Book Review: Amid Social Contradictions – Towards a History of Social Work in Europe, Gisela Hauss and Dagmar Schulte (Eds), Barbara Budrich Publishers (2009)

Abstract

This collection of essays on various aspects of Social Work and Social Policy in Europe covers a wide terrain - geographically, temporally and theoretically. Amongst the contributions are discussions on the provision of ‘tuberculosis welfare’ in Switzerland, maternal policies in the Soviet Union, social work traditions in Poland and child welfare social work practices in Finland following the Second World War. In analysing some of the themes of the book, the editors characterise the history (or more accurately the histories) of social work in Europe as one of manifold ‘contradictions’.