Kjeld Høgsbro is Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark

Ian Shaw is S R Nathan Professor of Social Work at the National University of Singapore, and Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of York.

The aim of this book is to exemplify the ways in which social work and research develop in 'advanced' welfare states - countries where public spending is relatively high as a proportion of GNP. While such countries have traditionally been associated with Scandinavian countries in particular, and North-Western Europe more generally, there are other countries where the public spend on welfare is relatively high.

Introduction. Understanding Social Work in Advanced Welfare States

Section 1: Advanced welfare states: European patterns and trends

1. Diversities and Patterns in Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States

2. Social work and research in a Europe of Superdiversity

3. Beyond Flexicurity: The Shift towards Work-First and its Implications for Street-Level Work in the Danish Employment System

4 The impact of Neoliberalism through ideas of productivity - The Case of Child Welfare in Denmark

Section 2: Directions in social work research in advanced welfare states

5. Controversies in social work research - A critical hermeneutic perspective

6. Driving forces in practice research

7. The materiality and materials of social work: on socio-material theories and social work research

8. Institutional Ethnography for people in a vulnerable and oppressed situation.

9. Disagreement as Reparative Critique in the Development of Social Work Practice

Section 3: Directions in social work practice in advanced welfare states

10. Local Community Work as an Incubator - The Role of Governance Technologies in Local Community Work Approaches to Inclusion

11. Proactive, Ambivalent and Defensive Relations between Social Work and Social Policy: The Shaping of Productivity

12. Vulnerable children and young people: An enduring challenge in the Danish welfare state

13. The conception of disability and mental illness in advanced welfare states - A review and a proposal.

14. The body in social pedagogical work

Conclusion

References