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Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to examine whether at this point in time the notion of a 'European social work identity' can be sustained. The paper commences with some brief consideration of theories of identity, and particularly draws attention to social constructionist identity theory, highlighting its focus on identity as a process. Ideas about what constitutes 'collective identity' are then examined. From this, two particular models of collective identity are presented which are helpful for understanding cultural identities. These are the more 'traditional' notion of collective culture being evidenced by the presence of shared histories and traditions, and the more social constructionist view of collective processes and action to form identities - whether imposed by the state or generated by the people - as constitutive of identities in themselves. 'European identity', and then 'European social work identity', will then be examined using these models of collective identity. The paper concludes that using social constructionist versions of identity (identity as a process of collectivisation), European social work identity can certainly be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout Europe the most damaging consequences of the coronavirus have fallen disproportionately on older people who live in care homes. This study involves the analysis of secondary data sources relating to deaths, and related harms, in European care homes from seven countries between March and December 2020. The findings are reviewed using the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights to identify examples of human rights violations - namely the right to life, liberty and security, respect for private and family life, and prohibition of torture, and general prohibition of discrimination. A significant contributing factor to the scale and nature of deaths and harms is the abject disregard of older people's human rights. Based on the findings, the authors, a group of social work academics, call for an urgent re-examination of the role of social work in relationship to care homes and the importance of re-engaging with human rights issues for care home residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The development of social work in different European countries in the nineteenth and early twentieth century followed sooner or later a rather similar path. Nevertheless, we find everywhere particular characteristics. Only if we compare certain economic standards, cultural habits, religious codes and the balance of public and private activities, the characteristics of welfare development in each country become visual. If we want to know something about our country, we have to look at others. Therefore, we have to compare social work and its history, because only then the question of similarities and differences cannot be avoided and become crucial elements of our studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social work practice in Europe has developed disparately in the context of separate nation states. Yet it has at the level of professional organization a potentially international orientation. Practice can be understood as having a dual configuration: on the one hand it is idiosyncratic to the culture of nation states; on the other it has a dynamic which incorporates an impulse to include broader supranational concerns. This dual configuration is of importance at a time when social work and social policy are increasingly affected by global political and economic processes and compelled to view what were previously national concerns through analysis that is global (cf. Mishra 1999; Deacon et al. 1997; Townsend 1995). Welfare and economic issues are now almost wholly cast in systems that involve a multiplicity of nations, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and regional trading blocs that are intricately involved in making decisions that have profound welfare implications. This article will identify the challenge that these developments pose for social work and consider how the social work profession can reflect on a response. We argue that the dual configuration in which it is situated enmeshes social work within a dual set of politics. The first is the politics of the macro-political economy noted above. The second is the micro-cultural politics of identity that are being played out in various national settings but which also contain global impetuses. Thus both contemporary macro- and micro-politics mitigate against practice and analysis situated solely at the level of the national. We argue that a social work that is central to an emerging social development practice based on empowerment and located within a transnational organizational base is best placed to meet the challenges we describe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]