A massive restructuring of health care in virtually all the wealthy nations of the West has offloaded services and costs from governmental responsibility into home care services and onto families--a burden borne primarily by women. This restructuring has profoundly altered not only the practice of social work but also its representation in language and theory. As this volume demonstrates, many of the consequences social workers must face are made more difficult by the dominance of a market discourse that excludes a social justice framework.

The authors aim not to prescribe specific...