Dimensions of Social Welfare Policy (6th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Given the history of this book, it is almost a classic. No course on Welfare policy could not refer to it.

Rating:
Summary: Much too american for the Canadian Social Worker
Review: I purchased this very expensive, yet thin paperback text for a social policy University course. The book is well written, but the perspectives are so American that I question the usefulness for a Canadian student of the subject.

The text is certainly updated, including a lot of glowing statistics about work-for-welfare programmes. The authors also use the words "unwed mother" and "Out of wedlock". These terms were thankfully exiled from the common social work language about 20 years ago, on this side of the border.

Oh yes and let's not forget the glowing stats,for abstinence- only sex education. Don't get me wrong there are lots of perspectives offered in the text but I'm accustomed to social work texts which approach material from a Social Work values perspective, which does not usually give a lot of ink to conservatives.

Rating:
Summary: On of the best introductions to social work policy ever.
Review: This is an excellent book. I've used it in undergraduate (and graduate) courses here at the University of Chicago and have been VERY pleased with the result. Colleagues at Berkeley (where Professors Terrell and Gilbert teach) use it as well. It is quite possibly the most complete text on the subject I've ever used