The Practice of Social Work in Public Welfare

<br ><br ><br ><br ><br >Foreword<br >IN 1978 THE FREE PRESS PUBLISHED the first of a series of books each<br >which addresses a particular theoretical approach of significance in tt<br >helping professions. Once this series was well underway it became e ~<br >dent that a second series was needed， one that differentially examin<br >practice from the dimension of specific fields of practice.<br > Every profession has to face the complex question of specializatic<br >versus generalization. In this regard it has to come to terms with issu<br >related to training and practice， and to make decisions about the relati~<br >emphasis given to those matters that are common to all areas of tt<br >profession s various fields of practice and those that are specific to ea(<br >area.<br > There are of course dangers in emphasizing either extreme. If tt<br >generic is overemphasized there is a risk that important aspects of pra<br >tice will be dealt with at a level of abstraction that bears little immedia<br >relevance to what the worker actually does. If the emphasis is on tt<br >particular there is the danger of fragmentation and neglect of the need<br >search for commonalities and interconnections. Obviously， a balan<br >between these two extremes is desirable.<br > Many of the human services， and social work in particular， ha~<br >tended to overemphasize the generic to the detriment of the speci/<br >needs of clients with highly specialized needs. The majority of soci<br >work literature over the past three decades has focused either c<br >modalities of practice as a single entity or on a specific theoretical bas<br >of practice. This is not to say that there are not practitioners who a<br >highly skilled in working effectively with specialized groups of client<br >What is lacking is an organized， compilation of the particular practi<br ><br >