Customer Reviews

Social Welfare: A World View (The Nelson-Hall Series in Social Work)

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This very impressive work summarizes well the historical foundations of social welfare policy in the United States, yet within a global context, so rarely, if ever, seen in welfare policy texts. With scholarship and eloquence it also summarizes major social welfare policies in numerous countries, including, but not limited to, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Australia and Norway. It also is sensitive to the situations of marginalized groups, such as Indigenous people worldwide, African Americans, Hispanics, and gay and lesbians. It is must reading for anyone desiring a thorough knowledge of social welfare policies within a global context in order to engage in social action toward a socially just world committed to human rights principles.

I wanted to share that I recently took a copy of Dr. Van Wormer's book Social Welfare: A World View off my personal book shelf. I am currently practicing Medical Social Work in a Rural Hospital Community and use it often as a reference.

I am fascinated by her ability to bring complicated issues down to an easy and understandable level. I work with a wide variety of racial and ethnic groups, and sometimes, keeping up on an international perspective helps me out tremendously by broading my view in critical areas. Dr. Van Wormer's book helps me to keep focus on my clients and what their needs may be, in a culturally broad perspective. It helps keep me grounded and is a wonderful resource.

It also helps me to see, how far we all have to go, to get Social Welfare Services and our commitment to it, to the people needing those services... where it really truly needs to be. By being able to see how other countries utilize their social welfare programs, we see the need to utilize our own educational or professional advocacy skills to cry out for better and stronger social welfare programs to help people of every nation (this includes the United States) stand tall, secure, and proud. Thanks for a wonderful resource book. I highly recommend this book.

I've only just begun this book. I like the concept of comparing the U.S. social welfare scene with that in other countries. I'm having a lot of trouble getting through what's written, though. For example, in Chatper 1, I read one small paragraph four or five times, and I can't come up with a reasonable interpretation for what the author is trying to say. I asked someone else to try, and she failed too.

If I understood the introductory material correctly, the first chapter of this book is unique among all chapters in that it presents theoretical and definitional background material. I'm hoping that the remaining chapters, with their proposed topical focus, will have a corresponding focus in their prose and presentation.