Towards a ‘Women’s History’ of Social Work in Europe

Abstract

The twentieth century has witnessed a rapid development in the field of social welfare in Europe. Over several decades, and within all countries in Europe, modern and professional forms of social welfare have supplemented or even replaced traditional forms of communal relief, self-help organizations of the poor and organized bourgeois philanthropy. This major shift involved new legislation, new state expenditures and new definitions of citizenship. Social work was the crucial location where the practice of modern and professional welfare was elaborated. It has grown into an essential component of civil society in Europe which: creates new connections between citizens and the state; forges social cohesion and new forms of social exclusion and; mitigates against some of the harsh effects of poverty and inequality. Even where social work has been blamed for being slow, limited or plainly counterproductive in its effects, the profession constitutes, to a large extent, the practice of social welfare, making its contributions to the debate about the ‘social future’ of Europe indispensable. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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