Social Policy for Social Work: Placing Social Work in Its Wider Context, Lorraine Green and Karen Clarke

Keith Popple, Social Policy for Social Work: Placing Social Work in Its Wider Context, Lorraine Green and Karen Clarke, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 47, Issue 1, January 2017, Pages 279–281, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw120

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As a graduate of social policy, I have long benefitted from an appreciation of how British government policies deal with an array of specific human needs and in particular in the delivery of health, education, housing and welfare. Later teaching and researching in the area, and specifically making contributions in social work and community development, have confirmed to me that failure to understand how social policy emerges and is contested can hinder effective practice and the advancing of theory. Social policy underpins the legislative framework that social workers operate within and it seems logical, if not imperative, that practitioners have a clear understanding of what policies do and why they have developed as they have.

Advocating over the years that social work students need to be conversant of how social policy operates and more importantly to have a critical understanding of the different ideological positions that drive the key policies, I was interested to read this new publication from Polity Press. Social policy text books for social workers operate in a crowded social work publishing market and I wanted to see how this text would fare in delivering something different from the many good and excellent ones already on the bookshelves. I was not disappointed.

Lorraine Green and Karen Clarke have produced a book that is well written, and in fact in places is exquisitely written. Take for example their chapter on tracing the roots of welfare and the evolution of social policy and social work. In something like twenty pages, they impressively distil and comment on the key milestones in the rich history of social work, social policy and the welfare state. They do this by linking the evolution of these areas with the wider social, political and economic changes in the UK. As we know, the history of social work has generally been one of expansion, improvement and hope. However, the retrenchment of the welfare state in the last few years has made the job of social workers and of social work in general more difficult. This is captured well by the authors, who point to the impact of political decisions on how and what the profession should undertake.

The chapter on tracing the roots of welfare is followed by an equally clear and lucid one that focuses on welfare ideologies, social policy and social work. The consideration of welfare ideologies is a fundamental theme in most books of this kind; however, the authors here excel in their analysis and in turn will help social work students and practitioners alike to evaluate the impact of politics and welfare ideologies on social work. Green and Clarke end the chapter by suggesting that we would benefit from looking outside the UK for examples of welfare regimes that have different outcomes and show us the possibilities for positive change. For example, they state that:

Nordic countries consistently come out as superior to other welfare regimes in terms of the distribution of wealth, gender equality and a wide range of measures of well-being … . Although neoliberalism has had an impact on all developed welfare states, the lessons from cross-national analysis is that neoliberalism is not inevitable, that social action can change outcomes and that high welfare spending does not necessarily culminate in a weak economy (p. 49).

The penultimate chapter on social work and globalisation is another thoughtful contribution to the view that we need to recognise and examine the impact of the interconnectedness and interdependencies of regions, countries and individuals. In a world of rapid technological change and in particular in fast and efficient communication processes, we are also seeing and experiencing the effect of massive corporations moving capital and production sites across the globe. Globalisation has aided degrees of cultural convergence and integration (Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Nike and televised English Premiership football matches never seem far from wherever you visit on planet Earth), although it has also led to a reaction from many who feel their traditions are being over-ridden and challenged. The chapter provides a valuable examination of transnational social problems and issues such as migration, illegal immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers that have emerged or been highlighted by economic globalisation and their impact on countries and in particular on the UK before looking at social work as an international profession.

The authors of Social Policy for Social Workers can be rightly proud that they have made a critical and informative contribution to the literature. They highlight well the crucial link between social policy and social work in a book that is accessible, well argued and impressively referenced.

My only criticism is that Green and Clarke fail to address the impact of environmental issues on social work. The social policy academy has for a while now recognised that the growing global environmental crisis and the need for sustainable resources and ways of living is a key challenge for governments and civil society. In particular, these are important in the delivering policies and practice that can address poverty, socially just solutions and inequality. Except for some notable examples, social work has not taken environmental issues seriously. The authors here missed an opportunity to place social work in this wider context of social policy.

Otherwise, I congratulate Green and Clarke in the presentation of their argument to challenge the present trends in and on social work that are trying to manoeuvre the profession in a reactionary direction. This book both explains how this has come about and places the contemporary developments in a historical context. This really is a must book for social work students that are studying social policy. Similarly, the text will be of considerable value for those studying social policy and wanting to know more about social work.