Social work: A problem-oriented introduction

by Lothar Böhnisch, Wolfgang Schröer

Overview

In many regions of the world the twenty-first century has started with a structure of endless challenges for social work. Social work seems to be in demand almost everywhere, from support schemes for children and young people into adulthood and on to support for elderly people, in community work in cities and rural regions, in disaster relief and in care for refugees. This book describes the field of social work – its themes, problems and methods – in the face of the concept of the second, reflexive modernisation. The question needs to be asked of how, and whether, social work’s success story from the first modernity can continue. We discuss the second modernity as a time of blurring boundaries. Today, it frequently faces the problem that the organised terms of its approaches come up against a social reality where the frameworks of social life are becoming dynamic. Normalised structures are dissolving or becoming mixed with new ones; boundaries are blurring and new ones appearing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110440119
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	11/21/2016
Series:	De Gruyter Studium
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.45(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Prof. Dr. Lothar Böhnisch (TU Dresden); Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schröer (Universität Hildesheim)

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schröer (University of Hildesheim); Prof. Dr. Lothar Böhnisch (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)

Table of Contents

1 Normalization and Dissolution of Boundaries: Social Work at the Start of the Twenty-First Century 1

1.1 From Normalization to the Dissolution of Boundaries 2

1.2 Rediscovery of Welfare Policy and the Welfare State 4

1.3 Disembedding and Reformulation 6

1.4 From the Term "Identity" to the Concept of Agency 7

2 Critical Living Circumstances: Distress, Vulnerability and Neediness 10

2.1 Vulnerability 12

2.2 Neediness and Failure 13

3 Coping with Life as a Social Pedagogical Concept 15

3.1 The Personal-Psychodynamic Zone 15

3.2 The Relational/Intermediary Zone: Coping Cultures 20

3.2.1 Familial Coping Cultures 20

3.2.2 The Group 23

3.2.3 Organizational Cultures 25

3.2.4 The Internet 26

3.3 The Socio-structural-Socio-political Zone: The Concepts of Situation in Life and Situation of Coping 28

3.3.1 Situation in Life 29

3.3.2 Situation of Coping 32

4 The Four Dimensions of the Situation of Coping as Means of Access for Social Work 35

4.1 Dependency 35

4.2 Expression 36

4.3 Appropriation 38

4.4 Recognition 39

4.5 Situation in Life, Situation of Coping and Status as a Client 41

4.6 Excursus: The Situation in Life Approach and the Capability Approach 43

5 The Socio-Political, Socio-Ethical Perspective: Social and Generational Justice 46

6 Recommendations for Action 49

6.1 Case Assessment from the Perspective of the Coping Concept 49

6.2 Functional Equivalents 51

6.3 Empowerment 51

6.4 Social Space Orientation and Milieu Formation 54

6.5 Conflict Orientation 57

6.6 Excursus: New Spaces, Different Times? 59

7 Enablement in Light of the Blurring Life Stage Borders 64

7.1 Enabling Childhood 65

7.2 Enabling Youth 71

7.3 Enabling Adults and People of Working Age from the Perspective of Agency 82

7.4 Enabling Ageing 91

7.5 Enabling Agency during Transitions which Have Grown Unpredictable and Riskier 99

7.6 Excursus: Diversity and Intersectionatity 105

8 Social Problems and Social Integration 108

9 Professional Agency 112

10 Social Work and Welfare Policy 117

10.1 The Social Consequences of Globalization 117

10.2 Social Work and Globalization 121

10.3 Regional Development 124

10.4 The European Perspective 126

11 Transnational Approaches: Commons, Citizenship, Care 131

11.1 Commons 131

11.2 Citizenship 135

11.3 Care 137

11.4 Social Justice 141

Bibliography 147