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What did social work look like under European state socialism – and what can this history teach us today? Darja Zaviršek, the leading scholar on the history of social work in Slovenia and the former socialist countries, uncovers how the profession developed between 1945 and 1990.
Drawing on a unique political, social and ideological landscape, this book traces the evolution of social work across Yugoslavia. It challenges simplistic ideological narratives on both sides of the Iron Curtain and offers a nuanced understanding of social work as both a vehicle of state control and a site of empowerment – particularly for women.
Providing critical insight into how ideology, gender and welfare intersected in socialist Europe, this book invites reflection on how these histories continue to shape contemporary social work practice and values.
"A new chapter has been written in the history of European social work. This book is a rare and impressive testimony to a mostly neglected – or at least marginalised – part of it. Based on the specific case of Yugoslavia, it provides surprising insights into the pre-, peri- and post-socialist conditions and developments of social work. And on reading it one has to admit and acknowledge that this story is both more complex, and more exciting, than one might think. It may challenge prejudiced images of Eastern European landscapes of ‘the social’, not least from a gender perspective. With its poetic reflection of transformational processes, the book addresses crucial issues of social work and social policies that are at stake, right now." - Susanne Maurer, University of Marburg
Introduction
1. The Noise of History: The Historiography of Social Work in Yugoslavia and Slovenia
2. The Ruptures and Continuities of “Social Work” on the Horizon
3. Finally Peace: Women’s Labour Heroism and the Socialist Welfare System in the Making
4. Socialist Social Policy: “From Each According to His Abilities, to Each According to His Needs”
5. Social Work Education in Socialist Yugoslavia: Opening of the Schools
6. Forgotten Pioneers: A High-Level Political Official, a Partisan Teacher, and a Communist Intellectual
7. Social Work Professional Subjectivity: Social Workers as Societal Agents
8. Socialist Social Work Is the Realisation of the Goals of Social Policy
9. Against the Method: “The Door to Life Had Not Really Been Fully Opened”
10. Child Protection and the Traces of Makarenko's Children's Collective in Yugoslavia
11. Coercive Care: Spatial Segregation, Education and Employment of People with Disabilities
Conclusions: The Uniqueness of the Findings in Data and Approaches