprivation, Sociology and Social Work. 8. Sociology and Social Work. Bibliography. Index.

About the Author :
John Offer is Senior Lecturer in Social Administration and Policy at the University of Ulster, Coleraine.

Review :
Social workers perform their tasks in a wide variety of social settings, involving intensely intimate contacts that intervene in a clients moral and social privacy. In this book the author argues the practical relevance of actual sociological research as a valuble resource that can help improve services for clients. A highly recommended book for all practitioners, teachers, managers, social policy planners, and students interested in sociological aspects in our society. This book will be a useful resource for teaching. The author is convincing in his grasp of contemporary issues in social work and is successful in bringing his sociological perspective to bear on these issues. The book is divided into chapters that focus on the relationship between social work and service users, informal care, illness, institutions, stigma, delinquency and relative deprivation. The text is broken down into easy-to-follow sections accompanied by references to the literature that will be useful to students. We've been struggling for a text, but this is great for us… because it covers a wide range of material in a way that will be understandable by both the sociology and social work students. I particularly like the progression of the book, with each chapter following on well from the last.