Social work and poverty - Monica Dowling

This text is about the poverty of social service users within a welfare system that continues to be restructured in ways that benefit the wealthy.;Dr Dowling has produced a spirited account of poverty and its effect on social service users and social workers from a number of diverse perspectives. The book includes an ethnographic study of two social work teams and, within two alternative theoretical frameworks, examines social workers' accounting for their attitudes and actions in relation to poverty issues.;Further chapters discuss issues such as: how social work students have faced ethical dilemmas related to poverty on placement; and whether social work courses take seriously financial deprivation which affects the great majority of social service users and their carers. Social service users also express their views on how social workers have helped them or not with poverty related issues. Finally poverty awareness exercises are suggested which lead the reader to question the extent to which poverty not only affects the individual user and carer but also affects the organization, delivery and structure of social services provided.