Social Work and the Making of Social Policy (Research in Social Work)

Bringing together international case studies, this book offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interaction between social work and social policy. Moving beyond existing studies on policy practice, the book employs the policy cycle as a core analytical frame and focuses on the influence of social work(ers) in the problem definition, agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation of social policy. Twenty-three contributors offer examples of policy making from seven different countries and demonstrate how social work practitioners can become political actors, while also encouraging policy makers to become aware of the potential of social work for the social policy-making process. Front cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures and tables Notes on contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: social work and the making of social policy Part I: Social work, problem definition and agenda setting 2. Social work as policy innovator: challenges and possibilities in the UK 3. Social work, problem definition and policy change in the US: the case of sex-trafficked youth 4. The voices of Italian social workers: from a pilot anti-poverty intervention to a national policy Part II: Social work interests in policy formulation and decision making 5. Social reform in the US: lessons from the Progressive Era 6. Social work academia and social policy in Israel: on the role of social work academics in the policy process 7. Social workers’ collective policy practice in times of austerity: Italy and Spain compared 8. Social policy and welfare movements ‘from below’: the Social Work Action Network (SWAN) in the UK Part III: Social work and implementation 9. Policy work and the ethics of obedience and resistance: perspectives from Britain and beyond 10. Systemic barriers to effective implementation of child protection reform in Israel 11. Social workers implementing social assistance in Spain: reshaping poverty in a familialistic welfare state 12. Layering, social risks and manufactured uncertainties in social work in Poland 13. ‘A little more humanity’: placement officers in Germany between social work and social policy 14. Conclusion: social work and the making of social policy – lessons learned Index Back cover Bringing together international case studies, this book offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interaction between social work and social policy. Bringing together international case studies, this book offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interaction between social work and social policy. Moving beyond existing studies on policy practice, the book employs the policy cycle as a core analytical frame and focuses on the influence of social work(ers) in the problem definition, agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation of social policy. Twenty-three contributors offer examples of policy making from seven different countries and demonstrate how social work practitioners can become political actors, while also encouraging policy makers to become aware of the potential of social work for the social policy-making process Bringing together international case studies, this book offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interaction between social work and social policy. Moving beyond existing studies on policy practice, the text employs the policy cycle as a core analytical frame and focuses on the influence of social work(ers) in the problem definition, agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation of social policy