`Fred Powell argues for social work as civic engagement, promoting inclusion and justice through dialogue and trust. His book is an impressive combination of deep scholarship and fresh, up-to-date analysis of current issues'- Bill Jordan, University of Exeter

`An illuminating discussion of the influence of postmodern trends on the practice of social work that also offers a bracing guide for the future of the profession. Social work practice, Powell argues, needs to be anchored in a commitment to an inclusive idea of citizenship, and especially the inclusion of the most vulnerable citizens'- Francis Fox-Piven, City University of New York

`[T]his is an extraordinarily useful book for studies of social policy, especially in its presentation of a condensed history of social work's relationship to social policy... The book is well documented, well written and challenging. It stimulates more thought than is common in professional literature' - International Social Work

The Politics of Social Work provides a major contribution to debates on the politics of social work at the beginning of the 21st Century. It locates social work within wider political and theoretical debates and deals with important issues currently facing social workers and the organisations in which they work. By setting the current crisis of identity social workers are experiencing in international context, Fred Powell analyses the choices facing social work in postmodern society.

Fred Powell explores in this text contemporary and historical paradigms of social work from its Victorian origins to the development of reformist practice in the welfare state to radical social work, responses to social exclusion, the rennaissance of civil society, multiculturalism, feminism and anti-oppressive practice. In conclusion the he examines the options facing social work in the 21st century and argues for a civic model of social work based on the pursuit of social justice in an inclusive society.

The Politics of Social Work will be essential reading for students on qualifying and post-qualifying social work courses, as well as courses in sociology, social policy, social administration and politics.

Fred Powell, B.Sc(Soc), M.A., M.Soc.Sc., Ph.D, has been Professor of Social Policy and Head of the School of Applied Social Studies at University College, Cork, since 1990. In 2008 he was appointed Dean of Social Science at UCC. Born in Dublin, he holds degrees from Trinity College, Dublin, the University of Edinburgh and University College Dublin. Previously he lectured at the University of Ulster. He has been an Instructor on the Extension Programme of the University of California, San Diego, and has lectured in the UK, Italy, Portugal and France. He is chair of the Board of the M.Plan in UCC, Principal Investigator and Chair of the PRTLI4-funded Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century (ISS21) at UCC and has recently been appointed Chair of the MBS in Asian Business, a joint venture between UCC, NTU Singapore and the Farmleigh Fellowship.

Postmodernity
The End of Social Work?
Victorian Origins, Active Citizenship and Voluntarism
Fabianism, Welfare State and Reformist Practice
Radical Social Work and Radical Doubt
Poverty, Social Exclusion and Inclusive Practice
Civil Society, Citizenship and User Participation
Multiculturalism, Feminism and Anti-Oppressive Practice
Futurescapes