Why Social Work Is Important: Identity, Role and Practice

What is social work’s contribution to humanity and society? Best-selling author Malcolm Payne offers a toolkit for social work practitioners and students to bring key issues about their practice and social role to life, drawing on case examples and research.

Starting from the principle that human beings are social beings, he showcases:

- innovative analysis of how social work’s identity and diverse streams of thought inform social professions globally;

- social work’s dual practice aims of developing human flourishing and social capital;

- community-near co-production, engaging agencies, communities and service users with practitioners from different professions to meet shared aims for social transformation;

- how populist politics and monetising economics corrodes deeply-held human and social values.

Malcolm Payne looks forward to social work practice and provision that puts people and social relationships first in meeting the challenges of twenty-first century caring and environmental crises.

Malcolm Payne is Emeritus Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and Kingston University London and Advisor (Policy and Development) at St Christopher’s Hospice, London.