Description
Book SynopsisThe role of the social worker is to be found lying interestingly between society and the individuals they work with. As a result, social workers often feel pulled between the demands and challenges that each presents.
The Compleat Social Worker explores the many debates the profession enjoys, including those between nature and nurture, care and control, thought and feeling, art and science, facts and values. In examining these ideas and the discussions they sponsor it celebrates social work''s rich heritage of scientific thought and human relationships. It is out of these many divisions and disagreements and their resolution that the idea of the well-rounded,
compleat social worker emerges. For those wishing to explore and enjoy, argue and acknowledge what it is to be a good social worker, this elegant book will prompt lively interest and debate.
Trade Review'This is a little gem of a book, it provides the reader with a perspective on a number of discussions that are taking place in social work on a day to day basis. David Howe adopts a neutral stance, delivered in a readable style.' - Dave Mason, Staffordshire University
Table of Contents1. The Individual and Society: Looking Both Ways in Social Work 2. Order and Change: The Purpose of Social Work 3. Care and Control: The Tasks of Social Work 4. Bureaucrats and Professionals: How Social Workers are Organised and Operate 5. Certainty and Uncertainty: How Social Work Decisions are Made 6. Objects and Subjects: People's Inner and Outer Worlds 7. Qualitative and Quantitative: Social Work's Research and Evidence Base 8. Thought and Feeling: How Social Workers can Best Respond 9. Past and Future: What is the Focus of Social Work 10. Nature and Nurture: How to Make Sense of Human Behaviour 11. Art and Science: The Craft of Social Work 12. Good Relationships and Working Well: How to Practice Empathically and Effectively 13. Freedom and Equality: How to Balance Individual Choice and the Collective Good 14. Facts and Values: What is Known and What Ought to be Done 15. On the Whole and Taking Everything into Consideration 16. The Compleat Social Worker.
