One Hundred Years of Social Work

A History of the Profession in English Canada, 1900–2000

Therese Jennissen, Colleen Lundy

• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781554582808
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

One Hundred Years of Social Work is the first comprehensive history of social work as a profession in English Canada. Organized chronologically, it provides a critical and compelling look at the internal struggles and debates in the social work profession over the course of a century and investigates the responses of social workers to several important events. A central theme in the book is the long-standing struggle of the professional association (the Canadian Association of Social Workers) and individual social workers to reconcile advancement of professional status with the promotion social action.

The book chronicles the early history of the secularization and professionalization of social work and examines social workers roles during both world wars, the Depression, and in the era of postwar reconstruction. It includes sections on civil defence, the Cold War, unionization, social work education, regulation of the profession, and other key developments up to the end of the twentieth century.

Drawing on extensive archival research as well as personal interviews and secondary literature, the authors provide strong academic evidence of a profession that has endured many important changes and continues to advocate for a just society and a responsive social welfare state.

One Hundred Years of Social Work will be of interest to social workers, social work students and educators, social historians, professional associations and anyone interested in understanding the complex nature of people and institutions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations of Organizations and Terms
• CHAPTER ONE: Responding to Industrial Capitalism and Setting the Stage for Professional Social Work, 1880–1924
• CHAPTER TWO: Pursuing Professional Status, 1924–29
• CHAPTER THREE: Face to Face with Poverty: Social Work in the Depression, 1930–9
• CHAPTER FOUR: Social Work in the War Years, 1939–45: Expansion and Consolidation
• CHAPTER FIVE: Postwar Reconstruction and Civil Defence, 1940–60
• CHAPTER SIX: Social Work in the Cold War Era, 1940–60: Radicalism and Repression
• CHAPTER SEVEN: A Conservative Era in Social Work: The 1950s
• CHAPTER EIGHT: The Struggle for Workplace Improvements and Standards: The Role of Unions and Professional Associations
• CHAPTER NINE: Provincial Autonomy and Reorganization in the CASW, 1950–65
• CHAPTER TEN: Advancing Social Work Education, 1950–70
• CHAPTER ELEVEN: Legal Regulation of Social Work: The Last Stage in Professionalization
• CHAPTER TWELVE: Staying the Course: Choosing Professional Status over Progressive Politics
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Social Work in a Declining Welfare State, 1974–2000
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN: One Hundred Years of Social Work: Looking Back and Moving Forward into the Twenty-First Century
• APPENDIX A: CASW Branches, 1927–58
• APPENDIX B: CASW Presidents, 1926–2001
• References
• Index