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Malcolm Payne, Social Work and the Making of Social Policy, Edited by Ute Klammer, Simone Leiber and Sigrid Leitner, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 51, Issue 4, June 2021, Pages 1513–1514, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab072
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Many social workers are committed to making a difference in the social policy that affects the individuals and the social groups they are concerned with. They see the need to be part of public campaigns or agency influence to change policy in ways that benefit oppressed peoples, change social conditions for the better and remove the distress and inequality that blights our societies. And social change through policy change is part of the ideology and values that have always informed social work. But what does these mean social workers should do in practice? What is the role of policy change in social work?
This book draws together empirical research studies and analysis, mostly from Europe, and also from Israel and the USA, to explore how social work practitioners and researchers have sought to influence social policy. Developing and bringing these studies together contributes to our empirical understanding of how social work agencies, practitioners and academics influence the policy that provides the context of social work practice. The editors’ premise is that we must examine policy influence at every level of policy innovation, formation and implementation. They see policy not just as headline changes in law, responding to political and social action, but also the everyday interactions around how issues are defined and responded to.
