What is social work? : context and perspectives / Nigel Horner.

Originally published: 2003.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Also issued online.

"It is essential that social work students have a clear grasp of the history and the evolutions of social work practice. Now in its Fourth Edition, Nigel Horner's classic introductory text looks at how issues such as the Personalisation Agenda, the work of the Reform Board, and how the notion of a Big Society and the recent contractions in government spending have impacted on practice and education."--Provided by publisher.

Machine generated contents note: chapter 1 Introduction and core themes -- What is social work? The purpose of the book -- Beginning to answer the question -- Requirements for social work education -- The scope of social work -- Social work and the welfare jigsaw -- The value of historical analysis -- The structure of the book -- Aids to learning: Character case studies -- Learning features -- Professional development and reflective practice -- A pause for reflection: Beginning with the self -- chapter 2 The beginnings of social work: T̀he comfort of strangers' -- Social work and pre-social work -- Why does social work exist? -- The Middle Ages and post-Elizabethan welfare -- Georgian welfare models -- Nineteenth-century reforms and the mania for institutions -- The age of change in social relations: P̀erfect friendship' and the beginnings of casework -- A comparative case example: From charitable volunteers to architects of social welfare -- The fin de siecle debate