Contemporary social work studies

GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK Contemporary Social Work Studies Series Editor: Robin Lovelock, University of Southampton Series Advisory Board: Lena Dominelli, Durham University, UK Jan Fook, University of Southampton, UK Peter Ford, University of Southampton, UK Lorraine Gutiérrez University of Michigan, USA Walter Lorenz, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy Karen Lyons, London Metropolitan University, UK Colette McAuley, University of Southampton, UK Joan Orme, University of Glasgow, UK Jackie Powell, University of Southampton, UK Contemporary Social Work Studies (CSWS) is a series disseminating high quality new research and scholarship in the discipline and profession of social work. The series promotes critical engagement with contemporary issues relevant across the social work community and captures the diversity of interests currently evident at national, international and local levels. CSWS is located in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton and is a development from the successful series of books published by Ashgate in association with CEDR (the Centre for Evaluative and Developmental Research) from 1991. Titles in this series include: Revitalising Communities in a Globalising World Edited by Lena Dominelli Social Work in a Corporate Era: Practices of Power and Resistance Edited by Linda Davies and Peter Leonard Reflecting on Social Work - Discipline and Profession Edited by Robin Lovelock, Karen Lyons and Jackie Powell Forthcoming titles for 2008: Indigenous Social Work Education and Practice Around the World Edited by Mel Gray, John Coates and Michael Yellow Bird Social Work and Migration Kathleen Valtonen Globalization and International Social Work Postmodern Change and Challenge MALCOLM PAYNE St Christopher’s Hospice, UK and GURID AGA ASKELAND Diakonhjemmet University College, Norway © Malcolm Payne and Gurid Aga Askeland 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Malcolm Payne and Gurid Aga Askeland have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work. Gurid Aga Askeland is supported by the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405 Hampshire GU11 3HR USA England Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Payne, Malcolm, 1947- Globalization and international social work : postmodern change and challenge. - (Contemporary social work studies) 1. Social service - International cooperation 2. Globalization - Social aspects I. Title II. Askeland, Gurid Aga 361 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Payne, Malcolm, 1947- Globalization and international social work : postmodern change and challenge / by Mal- colm Payne and Gurid Aga Askeland. p. cm. (Contemporary social work studies) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4946-5 ISBN-10: 0-7546-4946-6 1. Social service International cooperation. 2. Globalization Social aspects. I. Askeland, Gurid Aga, 1947- II. Title. HV41.P37 2008 361.3 dc22 2008002370 ISBN-13: 9780754649465 Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall. Contents List of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgements ix The Words We Use xi Glossary of Abbreviations xiii 1 International Social Work Practice and Education in a Globalized Postmodern World 1 2 Globalization, Postcolonialism and Postmodernism: Conflicts and Connections 9 3 Critical Reflection to Promote Contextual Social Work Practice and Education 31 4 Racism, Social Exclusion and Cultural Translation 47 5 Knowledge Production: What is Valid Knowledge? 63 6 Social Work’s Identity in Postmodern Agencies and Universities 79 7 Piloting through the Challenges of Globalization 103 8 Exchanges and Cross-national Activities: Broadening the Mind 119 9 Technology-based Social Work Education and Practice 137 10 Conclusion 153 Bibliography 159 Author Index 181 Subject Index 185 This page intentionally left blank List of Figures and Tables Figure 4.1 Cultural translation 52 Figure 5.1 Jensen’s three aspects of professional knowledge 73 Figure 8.1 Participants in and types of cross-national work 123 Table 2.1 Actions for alternatives to globalization 20 Table 2.2 ‘Post’ ideas 22 Table 2.3 Important authors on postmodernism 26 Table 8.1. Stakeholders in cross-national work: Education and developmental aid and relief work 126 Table 8.2 The 5 ‘i’s: Objectives in cross-national work 130 Table 8.3 The 5 ‘i’s: Progression in developmental aid and relief work 133 Table 8.4 Different time systems 134 Table 10.1 Social work processes and globalization 157 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements We come from the UK and Norway respectively, and our interest in the subject of this book emerges from our involvement in international social work over many years. We wrote this book jointly, with some of the material based on papers delivered at various conferences and articles written together. Acknowledgements to: Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association, for a grant to Gurid Aga Askeland while working on this book. Barbara Monroe, Chief Executive, St Christopher’s Hospice, London for allowing Malcolm Payne the flexibility to work on this book. The editors of the journals for permission to adapt materials that first appeared in our articles in their pages: Social work education’s cultural hegemony, International Social Work 49, 731– 743, mainly used in Chapter 4. What is valid knowledge for social workers? Social Work in Europe, 8: 3, 13–23, mainly used in Chapter 5. The postmodern student: piloting through uncertainty, Journal of Teaching in Social Work 26: 3/4, 167–179, mainly used in Chapter 7. Broadening the mind: cross-national activities in social work, European Journal of Social Work 4: 3, 263–274, mainly used in Chapter 8. Distance education and international social work education, European Journal of Social Work 10: 2, 161–74, mainly used in Chapter 9. Malcolm Payne Gurid Aga Askeland [...]... welfare policy, social work knowledge and social work education? What could we do to create an international social work that is more open to local cultural requirements? Social work education is an important focus in international social work We have given it considerable attention for this reason We have done so also because it is a significant context in which knowledge is developed for social work and... according to the social and historical context in which they operate An international social work, therefore, raises questions about whether Western models of social work practice and organization are universal in their application We argue in this book that they may provide a framework for understanding social work, but that different cultural assumptions and social needs require different social works Among... globalized social works is inequality within and across societies This is important because inequalities create social strains between different groups and psychological stresses for individuals Social work has a commitment to social justice Our experience as social workers dealing with individuals and small groups leads us to concern about the impact of the social on the personal Social work that deals... explore how these issues affect the people that social workers work with and how social work can respond We are concerned with ideas that affect the everyday practice of social workers, social work students and their educators, so while this is not a how-to-do-it book, ideas about a practice will have an effect on that practice This is because social work is always a practice as well as a set of ideas... the international currents affecting their work and to see their local practice as part of a wider picture International Social Work Most social work students, educators and practitioners do not cross national borders in their work, so can we say that they work internationally? International social work refers to a number of different activities: • • • • Working in development agencies in the South... mentally ill people, have staff working on international links Working for international social work organizations – Examples might be the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Association of School of Social Work (IASSW) or people employed in countries on projects for or linking with such organizations Globalization and International Social Work 4 • • • Participating... resolving social and personal problems Western cultural, economic and social power has given social work ideas from the West too much influence in other countries and cultures The fact that there are international social work organizations suggests that there is an international social work This has been promoted over the years by an ‘internationalist view’ held by activists in the international social work. .. Western social workers would Advice-giving, which was contrary to Western social work values of self-determination and non-directiveness, was accepted because Indian values acknowledge the duty of workers to take authority in particular situations In summary, we argue that social workers need an understanding of international social work as part of their profession Even if they are not international social. .. and ideas that seek to explain social changes in societies across the world around the beginning of the new millennium However, these general social changes and explanations have personal causes and consequences, which affect and are affected by the people social workers work with and social workers themselves We ask: how should social agencies be organized and social workers act to serve their clients... culture and social structures Inevitably, those developments in other countries and cultures challenge dominant Western ways of thinking about social work We argue for seeing this interaction in these ways: • • • Western social work is not necessarily relevant to non-Western countries and its relevance should always be challenged Western social work should be influenced by non-Western social work, which . affect the people that social workers work with and how social work can respond. We are concerned with ideas that affect the everyday practice of social workers, social work students and their. in their pages: Social work education’s cultural hegemony, International Social Work 49, 731– 743, mainly used in Chapter 4. What is valid knowledge for social workers? Social Work in Europe,. welfare policy, social work knowledge and social work education? What could we do to create an international social work that is more open to local cultural requirements? Social work education