Recent Book: Before the Court: The Field of Social Work
| Author | P. W. Carey |
| Published date | 01 July 1979 |
| Date | 01 July 1979 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X7905200320 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
as Icould see, was the nearest they came
to paying the dedicated team a
compliment - but this is to beexpected of
an organisation whose motto seems to be
'Bad news is good news - Good news is
not news."
I
doubt
if the Police service will find
any comfort or assistance from reading
the book, but the activities of the gang,
their subsequent trial with Bertie setting
the trend as the first big informer, are
well documented - However, it is now
history, along with Dick Turpin - Crime
patterns change and so do the counter
reactions of the Police who strive to
maintain the status quo. The current
M.O. of hitting the security guards on the
pavement between van and shop or bank,
is yet
another
challenge to which the
Police
have
responded
in
their
undiminishing fight against crime,
working as they do with one arm tied
behind their back and the other warding
off
complaints,
biased
T.V.
documentaries and press sensationalism.
Imust however, commend Chapter 16
with the apt title, 'Letting the sun shine
in,' to all Sentencing Authorities and the
host of other
'do
Gooders' who have
sleepless nights worrying
about
their
poor misguided anti-social creatures -
once they are caught. X.D.
BEFORE
THE COURT
ARTHUR
E.
FINK:
The Field
of
Social Work (7th Edition)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston £9.25
The editor of this very substantial
American text book has assembled a
variety of contributors who together
outline the assumptions underlying
social work practice, its range of
methods, and illustrate social work in
diverse settings.
Designed for the American college
undergraduate the volume is, perhaps,
intended more to be studied selectively
than to be read casually, though the non-
American reader should find something
in the table of contents to repay his
interest.
Our
attention is drawn in the
introduction to the polarities of social
work; the 'problem' individual and his
social adjustment through individual
change and the implementation of
national programmes of social reform.
It
is surely at the inter-section of these
concerns
that
moral dilemmas arise.
It
is instructive to note
that
the text's
implicit
advice
to
the
budding
practitioner in doubt whether to viewthe
client as 'problem' or 'victim' is, it seems,
to urge the adoption of a stance
that
might be described as 'sceptical realism'.
The valuable case studies reflect a desire
to help the individual within 'the system'
and facilitate his assimilation, whilst
acknowledging, as one author puts it in
relation to work in correctional
institutions,
that
'Professionals can
become as institutionalized as their
clients. When one finds oneself giving
uncritical acceptance to the system it is
time for either a vacation or a new job'.
The main themes of the text are clearly
presented and the different client
systems; individuals, families, groups
and communities are distinguished and
the methods of. casework, family work,
group
work
and
community
organization
appropriate
to
the
respective clients are explored in separate
chapters.
For
the casual reader, however, the
final section wherin social work is
examined in settings as varied as the
home, the school, hospital and prison is
likely to prove the most readable and
instructive being particularly rich in vivid
case records.'
The complexity and range of social
work activity in the modern state is thus
both
remarked upon and reflected in this
volume and an estimate
that
well over
100,000 social workersare now needed in
the United States of America to meet the
expanding demand for social service is
ventured. Without
doubt
this new
edition will go some way to meeting the
continuing
requirement
for
an
introduction to this field on
both
sides of
the Atlantic. P. W. CAREY
HOW DO YOU EMPLOY 6OR
6,OOO?
PAINE
AND
N
AUMES:
Organisational Strategy and Policy
Holt Saunders £7
This book is concerned with what the information gathering on policy and the
student or manager can do in an organisation and analysis of the
organisation to study
and
perhaps information. As the authors point out
improve the process of dealing with very early in the text, organisations exist
policy
and
strategy issues. The book is in a changing environment. Changes
intended for use as a framework for occur in economic conditions, political
July /979 300
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