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Social Work Professional Organizations

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Despite their long history and growing influence, social work professional organisations (SWPOs) remain underexplored in social work research. Created and fully or partly governed by professionals ...
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  • 09 December 2025
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Despite their long history and growing influence, social work professional organisations (SWPOs) remain underexplored in social work research. Created and fully or partly governed by professionals for professionals, SWPOs comprise millions of practitioners worldwide – some groups having existed for around 100 years – to develop activities that are increasingly relevant for practitioners, users, schools of social work and policy makers.

This edited volume provides the first comprehensive, comparative analysis of SWPOs in 15 countries, bridging Global North and South perspectives. Using an interdisciplinary framework, it offers an evidence-based typology of SWPOs, illustrating their evolving role as collective actors in social work.

Essential reading for educators, researchers and students in social work, this book speaks directly to the global community of SWPOs.

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Price: $127.95
Pages: 310
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Imprint: Policy Press
Series: Research in Social Work
Publication Date: 09 December 2025
ISBN: 9781447373667
Format: Hardcover
BISACs: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Work, Social work, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare, Regional / International studies, Social welfare, social policy and social services, Non-profitmaking organizations
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Riccardo Guidi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Florence.

Introduction - Riccardo Guidi

1. Social Work Professional Organizations: why they are relevant and how to study them - Riccardo Guidi

2. Social Work Professional Organizations at the international level: recent history, current characteristics, future challenges - Annamaria Campanini

3. Social Work Professional Organizations in Italy and Spain: characteristics, roles, opportunities, and challenges within the professional order and college systems - Martina Francesconi, Riccardo Guidi, Iria Noa de la Fuente-Roldán

4. A comparative perspective on Social Work Professional Organizations in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland - Dieter Kulke, Iris Kohlfürst, Tobias Kindler

5. Social Work Professional Organizations in Finland and Sweden: bear-hugged by the welfare state? - Helena Blomberg, Christian Kroll, Marcus Weckström

6. Social Work Professional Organizations in the United Kingdom: the resilience of the British Association of Social Workers in turbulent times - David N. Jones, Joe Hanley, Bridget Robb

7. Social Work Professional Organizations in the United States: divided responsibilities and pluralistic inclusion - Richard Hoefer

8. How does the Australian Association of Social Workers influence the context of social work practice and policy advocacy in Australia? - Philip Mendes, Manohar Pawar, Meghan Tangney

9. Social Work Professional Organizations in Japan: a collaborative model of practitioner and school organizations working together - Viktor Virag, Junko Wake, Machiko Ohara

10. Social Work Professional Organizations in Israel: when a trade union becomes a professional association - John Gal

11. Social Work Professional Organizations in India: a critical analysis - L.S. Ghandi Doss, B. Devi Prasad

12. Social work in Brazil: origins, development, and collective organization forms of the professional category - Reginaldo Ghiraldelli

13. Unity in action: strengthening social welfare through professional organization in Botswana - Kgomotso Jongman

14. Characteristics and challenges of Social Work Professional Organizations: an initial comparative analysis - Riccardo Guidi