Shaping A Science Of Social Work

Shaping a Science of Social Work provides a basic framework for a social work science within the context of academic disciplinarity and professional identity. Drawn from discussions at the annual IslandWood retreats for social work scholars, this book centers on a realist/critical-realist perspective by outlining the basic constructs, domains, and characteristics of a science that will inform the way social work is studied and practiced for years to come. Chapters written by leaders of the field offer detailed and rigorous analyses of essential issues such as values and value-based assumptions, philosophy of mind, importance of theory, challenges of rigor and relevance in social work science, and implications for the future of the profession. The book serves as an invaluable resource for academics and organizational leaders in social work practice and education.

"This is an ambitious book. It aims at nothing less than a comprehensive account of the state of the art of social work research internationally and an intellectually original statement that will help to define and shape social work research. Those with a serious interest in social work research will agree that this is a major undertaking and one that should put social work research ′on the map′." - Ian Sinclair, University of York, UK "This terrific Handbook provides an essential map for navigating the complex currents of social work research today. It resists polemical and simplistic binaries to chart a course that emphasizes diversity, pluralism and sensitivity to political contexts in many featured exemplars. As key chapters note, inherent tensions at the heart of social work itself are mirrored in current debates about the purposes and methods of social work research. Rather than patch over differences, the volume invites us to understand historical roots of unresolvable tensions, and live with them. The international scope of the volume is unique--scholars from more than a dozen different countries were involved --and its broad scope counters the tendency toward parochialism of much North American literature. The Handbook should be essential reading for students and academics." - Catherine Riessman, Boston University, USA The SAGE Handbook of Social Work Research provides a comprehensive, internationally-focused account of leading social work research, offering an original and defining statement on contemporary theory and practice within the field. The groundbreaking Handbook engages critically with the nature and role of social work research and evaluation in contemporary societies around the globe, and asks four key questions: - What is the role and purpose of social work research? - What contexts shape the practice and purpose of social work research? - How can we maximise the quality of the practice of social work research? - How can the aims of social work in its varied domains be met through social work research? Ranging over local, national and international issues, and exploring questions of theory and practice, this is a diverse and constructively organized overview of the field. It will quickly be recognized as a benchmark in the expanding field of social work research, setting the agenda for future work in the arena.

In Shaping Science, Janet Vertesi draws on a decade of immersive ethnography with NASA’s robotic spacecraft teams to create a comparative account of two great space missions of the early 2000s. Although these missions featured robotic explorers on the frontiers of the solar system bravely investigating new worlds, their commands were issued from millions of miles away by a very human team. By examining the two teams’ formal structures, decision-making techniques, and informal work practices in the day-to-day process of mission planning, Vertesi shows just how deeply entangled a team’s local organizational context is with the knowledge they produce about other worlds. Using extensive, embedded experiences on two NASA spacecraft teams, this is the first book to apply organizational studies of work to the laboratory environment in order to analyze the production of scientific knowledge itself. Engaging and deeply researched, Shaping Science demonstrates the significant influence that the social organization of a scientific team can have on the practices of that team and the results they yield.

This book presents an analysis of the institutional development of selected social science and humanities (SSH) disciplines in Argentina, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Where most narratives of a scholarly past are presented as a succession of ‘ideas,’ research results and theories, this collection highlights the structural shifts in the systems of higher education, as well as institutions of research and innovation (beyond the universities) within which these disciplines have developed. This institutional perspective will facilitate systematic comparisons between developments in various disciplines and countries. Across eight country studies the book reveals remarkably different dynamics of disciplinary growth between countries, as well as important interdisciplinary differences within countries. In addition, instances of institutional contractions and downturns and veritable breaks of continuity under authoritarian political regimes can be observed, which are almost totally absent from narratives of individual disciplinary histories. This important work will provide a valuable resource to scholars of disciplinary history, the history of ideas, the sociology of education and of scientific knowledge.

Social work rests on complex philosophical assumptions that should be central to practice, education, and training. In this book, Frederic G. Reamer explores how these issues bear on the purpose, methods, and perspectives of social work and their far-reaching implications for practice and scholarship. Reamer examines major themes across the domains of moral and political philosophy, logic, epistemology, and aesthetics. He raises questions such as: How can ethical theories inform social workers’ moral judgments? In what ways are canons of inductive and deductive logic relevant to social workers’ thinking about their work? To what extent can scientific inquiry help social workers understand the nature and effect of their interventions? How can concepts related to aesthetics shed light on the nature of social work? Reamer’s nuanced inquiry never loses sight of the concrete applications of philosophy to social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, or to broader goals of social change. This second edition of The Philosophical Foundations of Social Work is revised and updated throughout to address contemporary challenges. It focuses especially on newer thinking about the role of non-Western philosophical perspectives and the relevance of philosophy to social workers’ commitments to multiculturalism, feminism, and antiracism.

The rapid expansion of doctoral education in social work is changing academia, and expanding the expectations of education for professional practice. This volume focuses on the early development, gradual evolution and present status of social work doctoral education. Relevant for social work students and educators globally, it represents an authoritative statement authored by widely recognized educators who are on the cutting edge of doctoral education. Documenting the current state-of-the-art, this comprehensive book demonstrates the rapidly growing importance of doctoral-level education in the social work profession. The authors look closely at current trends, and address the emerging pedagogical issues that will likely frame the future. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Teaching in Social Work.

In recent years, social workers have felt under increasing attack from the media and from a management style which has eroded their autonomy. Confidence in the profession's skill and knowledge has been generally undermined. This text shows how social workers can use scientific methods to help them withstand their critics by developing a more open and accountable way of working. It refutes the view that social work relies mainly on personal skills of empathy and intuition, and demonstrates how the standard methods of science can help the profession develop a more explicit and reliable set of knowledge and skills, with the intention of providing a more effective service.

This textbook provides a grounding in complexity theory, demonstrating how it can influence and shape social work interventions in policy, management, and practice, as well as forming an epistemological and methodological basis for research. It provides a contemporary theoretical basis for social work practice, equipping social workers to work in a 21st-Century world. The authors argue that the history of social work demonstrates the profession's engagement with the social and structural problems of each era since its emergence 150 years ago. However, in the 21st Century, such things as globalisation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change have highlighted that existing theories and practice models are insufficient to the task of working with the complicatedness of contemporary life in a fast-changing world. Distilling the central tenets of Complexity Theory and the notion of complex adaptive systems in partnership with pragmatism, the book provides practice perspectives and guidelines which build on social work's enduring commitment to understanding the person-in-context. The recognition that social workers require conceptual and theoretical agility to work across micro, meso and macro 'levels' remains central, but the argument is made that their focus and practice must primarily be at the meso level. The authorship of combined academic and practice expertise enables such perspectives to be brought to life through the theoretical and practical analysis of conceptual and 'real-world' challenges. The book consists of 13 chapters organized in three sections: Part I: Complex Practice in a Complex World Part II: Thinking Complexity in Practice Part III: Thinking Complexity in Public Policy, Research and Education Complexity Theory for Social Work Practice encourages social workers to 'think complexity' and 'act pragmatically'. It is intended for final-year social work students; academics and researchers working in a range of disciplines, primarily in the social work field but also in the areas of sociology, psychology and anthropology; and practitioners in policy, research, management and practice settings.