Vol. 12 No. 1 (2014): Turning Points

Special Issue on Turning Points

Social policy and social work as welfare agencies are agents of social control. Governmentality studies or neo-marxist approaches emphasize welfare as a form of moral regulation concerned with disciplining populations in line with customary ideas of normality. But welfare states can also be defined as societies focused on increasing individual freedom and collective protection – if we take the idea of welfare for granted. In this sense welfare states aim to open spaces for the empowerment and self-determination of citizens and welfare agencies, such as social work. So, social policy and social work are also agencies of socializing and educating people.

Therefore the question of life trajectories is by special interest for social policy and social work research. By focusing on turning points – so, moments of change in the life course of people – the papers in the current SW&S-Special Issue are opening a fascinating perspective on the question of life trajectories.

All papers look for turning points in disadvantaged life trajectories: How is that turning points occur?; What influence can be identified by the intervention of social work or social policy?; Which appropriate research approaches have been established so far? – and all papers are based on empirical data, more precisely: on qualitative data.

The SW&S-Editorial Board is very pleased to contribute to the international debate on those highly relevant questions and therefore very thankful to the guest editor, Maren Zeller (University of Hildesheim/ Germany).

Also, we are very happy to present to papers on a Model of Analyzing the Possibilities of Power, Help and Control by Björn Kraus and on "Violence, Sex or Work? Claims-Making against the Swedisch ban on the purchase of sexual services on the Internet" by Gabriella Scaramuzzino and Roberto Scaramuzzino.

All the best to all SW&S-readers: Enjoy reading the current issue of Social Work & Society!

The SW&S.Co-Ordinating Office