Social work in a globalizing world - Lena Dominelli

This inspiring and stimulating book confronts contemporarychallenges facing social workers. Many of the forms of human,social and environmental degradation addressed arise from socialproblems that have persisted over time, such as social work'sown uncertain professional status, poverty, structuralinequalities, migratory movements and armed conflicts. However,these challenges include newer problems rooted in theinterdependent nature of the world. These issues centre onglobalization, the worldwide recession that undermined fiscalsustainability in Western countries, environmental pollution,climate change and natural disasters, concerns which present fresharenas for social worker involvement, and opportunities forinnovation in social work theories and paradigms forpractice.

In exploring the tensions that globalization creates for practice,Lena Dominelli reveals the diverse and heterogeneous nature ofsocial work as a profession even though it has many facets that areshared across borders. In a fluid global context where migratorymovements and the internationalization of social problems mean thatproblems that began in one country have significant implicationsand require action in another, social workers must supportpractices that endorse human rights, social justice and citizenshipfor all of the planet's inhabitants.

Social Work in a Globalizing World sets an ambitious agendafor social work and calls for international co-operation, alliancesand action alongside local ones. Only then can its optimisticmessage of a viable end to the degradation of human beings andtheir physical environment be achieved.