Abstract
Global Transformation and Social Action, edited by Sven Hessle, professor of Social Work at the Stockholm University and editor in chief of the International Journal of Social Welfare, is the third volume in a series addressing social work and social development in the 21st century. Stemming from a 2012 conference in Stockholm, the volume brings together 29 contributions by 50 authors, many of whom are noted for their experience with and commitment to engaging issues of globalization and the implications for social work practice, policy, research, and education.
Individually and collectively, the authors seek to advance a global agenda for social work. Contributors tackle key issues, including human rights, environmental justice, poverty and food security, migration, families in transnational context, and responses to trauma and violence in their many forms. Malcolm Payne (Chapter 2) launches the book with a call for a humanistic approach to the forms of solidarity and practices of cultural translation needed to build effective, enduring global relationships. Payne outlines five shared principles to guide meaningful and potentially transformative social work practice: (1) alliance grounded in relationship, dialogue, and informed consent; (2) clearly specified aims based in assets and focused on positive outcomes; (3) clear action sequences that allow for accountability; (4) critical thinking, which includes disruption of taken-for-granted assumptions and modes of action; and (5) concerns for rights, equality, cultural respect, and sustainability (pp. 14–16). These principles are informed by and consistent with those of critical, feminist, and anti-oppressive social work thought and practice.
Other contributors bring social work in a global context to life, as they explore lessons in democratization and social media from the Arab Spring; the power of new social movements; the place of social work in political and military conflicts; the experiences of migrants, refugees, and survivors of torture; and the challenges of ethical decision making in complex political and cultural contexts. Overall, however, the text promises more than it delivers. It reads as a collection of conference papers, with an unevenness throughout in terms of development of ideas, presentation of data, and thematic coherence.
While some contributors consider questions of gender and gender inequality, these themes are addressed more in passing than in depth. For example, Gioconda Herrera (Chapter 7) reflects on the varied experiences of Latin American migrant women whose lives and labors are linked to global care chains. Julia and Natalie Drolet (Chapter 7) examine the migration and work experiences of Cambodian domestic workers and the concomitant issues of women’s rights. Erica Righard (Chapter 8) addresses families in transnational context and shares highlights of shifting gendered roles and relations gleaned from her research in Sweden. These contributions are valuable yet brief, providing the reader only a glimpse of their more comprehensive research. This is both a by-product and a shortcoming of publication of a collection of conference papers. The individual chapters and the overall text lack a sustained analysis of gender, gender oppression, and women’s social action as key aspects of global social transformation.
The text may be a helpful resource to social work educators and scholars addressing questions of social work in a global context. The volume lacks the organization and thematic clarity to be useful as a social work textbook.