Social Work: A Very Short Introduction

Sally Holland is a Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University and Director of the CASCADE Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre. She teaches qualifying social workers on the MA Social Work and PhD students. She also carries out research on all aspects of children's social work. Before becoming an academic she worked in a range of social work settings, including residential child care, with street homeless people, as a local authority children's social worker, and in a family centre.


Jonathan Scourfield is Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University. His research covers child welfare, children's identities and suicide prevention and he also has a long-standing interest in social work with men. He teaches Masters and doctoral students in social work. Before becoming an academic he worked as a history teacher, a probation officer, and a group worker in a therapeutic community for people with drug and alcohol problems.

Social workers spend their time trying to ease social suffering. They encounter the extreme casualties of social inequality: the victims of poverty, illness, addiction, and abuse; they work with abusers and offenders; and operate in the space between the State and the poor or marginalized. Social work is replete with vivid human stories: the troubled teenage boy who cannot settle in a foster home; the frail older woman who is desperate for social contact; the community seeking a way to tackle gang violence; the sex offender leaving prison; and the disputed territory of international adoption. Social work therefore holds a fundamental importance throughout the modern world.

In this Very Short Introduction, Sally Holland and Jonathan Scourfield explain what social work is and look at its rich historical development. Reflecting international human stories of social problems and social work relationships, as well as the philosophies behind the practice and the evidence about what works throughout the world, they look at the various definitions, history, and debates about purpose and effectiveness, theory, and methods. Including wide ranging examples of social work practice around the world and within particular population groups, they reflect the international variation of social work theory and practice, as well as highlighting all of the main controversies and debates.


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In this Very Short Introduction Sally Holland and Jonathan Scourfield explain what social work is and the range of cases it deals with. Looking at its history and main debates, as well as the theories and methods of social work, they include a range of case studies from around the world.