Integrating Knowledge and Practice: The Case of Social Work and Social Science

by Charles Garvin, Rosemary Sarri, David Tucker

Overview

As a profession that works directly to improve the human condition, social work has made a special effort to integrate social science knowledge with its methods for identifying and dealing with human problems. This book is about the relationship between the systematic study of human problems and actions to improve them. The group of experts do not provide practical instructions; they do not provide advice on how to conduct evaluation studies or how to solve the problem of homelessness. Instead, the contributors examine the questions and issues that arise, and the knowledge gained, when purposeful attempts are made to understand and solve human problems using the best available social science knowledge.

The issue of the integration of social work and the social sciences has not been examined in any depth in current research. The social sciences have evolved steadily through the years and social workers have increasingly relied on them—both substantively as well as in terms of research methodologies. In turban, social work has contributed to this dialogue by providing challenging research questions, in formulating critiques of social science theory and methodology, and in emphasizing the need to study social problems in their complex environments. The book's goal is to define how social work and the social sciences can continue to build on a clear sense of the issues and developments common to both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275949679
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/28/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

DAVID J. TUCKER is Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

CHARLES GARVIN is Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. He is author of Contemporary Group Work (Third Edition, 1997).

ROSEMARY SARRI is Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan School of Social Work and Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Evolution and Change in the Relationship between Social Work and Social Science by David J. Tucker, Charles Garvin, and Rosemary Sarri
Promises and Problems
Introduction: Progress and Problems in the Integration of Knowledge and Practice by David J. Tucker
Making Decisions about Integration by Eileen Gambrill
Mechanism, Conflict, and Cultural Symbol: Three Views of the Relationship between Social Insight and Social Transformation by Richard H. Price
Knowledge for Policy and Practice by David Laws and Martin Rein
Content Analysis of Social Work Dissertation Papers: Epistemological Implications by Richard E. Boettcher
Research and Social Policy: Conceptual Frameworks and Social Inequality by Adam Jamrozik
Social Science and Social Work
Introduction: How Social Science Contributes to Social Work by Charles Garvin
Schema, Niches, and Nodes: Social Cognitive Resources for Contemporary Social Work Practice by Aaron M. Brower and Paula S. Nurius
Community Organization, New Social Movement Theory, and the Condition of Post-Modernity by Robert Fisher and Joseph Kling
The Theory and Practice of Decision-Making by Sherri Shienfeld, with Narayan Viswanathan
Expanding Theories of Occupational Structure: Examining the Relationship between Family Responsive Policies and Worker Well-Being by Susan Lambert
Grounded Theory: A Methodology for Integrating Social Work and Social Science Theory by Susan Bernstein, Harriet Goodman, and Irwin Epstein
Introduction of Chaos and Complexity Theory to Social Work by James Patrick Mace
Social Work to Social Science
Introduction: Social Work Perspectives on the Integration of Social Work and Social Science by Rosemary Sarri
Macro Practice for the 21st Century: An Empowerment Perspective by Elaine Gutiérrez
Social Work Education in Context: Hong Kong Polytechnic File by Diana Mak and Tsang Nai-ming
The Interface between Social Sciences and Social Work: The Case of European Mental Health Social Work by Shulamit Ramon
Integrating Work Team Effectiveness with Social Work Practice: An Ecological Approach by Diane Vinokur-Kaplan
Of Penguins and Policies: Communications between Policy Researchers and Decision-Makers by Armand Lauffer
Rediscovering the Lives of Women: A Feminist Critique of the Social Science-Social Work Connection by Mimi Abramovitz
Human Resources in the Industrialized Societies: The Need for New Social Concepts and Perspectives by Adam Jamrozik
Social Stratification and Psychological Debilitation: A Review with Practice Implications by John F. Longres
Themes and Perspectives
Themes and Perspectives on Integration and Related Models by Edwin J. Thomas
A History of Educational Integration in One Program
Doctoral Education in Social Work and Social Science at Michigan by Robert D. Vinter and Rosemary Sarri
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Examines relations between the social sciences and social work. Begins with historical background, documenting phases in development of the social sciences since the mid-1800s, then shows how changes in knowledge development processes in the social sciences have affected current social work perspectives in the post-WWII era. Final chapters conceptualize the two disciplines as a single reputational organization, examining how both together may be affected by the process of globalization, and report on a joint doctoral program in social work and social science at the University of Michigan. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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