Social Work, Social Welfare and American Society

by Philip R. Popple, Leslie Leighninger

Social Work, Social Welfare and American Society provides students with a political perspective on social welfare with definitions of liberal, conservative, and radical positions - in order to help them better appreciate the political context of social welfare programs. Each chapter reflects and integrates the core competencies in the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) set by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). End-of-chapter assessment reinforces this integration, and MySocialWorkLab.com activities support the mastery of CSWE's core competencies. This popular introductory text is written by two of the best-known authors in social work and social welfare. The Eighth Edition continues to examine the values, ethics, and knowledge needed by social workers, as well as exploring social workers' current roles in social welfare programs. A key strength of this text is its strong coverage of the history of social welfare movements. It allows students to place welfare developments in an historical context.

656 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was assigned as a required textbook for my Master of Social Work coureswork (Social Welfare Policy & Services).

I really enjoyed reading this textbook and I thought that it gave an interesting perspective on the history of social welfare in America and how it is impacted by the political beliefs that are common at the time. This book made me consider why we have the social welfare policies we do today and why they have been designed the way they are. Sometimes, as a social worker, it seems like the deficits in social welfare programs are extremely clear. By learning about their history, it is easier to understand why some of those deficits exist, as well as what a potential path past those deficits could be.

This text describes itself as trying to provide an unbiased view of social welfare. Each chapter ends with a discussion of the (traditional) conservative, liberal, and progressive perspectives surrounding each welfare issue. However, it was clear while reading that the author held some disdain for the conservative viewpoints. Because of this, the book isn't quite unbiased. In addition, the author distinguishes traditional conservatives and Tea Party/alt-right conservatives. I would have appreciated a discussion of the alt-right perspective of each welfare issue in addition to the traditional conservative perspective, because the alt-right perspective is more common.

[LaDawn Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting take on different political views and how those have shaped social work today.