Malcolm Payne 
Why Social Work is Important 
Identity, Role and Practice

What is social work’s contribution to humanity and society? Best-selling author Malcolm Payne offers a toolkit for social work practitioners and students to bring key issues about their practice and social role to life, drawing on case examples and research.
Starting from the principle that human beings are social beings, he showcases:
• innovative analysis of how social work’s identity and diverse streams of thought inform social professions globally;
• social work’s dual practice aims of developing human flourishing and social capital;
• community-near co-production, engaging agencies, communities and service users with practitioners from different professions to meet shared aims for social transformation;
• how populist politics and monetising economics corrodes deeply-held human and social values.
Malcolm Payne looks forward to social work practice and provision that puts people and social relationships first in meeting the challenges of twenty-first century caring and environmental crises.

Table of Content

Part 1: The identity of social work
Explaining ourselves: why is social work ‘social’ and ‘work’?
Social work’s national and international identities
Social work’s role: in social care and with other professions
Part 2: What social work consists of:
Beginnings: assessment, investigation and recording
Taking action: intervention strategies, reporting and making arrangements
Outcomes: completion and discharge.
Part 3: What social workers do
Tasks: caring, helping and counselling.
Engagement: interpersonal participation, mutual action and empowerment
Focus: individual, family, group and macro practice
Part 4: Social work values
Social justice and human rights
Dignity, respect and human worth
Equalities
Part 5: Professionalism in social work
Helping and care roles
Social control and surveillance roles
Management, self-management and self-care
Part 6: Social work’s partnership and integration roles
Children’s social care
Adult social care
Healthcare settings
Conclusion: social work practice in context

About the author

Malcolm Payne has professorial roles at Manchester Metropolitan University and Kingston University London. He was formerly Director of Psychosocial and Spiritual Care at St Christopher’s Hospice London.