Social work and the third way : tough love as social policy

`This lively book critiques New Labour assumptions and implementation of policies related to citizenship, communities and welfare reform and the implications of current developments for social work. Focusing explicitly on the UK, the book nevertheless draws on examples and comparisions from other countries (including notably Australia and the US, but also countries in the EU and Central and Eastern Europe), and some of the concerns and arguments will be appreciated by readers elsewhere' - International Social Work `This book is a well-written contribution to both the British Third Way debate and the welfare state literature.... The book will appeal to upper-level undergraduates as well as scholars of British politics and the welfare state' - Political Studies `Jordan begins by establishing New Labour's suspicion of local government framing its policy on welfare. Fundamentally, there exists a need for social workers to educate themselves as to the nature of this social experiment which New Labour has embarked upon. It challenges social workers to be awareThis is an interesting and at times challenging book, reiterating the history and roots of current ideology within government...The work is grounded in a contemporary context of social services and social work practice, challenging the withdrawal of social work behind a barrier of `managerialism, budget control, form fillinginto office based assessment and rationing' Finally, it offers a satisfying critique to the dominant `hegemonic' of `evidence-based practice', arguing for research at the level of means rather than the technical Jordan similarly argues in his conclusion that all of the government white papers, guidelines, etc. indicate a lack of clarity of purpose and method social work should retain its belief in 'a human and creative activity which engages with people's emotions as well as their rights and obligations' - British Journal of Social Work The New Labour government in the UK is committed to a programme of reform of the welfare state that will pull away safety nets and replace them by trampolines, to bounce citizens back into active participation. Its regime of 'tough love' will make more demands on those claiming benefits and services, as well as clamping down on dependencey, fraud and crime. This will be done by changing the culture of welfare agencies, towards promoting achievement and independence, as well as meeting 'genuine need'. In Social Work and the Third Way, Bill Jordan provides an accessible and lively analysis of the tensions between 'toughness' and 'love' in the Third Way's political philosophy, and the problems of implementing New Labour's programme. He looks at the government's reliance on face-to-face methods for activating citizens and changing their behaviour in many of its initiatives. On the one hand, New Labour places a surprising amount of fai...