Contemporary Feminisms in Social Work Practice explores feminism as core to social work knowledge, practice and ethics. It demonstrates how gender-neutral perspectives and practices obscure gender discourses and power relations. It also shows feminist social work practice can transform areas of social work not specifically concerned with gender, through its emphasis on relationships and power.

Within and outside feminism, there is a growing assumption that equality has been won and is readily available to all women. However, women continue to dominate the ranks of...

This engaging and timely volume contributes new knowledge to the rapidly emerging field of globalisation and social work. The volume brings together cutting-edge interdisciplinary scholarship from countries such as Australia, Finland, Japan, South Africa, the Philippines and Sweden. It proposes 'glocalisation' as a useful concept for re-framing conditions, methodologies and practices for social work in a world perspective.

Part I of the volume, 'The Glocalisation of Social Issues', deals with major environmental, social and cultural issues - migration and human rights,...

This important book focuses on the critical role of educational achievement for the wellbeing and success of vulnerable youth in adulthood. Despite significant attention from policy-makers, outcomes for youth graduating from state care in Western countries have proven stubbornly resistant to improvement.

Reviewing the range of different care regimes that have evolved in the West, this book considers the interdependence of care and education and the implications of this relationship for the state s parenting responsibilities. Using a theoretical framework informed by...

Social work as a profession and academic discipline has long centered women and issues of concern to women, such as reproductive rights, labor rights, equal rights, violence and poverty. In fact, the social work profession was started by and maintained in large part by women and has been home to several generations of feminists starting with recognized first wave feminists. This wide-ranging volume both maps the contemporary landscape of feminist social work research, and offers a deep engagement with critical and third wave feminisms in social work research.

Showcasing the...

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 some time in their lives. Similarly, marginality is a social construct linked to power and control. Marginalised populations are relegated to the perimeters of power by legal and political structures and limited access to resources. Neither are fixed or essential categories.

This book draws on international research and...

As a discipline, social work needs an inclusive meta-theory for both research and practice that goes beyond positivism and constructivism. This is the first book to present and discuss how critical realism can contribute to a more useful and realistic approach to both research and practice in social work. As a theory of science that includes normative theories and emphasises method-pluralism and holistic thinking, critical realism is applicable to a world of poverty, global health problems and social conflicts.

Contributors to this book present a realist perspective on...

This book considers concepts of citizenship and social justice from a variety of contemporary perspectives, inviting readers to consider the complex relationships between love and justice, the battle for social equality and individual ways in which citizenship and social justice is perceived through culture, media and the arts.

Intersectionality is a concept that refutes the idea of mutually exclusive categories of identity, experience and analysis. Using the lens of intersectionality to shine a light on social work across national, racial, religious, cultural and embodied borders, this book brings together a range of international perspectives to highlight the importance of Black feminist theory in social work. It provokes wider debates by asking crucial questions about how intersectionality can challenge the structures and discourses of social work within a wider global context and how this applies to...