Social work Books

Bringing together contributions from leading specialists and professionals in the field, this book provides an important overview of the knowledge and skills required for high quality leadership within the risk averse and challenging area of child and...

Ethnography in Social Science Practice explores ethnography's increasing use across the social sciences, beyond its traditional bases in social anthropology and sociology. It explores the disciplinary roots of ethnographic research within social...

Social arts are manifold and are initiated by multiple actors, spaces, and direction from many directions and intentions, but generally they aim to generate personal, familial, group, community or general social transformation which can maintain and...

At a time when inequalities are growing globally, when the pace of socio-economic transitions is rapid, and when traditional ties of community are under threat of dissolving, 'soul' offers a new way of thinking imaginatively about how people might...

Vulnerability has traditionally been conceived as a dichotomised status, where an individual by reason of a personal characteristic is classified as vulnerable or not. However, vulnerability is not static, and most, if not all, people are vulnerable at...

This is the authoritative textbook on family mediation. As well as mediators, this work will be indispensable for practitioners and scholars across a wide range of fields, including social work and law. It draws on a wide cross-disciplinary theoretical...

Disability and Music Performance examines discriminatory social practices in music conservatoria, orchestras, music festivals and music competitions, which limit disabled people's access to music performance at a professional level. Of particular...

The Routledge Handbook of Social Care Work Around the World provides both a comprehensive and authoritative state-of-the-art review of the current research in this subject. It is the first handbook to cover social care work research from around the...

This handbook sets a new research agenda in community development. The contributors redefine existing areas within the context of interdisciplinary research, highlight emerging areas for community development related research, and provide researchers and...

Tackling social exclusion should be a central aim of any civilised social policy. In this meticulously revised and updated new edition of his groundbreaking study, Sport and Social Exclusion, Mike Collins has assembled a vast array of new evidence from a...

Risk-Takers gives a comprehensive view of youthful involvement with drinking, smoking, drug use and sex. It provides a challenging assessment of health education for young people showing that, despite the threat of AIDS and HIV infection, risk-taking...

The novel coronavirus and the resultant COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately affected older adults in terms of the number of lives lost, concerns about safety of institutional and home and community-based care, the impact of isolation and seclusion,...

This book provides practical evidence-based strategies that will help clinicians across a broad range of disciplines to address and discuss the main issues an aging person is likely to face and overcome if they are to maintain a sense of well-being as...

This book explores concrete examples of different strategies and activities aimed at creating and embedding critically reflective learning and working environments within organisations whose prime function is social care. Critical reflection has long...

This book provides an overview of the main developments in social work over its 200-year history. From its beginnings in the early 19th century through to the present day, it recounts the efforts to create a fairer, socially just society through its work...

Why do some people like a certain aroma and others hate it? Is smell personal or cultural? How does it affect our choices and our actions?The Scent of Desire is the definitive psychological study of the importance of smell in our lives, from nourishment...

In 19th-century Leipzig, Toronto, New York, and Boston, a newly emergent group of industrialists and entrepreneurs entered into competition with older established elite groups for social recognition as well as cultural and political leadership. The...

One of the most influential philanthropists of the early 20th century, Edwin Rogers Embree was the scion of generations of abolitionists and integrationists. He ably served the Rockefeller Foundation and when Julius Rosenwald created a foundation for his...

This is a major contribution to the literature on social participation and voluntary action. It is the first systematic ethnographic study I know that treats volunteers and the institutions they create." -John Van Til, author of Growing Civil Society...

Wealth and the Will of God looks at some of the spiritual resources of the Christian tradition that can aid serious reflection on wealth and giving. Beginning with Aristotle-who is crucial for understanding later Christian thought-the book discusses...

Helping Every Child to Thrive in the Early Years shows how a personalised and relationship-based approach to education and care can help overcome the 'disadvantage gap' in the early years. It examines the challenges that children from disadvantaged...

The Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Social Work reflects on and dissects the challenging issues confronting social work practice and education globally in the post-colonial era. By analysing how countries in the so-called developing and developed...

Life can be a struggle for some families and support from skilled human service workers can make a real difference.Collaborative Family Work offers practical strategies for working with families, always emphasising the importance of collaboration in...

This collection bridges the voices of international scholars and adopted persons to share knowledge about clinical practice with adopted people in adolescence and early adulthood. Coming at a time when countries are beginning to focus on adoption reform,...

Designed to mirror how social work theory and practice is taught, Paradigms of Clinical Social Work, Volume 3 presents new therapeutic models through an imaginary family experiencing common social work problems.

Promoting health and wellbeing is an essential part of all effective social work - not just for practice in healthcare settings. In fact, the IFSW holds that 'social workers in all settings are engaged in health work' and physical and mental resilience...

Practising Welfare Rights aims to improve awareness among people working in social work and advice agencies about the skills required for effective welfare rights work, and offers guidance for managers and other professionals about how to develop a...

This book contributes a new, positive dimension to the literature on local authority care of children and young people by focusing on successful outcomes and the quality of care provided to help them to achieve this.

Globalization has become a seemingly unstoppable force over recent decades and, in its wake, global notions of social justice have developed in response to its negative aspects. Neo-liberal economic policies have been a key element in the wider process...

This book offers a critical insight into how the study of NGOs can be more theoretically grounded and methodologically creative. The role of NGOs in global development has been the focus of considerable research and scholarship for the last four decades...

Have you wondered why economic aid seems to have no impact on poverty? Why justice and equality seem to work for some and not others? In the late 1970's a young couple from the foothills of the Canadian Rockies embarked on a journey to the hills of Papua...

Overwhelmingly, it is women who are the victims of domestic violence and this book puts women's experiences of domestic violence at its centre, whilst acknowledging their many diverse and complex identities. Concentrating on the various forms of domestic...

This book looks at how troubles can be transformed into specific diseases and dysfunctions, identifiable by professionals. Old, new, controversial, and dissenting approaches will be represented in contributions that address the experience of troubles and...

Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work...

Providing a concise introduction to key sociological concepts, perspectives and research evidence, Sociology for Pharmacists covers issues in health, illness and professional practice. The book is timely given that pharmacists are encouraged to broaden...

This book provides new and empirically grounded research-based knowledge and insights into the current transformation of the Russian child welfare system. It focuses on the major shift in Russia's child welfare policy: deinstitutionalisation of the...

All social work practice is regulated by social policies. Professionals, however, cannot arbitrarily select which policy to follow in any circumstance. Knowing what comprises a given policy is essential, but equally important is understanding how to...

You  recently graduated. Now what? Did you think that you had it all planned out, but felt lost when you finally got into the real world? Do you feel stuck in your Social Work career? Did you pass your LCSW exam and wondered what’s next?...

This book examines the rise of welfare markets in Western societies and explores their functioning, regulation and embeddedness by addressing the particular field of old age provision, including both retirement provision and elderly care.